Daniel Zaar

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

Club career
Zaar made his senior debut in the 2009-10 season playing 4 qualification games with the Jonstorps IF of the Division 2 while he also played 17 games with the Jonstorps IF under-18 team and 4 games with the Jonstorps IF under-20 team.

In 2010, Zaar moved to the Rögle BK organisation.

Next senior games came in the 2012-13 season. He played this season 25 regular season games and 7 Kvalserien SHL games with the Rögle BK of the Elitserien, 15 regular season games and 6 qualification games with the BIK Karlskoga of the HockeyAllsvenskan and 17 regular season games and 1 play-off game with the Rögle BK under-20 team. Zaar scored his first Elitserien goal with Rögle BK on October 11, 2012, against Bernhard Starkbaum of Modo Hockey.

During the 2013-14 season played Zaar with the Rögle BK of the HockeyAllsvenskan. He became the junior with most assists (20), most goals (16) and most points (36) scored in the HockeyAllsvenskan. On May 30, 2014, Zaar signed a three-year entry-level deal with the Columbus Blue Jackets organisation. The following 2014-15 season, he remained in Sweden on loan from the Blue Jackets, transferring to the Luleå HF of the SHL (formerly Elitserien). He won the Champions Hockey League with the Luleå HF in this season.

In his first season in North America in 2015-16, Zaar was assigned to the AHL 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 in the play-offs.

In the 2016-17 season, Zaar remained with the rebranded Cleveland Monsters of the AHL. 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 May 7, 2017. In the 2017-18 season, Zaar in a top 6 scoring role contributed with 9 goals and 26 points in 50 regular season games for the Redhawks. He registered only 2 assists in 10 play-off games.

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

As of 2020-21 season, Zaar still plays with Rögle BK. He is signed there until the end of the 2022-23 season.