Chris Chelios

How long was Chris Chelios's NHL career?

Chelios played 26 NHL seasons, a figure matched at the time only by Gordie Howe. The first came with Montreal in 1983-84 and the last with Atlanta in 2009-10, a stretch that covers 27 scheduled seasons because the 2004-05 lockout removed one in the middle. Chelios announced his retirement on 31 August 2010 and moved into the Detroit Red Wings front office. Chelios was the oldest player in the NHL when those final games were played, and the Chelios Mount Rushmore of hockey reaches back across most of that span.

Chris Chelios's career stats across 1,651 NHL games

Chelios finished with 185 goals, 763 assists and 948 points in 1,651 regular-season games, plus 2,891 penalty minutes. When Chelios retired, that games total ranked fourth in NHL history and no defenceman had played more, and both rankings have since been passed. Chelios also played 266 playoff games, the most of any player in league history when Chelios stopped. The two columns that say the most about Chelios sit far apart, because 948 points and 2,891 penalty minutes rarely belong to the same career.

Three Norris Trophies in 1989, 1993 and 1996

Chelios won the James Norris Memorial Trophy as the NHL's best defenceman three times, in 1989 with Montreal and in 1993 and 1996 with Chicago. Only a small group of defencemen have won the award more often. Chelios was also named to five NHL First All-Star Teams, in 1989, 1993, 1995, 1996 and 2002, and to two Second All-Star Teams, in 1991 and 1997. Chelios played eleven NHL All-Star Games and was named to the league's 100th Anniversary Team in 2017, the centenary list of its hundred greatest players.

Chelios won the Stanley Cup with Montreal and twice with Detroit

Chelios won three Stanley Cups. The first came in 1986 with Montreal, in a third NHL season, when the Canadiens beat Calgary in the Final. The next two came much later, with Detroit in 2002 and 2008, by which time Chelios had been in the league for two decades. Sixteen years separated the first Cup from the second. Chelios also reached the Final with Chicago in 1992, where the Blackhawks lost to Pittsburgh, and the Dave Brown story belongs to those Chicago years.

The training regimen Chris Chelios became known for

Chelios was almost as well known for offseason work as for hockey. Chelios trained six days a week at a Venice Beach gym under T.R. Goodman, in hour-long circuits of one-armed rows, dumbbell deadlifts, presses, lateral raises, lunges and rope work with no rest between sets. Away from the gym Chelios rode 40-mile stretches of the Pacific Coast Highway and paddle-surfed long distances in the ocean. 'Paddling is underrated as an exercise,' Chelios told Sports Illustrated in 2007, saying it works legs, stomach, shoulders and back.

Chris Chelios played four Olympic tournaments for the United States

Chelios represented the United States at four Olympic tournaments, in 1984, 1998, 2002 and 2006, and captained the team at the last three. The 1984 appearance in Sarajevo came before Chelios had played an NHL game, and the 2006 tournament in Turin came deep into a long NHL career. The medal came at Salt Lake City in 2002, where the United States lost the final to Canada and took silver. Our Bill Guerin story about Chelios comes out of that Team USA dressing room.

Which teams retired Chris Chelios's number?

Chicago. The Blackhawks retired Chelios's No. 7 on 25 February 2024, almost fourteen years after Chelios played a last NHL game. Detroit has not retired the No. 24 Chelios wore there, and 24 is not among the numbers hanging in the Red Wings rafters. Montreal has not retired a number for Chelios either. Chicago was the natural home for the honour, because Chelios was born and raised in the city, played nine seasons for the Blackhawks and was sent to a suite on a first game back there.

Chelios's nine seasons and captaincy in Chicago

Montreal traded Chelios to Chicago on 29 June 1990, in a deal built around Denis Savard going the other way, which sent Chelios home to the city where Chelios grew up. Chelios stayed nine seasons, won two of three Norris Trophies as a Blackhawk in 1993 and 1996, and reached the Stanley Cup Final with Chicago in 1992. Chelios was named Blackhawks captain for the 1995-96 season and held the role until the 1999 trade to Detroit, where Chelios then played ten seasons, the longest stay of the career.