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Garrett Pilon will make his NHL debut against the Flyers. Zdeno Chara, incredibly, has now played games with both him and his dad Rich.

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Garrett Pilon, 23, has spent the last three seasons with the Hershey Bears. Saturday, the Capitals’ 2016 third-round pick will realize a dream he had as a kid.

Pilon will make his debut against the Philadelphia Flyers, Saturday night. The Capitals recalled Pilon from the Hershey Bears around 5 PM and sent down Daniel Carr.

Pilon was placed on the third line with Michael Raffl.

He got the Rookie Treatment and skated a solo lap around the rink before the rest of his teammates came out for warmups.

Pilon has scored 16 points (4g, 12a) in 14 games with Hershey this season. He earned congratulations from the Capitals, Hershey Bears, and his former junior team, the Kamloop Blazers.

There is also a fun hockey history aspect to this as well. Once the puck is dropped, Zdeno Chara will have officially played a game with both Garret and his dad, Rich. Rich Pilon was an NHL defenseman and an enforcer who retired in 2002. Chara and Rich played together with the New York Islanders during Zee’s first three seasons in the league.

Chara actually got his first callup to the NHL from Kentucky due to an ankle injury Rich suffered.

During an interview with Capitals Radio, Rich revealed that Zdeno and his son were close back in the day.

“It’s pretty special when he’s out there with a guy who carried him on his shoulders way back in the day when Zee first came into the league,” Rich said. “What happened on Thanksgiving, we always had people come over for dinner. The single guys that were by themselves, we always invited them so Zee and Zigmund Palfy came over. Zee’s eating and he was carrying the kids on his shoulders, my daughter and Garrett.”

Chara checked Garrett into the boards during warmups to officially welcome him to the NHL.

Headline photo: Cara Bahniuk/RMNB

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