Posts tagged Chris Chelios at FanHouse

I've been in media scrums before, but I have to admit I haven't been in many as intense as the one I walked into at Wrigley Field while attending the 2009 NHL Winter Classic. Press is here from all over North America, which means space was at a premium today, something that's easy to tell from watching this clip I put together featuring Marian Hossa, Henrik Zetterberg, Chris Chelios and Brian Rafalski. While the first three players all talk about how great it is to play in the Classic, Rafalski strikes a different note when it comes to his concern for ice conditions.

The Grand Rapids Press' Michael Zuidema reports that 46-year-old Detroit Red Wings defenseman Chris Chelios will play two games for the Grand Rapids Griffins this weekend as he seeks to return to game shape after recovering from a broken leg suffered during the pre-season on September 30th. Under the Section 13 of the collective bargaining agreement, he does not have to clear waivers to play in GR for a conditioning stint.

It will be Chelios' first ever appearance in the AHL and, aside from an stretch during the Lockout over which he played in the UHL, it will be his first stint in a league below the NHL since 1983, his last year at the University of Wisconsin. He will join the Griffins in their home matchups with the Toronto Marlies (Friday) and Hamilton Bulldogs (Saturday).

Chelios has not bee completely idle since the injury, having done off-ice workouts from the start and begun on-ice workouts some time ago. He participated in his first full practice with the team yesterday. Given his workout history, it's doubtful his return to game shape will take long.

According to Zuidema, Chelios will likely return to Detroit after the game against Hamilton and may be acitivated in time to appear in the December 10th home game against the Calgary Flames. For that to happen, though, the Wings will have to jump through some cap hoops since they are right up against it. Darren McCarty will be the likely odd man out, though if I read the inpenetrable legalese of the CBA correctly, he'll have to clear waivers again. He was already sent down for a game after the last time he cleared. That shouldn't be much of a problem, though, since he's currently out with a groin injury (not on the IR as far as I know).

I'll be at the game Saturday with my wife. We're definitely looking forward to seeing Chelios on the blueline there, though not to the Hannah Montana Night part.

We all got a big laugh about a week ago when during the festivities for the opening of the NHL regular season in North America, Joe Elliot, the lead singer for the classic rock dinosaur Def Leppard, took hold of the Stanley Cup and proceeded to place it on a pedestal upside down:



While it was happening, I'm sure more than a few folks thought that Elliot couldn't be that stupid. And, as it turns out, Detroit Red Wings defenseman Chris Chelios is one of those people. Here's what he said on WCSX-FM in Detroit on the JJ&Lynne program, which we picked up via the Detroit Free Press:

All the right people showed up yesterday in Oakland, Michigan for the Illitch Celebrity Golf Classic. Among the attendees: Gordie Howe, Steve Yzerman, Bill Laimbeer and Al Kaline.

But it's important to remember that whenever Red Wing Defenseman Chris Chelios is involved, it usually means that a boatload of his buddies from Malibu are going to show up too.

In this case, that meant John Cusack, Tim Allen, Dave Coulier, Thorsten Kaye, John McGinley and D.B. Sweeney were all on hand. One other familiar face who showed up, but didn't play, was Chelios buddy and Oscar-winner Cuba Gooding, Jr., who spoke with Ken Bradley of Sporting News Today:

"I play hockey, all kinds of other stuff, but no golfing," Gooding joked. "We have this great pickup (game) every Monday night in Los Angeles that is sponsored by CAA and Pat Brisson specifically -- he handles Sidney Crosby. I skated with Wayne Gretzky ... even skating with Chris Chelios I got a proper elbow to the head. It was awesome, just awesome to be out there."

I love hockey news in the Summer. Instead of breaking down the left wing lock we get to trawl in the nation's gossip pages. And this morning, we get to hang in that wonderful sweet spot where hockey, surfing and the world of popular music collide.

In this morning's edition of the New York Daily News, gossip columnists Rush & Molloy pass along news of how noted Red Wings fan Kid Rock crashed a party at uber-surfer Laird Hamilton's place in Malibu. Apparently, a group of unnamed Detroit Red Wings were at Hamilton's compound with Lord Stanley in tow when ... we'll let the gossip mongers take it from here:

Surfing star Laird Hamilton didn't seem to mind that Kid showed up at Hamilton's Malibu beach house with a retinue of leggy, cleavage-bearing, slightly-past-their-prime party favors. But Hamilton's wife, Olympic volleyball champ Gabrielle Reece, did not appreciate the uninvited guests.

"These ladies were skanky," our spy observes. "Gabrielle didn't say anything but you could tell she was fuming."

So how much credence should we place in this report? Well, Hamilton and Red Wings defenseman Chris Chelios are old friends. Back during the lockout, there was even talk that the two would drop hockey and surfing for a while in an attempt to qualify for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin representing Greece in the 4-man bobsled.

As for the rest of the Wings, they apparently forgot the Cup on the beach for a while, where the report says some folks mistook it for an ashtray. Given the colorful history of the Cup, color me unconcerned.

Thanks to J.P. for the pointer.

As I was watching Chris Chelios skating the Stanley Cup around the ice at Mellon Arena last night, I couldn't help but wonder: Was this the last we'd see of the 46-year old defenseman? After playing in 15 of Detroit's first 16 playoff games, Chelios was injured at the tail end of the Western Conference Finals with Dallas, and was a healthy scratch for all six games against Pittsburgh.

Well, wonder no more.

Bruce MacLeod, the hockey beat writer for the Macomb Daily, reports that the Detroit Red Wings will formally shuffle their second, third, and fourth lines for tonight's Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals. The top line, composed of Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk, and Tomas Holmstrom, will remain unchanged.

The main move is the promotion of Jiri Hudler from the fourth line to the second, where he spent much of Game 5. He'll skate on Valtteri Filppula's wing with Dan Cleary.

With 13 points, the diminutive Czech is Detroit's fourth-leading playoff scorer despite averaging just 10:58 in ice time troughout the postseason. He scored the only Detroit goal in Game 5.

Hudler has long produced consistently at a rate out of proportion to his ice time, but has had trouble gaining a second line spot on a deep Detroit squad. He has a bit of a reputation of having a poor work ethic and is considered to be among the weakest Detroit forwards in his own end. The first charge is largely unfounded, as Hudler generally shows a lot of hustle. There's something to the second charge, but he has made enormous strides since hitting the NHL. Apparently, not enough, as his continued relegation to fourth line purgatory indicates.

As a consolation, head coach Mike Babcock lets him out of the doghouse long enough to quarterback the second power play unit. He has matched Zetterberg's power play production this post-season.

One game after finding their cojones in Denver, the Red Wings promptly lost them again in a 1-0 loss to the Flames in Calgary. The loss dropped Detroit to 1-6-1 in their last eight games.

But the bad news didn't end there, as defensive stalwart Chris Chelios took a puck off his right knee, an injury that will keep him off the ice tonight against Vancouver and adding yet another member of the Wings to the injured list.

After watching last night's game for a few minutes, I couldn't help but come away with the impression that the way to beat the Wings was to simply pound them without mercy -- and to take that pounding right up to the line. A good example came in the second period, when Dion Phaneuf ran Tomas Kopecky down behind the Calgary goal. With Kopecky down on the ice and sliding, Phaneuf finished his check and ran Kopecky face first into the boards.

Once I got a look at Kopecky when once he got back to the Detroit bench, his face looked like he'd been in a bar fight. Yet, near as I can tell, nobody came close to holding Phaneuf accountable for his transgression. Something tells me that Detroit GM Ken Holland probably agrees, given the news that Darren McCarty is slated to rejoin the Wings sometime next week.

This season, the mouths around the NHL have been relatively quiet. Sean Avery has opened his from time to time, but that's been about it. Even perennial front page quote guy Jeremy Roenick has been silent. For much of his career, Roenick has been known to speak his mind. This year, the best video game hockey player ever has been very quiet. That may be part of the plan though, as his recent resurgence in San Jose is probably directly correlated to his lack of media friendly quotes.

But while talking to Yahoo's Ross McKeon, that seems to have changed. At least a little. No, Roenick didn't run his mouth or say anything inflammatory, but what he said was nonetheless interesting.

The burning question is will Chelios challenge Howe's record? He says he intends to play again next season. After that is anyone's guess, but Roenick says he's got a pretty good idea. He says Chelios, who won't admit this publicly, has told Roenick he would like to play until age 50.

"He's the one guy who could play this game until he's 50," Roenick said.

Chelios, of course, wasn't so quick to admit Roenick's statement as fact, saying Roenick has a "sense of humor" and "doesn't ask a lot of serious questions." Whether or not Chelios continues to play until the half century mark remains to been seen. Heck, it will be at least four more years until we find out the answer so there's almost no point in speculating right now. That being said, Chelios is already the second oldest person to skate in an NHL game, behind only the legend himself, Gordie Howe. Howe played until he was 52 and Chelios turns 46 on Thursday.

Chelios still has a long way to go to catch Howe, but he's being no slouch in doing so. This season Chelios has 7 points and a +8 rating in 45 games. He's on pace for his highest point total since the lockout ended and has not had a season with a negative plus/minus rating since 1998-99 when he was still playing in the Windy City. He's not putting up 70 point seasons like he did in the late 80s and early 90s, but he's still a solid defender who is playing better than anyone expects. So why 50 Chelly? How about 60? Why not??

One wonders just how much longer the league is going to continue to tolerate the traveling goon show that is the Philadelphia Flyers. Just when it seemed as if the team might be able to get through at least a week of the new year without some sort of disciplinary hearing, it looks as if Colin Campbell will have at least a case file or two to review over the next few days. To review:

• It all started Friday night when Travis Zajac of the New Jersey Devils reported that Philly's Derian Hatcher, a player who has been having a touch of trouble adapting to the "new" NHL over the past few seasons, bit him in the midst of a scrum on Friday night in New Jersey (video evidence here). The NHL has already decided to look the other way.
  
• Not wanting to miss out on the fun, Steve Downie -- yes, that Steve Downie -- decided to take a few unprovoked slashes to the back of Andy Greene's legs (video).
• Not satisfied with traveling the same road as former heavyweight champ Mike Tyson, Hatcher decided it was time to engage in a bit of head hunting on Saturday night against Toronto, targeting Alexander Steen for destruction. Fortunately for Steen, he kept his "head on a swivel" and ducked to avoid the uncoming Hatcher. Unfortunately, Hatcher's teammate Joffrey Lupul didn't get out of the way, and he suffered a concussion and spinal cord contusion that will keep him off the ice for the rest of the month (again, video here).
• And as I outlined on Saturday night, the evening was topped off when Downie sucker-punched Toronto's Jason Blake while the latter had his arms pinned behind his back (pictured above, and video). The NHL is investigating.