Preds' Grimaldi, NHL's Shortest Player, Poses with Chara, NHL's Tallest

Rocco Grimaldi wasn't about to pass up this opportunity.
After all, it isn't every day he plays against someone who is 15 inches taller than he is, and perhaps even more so on skates. But when the Predators faced off against the Bruins on Saturday night in Nashville, the 5-foot-6 Grimaldi saw himself staring down - or up - at Boston's Zdeno Chara, the tallest player in NHL history at 6-foot-9.
It was the first time the two had ever appeared in the same contest before, and after his club's 1-0 victory, Grimaldi took a peek down the hallway with an idea in mind.

"There was a picture from a long time ago with [5-foot-4-inch forward Nathan] Gerbe and [Chara]," Grimaldi said. "They're on the ice just standing there next to each other and I saw that and I thought it was awesome. I thought, 'Man, that'd be so cool to get a picture next to him like that.'"
So, when Grimaldi discovered Chara just happened to be outside of the Bruins locker room, he knew it might be his only shot.
"I kind of felt weird about it, but I'm like, 'I have to do it,'" Grimaldi explained. "I was like, 'Hey, can I get a picture with you? You're the tallest in the League right now, I'm the smallest and I think it'd be funny, I'm not trying to be weird or anything.'
"And he was super nice about it. When we took the picture, he leaned over a bit the first time, and I was like, 'Actually, could you stand straight up to make sure we see the difference?' And he was really nice about it and thought it was funny, so it worked out really well."
Posted on Sunday afternoon, Grimaldi's photo has garnered more than 300 retweets and a few thousand likes on Twitter, delighting the masses with the best showing of height discrepancy possible in the game today.

Posing next to each other is one thing, but going into the corners while battling for a loose puck in the heat of competition is another. So, is Grimaldi ever nervous of the prospect of facing someone who towers over him?
Actually, it's the complete opposite.
"With how tall he is and how small I am, I don't think he can even really hit me because he's got to bend so far down to even get there," Grimaldi said. "I think it's hard for him, to be honest. Maybe if I was 6-foot-1, I might be a little more scared, but I don't have anything to worry about with a foot and three inches between us."
There weren't any nerves after the fact, either, and Grimaldi is glad he got the snap with the Slovakian blueliner - and he's gotten just as much enjoyment out of reading the comments on Twitter.
"One of my favorites was someone said, 'Take your kid to work day,'" Grimaldi laughed. "I liked that one a lot."