Daniel Zaar

Daniel Zaar (born 24 April 1994) is a Swedish professional ice hockey winger currently playing with Rögle BK in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL). Zaar was drafted in the sixth round, 152nd overall, in the 2012 NHL entry draft by the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Playing career Zaar scored his first Elitserien goal with Rögle BK on 11 October 2012, against Bernhard Starkbaum of Modo Hockey. On 30 May 2014, Zaar signed a three-year entry-level deal with the Blue Jackets. The following 2014–15 season, he remained in Sweden on loan from the Blue Jackets, transferring to Luleå HF. With his new team he won the 2014–15 Champions Hockey League.

In his first season in North America in 2015–16, Zaar was assigned to the American Hockey League and played a pivotal role in helping the Lake Erie Monsters win their first Calder Cup championship in franchise history. He was amongst the scoring lines with the Monsters, contributing with 21 goals in 71 games in the regular season before notching 7 goals and 12 points in 17 games en route to the Championship.

In the 2016–17 season, Zaar remained with the rebranded Cleveland Monsters. Limited to 55 games, Zaar was unable to build upon his rookie North American season in collecting 8 goals and 30 points.

As an impending restricted free agent, Zaar opted to continue his career in his native homeland in securing a two-year contract to return to the SHL with the Malmö Redhawks on 7 May 2017. In the 2017–18 season, Zaar in a top 6 scoring role contributed with 9 goals and 26 points in 50 games for the Redhawks. He registered only 2 assists in 10 post-season games.

On 26 April 2018, Zaar secured a release from the final year of his contract with the Redhawks in order to return to original club, Rögle BK, on a one-year contract.

Following his third season with Rögle BK, helping the club establish itself as a contending club in advancing to the Le Mat Trophy finals, Zaar left as a free agent and signed a lucrative two-year contract with Russian based club, Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), on 11 June 2021. In the 2021–22 season, Zaar was limited to just 4 goals and 14 points through 28 regular season games. Unable to help Torpedo qualify for the playoffs for the first time in nine years, Zaar extended his season by returning to original club, Rögle BK, on 15 February 2022. Two weeks later, Zaar helped his new team win the 2021-22 Champions Hockey League, scoring both goals in the final against Tappara.

Career statistics Regular season Playoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 2010–11 Rögle BK J20 2633614 30000 2011–12 Rögle BK J20 4414243828 75388 2012–13 Rögle BK J20 17118196 10002 2012–13 Rögle BK SHL 252130 ————— 2012–13 BIK Karlskoga Allsv 150774 62130 2013–14 Rögle BK Allsv 5216203628 166162216 2014–15 Luleå HF SHL 559182718 72132 2015–16 Lake Erie Monsters AHL 7121224322 1775124 2016–17 Cleveland Monsters AHL 558223024 ————— 2017–18 Malmö Redhawks SHL 50917266 100222 2018–19 Rögle BK SHL 5013223516 211212 2019–20 Rögle BK SHL 4816213714 ————— 2020–21 Rögle BK SHL 5218325022 114480 2021–22 Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod KHL 284101410 ————— 2021–22 Rögle BK SHL 16312154 1347112 2022–23 Rögle BK SHL 401214268 10000 2023–24 Rögle BK SHL 43771430 157078 2025–26 Rögle BK SHL 4710122220 15571210 SHL totals 426 99 156 255 138 81 24 22 46 38

Awards and honors Awards Year Champions Hockey LeagueChampions Hockey League (Luleå)2015