Saturday, August 07, 2010

Chelios Finally Hangs Them Up

After playing the better part of 26 NHL seasons, 48-year old Chris Chelios will finally hang them up after being a member of the Atlanta Thrashers (and their farm system) in 2010. Chelios will reportedly take a front-office position with the Detroit Red Wings, a team he spent 10 seasons with and who do a good job of giving work to those smart hockey players that they had once employed on the ice.

In his career, Chelios played in 1,651 NHL games between Montreal, Chicago, Detroit and Atlanta (4th all-time), scored 185 goals and added 763 assists for 948 career points.  As a grinder, Chelios also picked up 2,891 career penalty minutes, which has him ranked 12th all-time in NHL history. 

It has been a while since Chelios was relevant in the hockey pool world, since his last real pool-worthy season was in 2004 with the Red Wings where he had 21 points in 69 games, but he had some great highs of 73 points in 80 games with the Canadiens in 1989 and in 84 games with the Blackhawks in 1993.

Just to see him play at the back end of the 2010 season with the Thrashers, as a 48-year old, was a marvel in itself.  His physical accomplishments definitely rank up there with his statistical accomplishments.

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