Zachary Yuen grew up in a traditional Chinese family in Vancouver where his family members were all avid ice hockey fans. His sister Yuan Jiahui is a female ice hockey player at the University of British Columbia. Under the influence of his father, Zachary Yuen learned to skate at the age of two, started to play ice hockey at the age of three and learnt figure skating at the age of five. His dream was to be a professional hockey player. In 2011, he was selected by the NHL Winnipeg Jets and became the third Chinese to be chosen by an NHL team. In a game on 27 October 2016, Zachary scored the first goal by any Chinese in KHL and helped the team win 1-0. On 24 February 2017, in the first round of KHL Western Conference playoffs, he scored the first goal by any Chinese player in the KHL playoffs against the defending champion, adding a new chapter to his career. In 2016, Zachary renounced Canadian citizenship to take up Chinese nationality and returned to China to participate in the professional league. He hopes to represent China at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.