Standards for Chris Chelios

It’s nice to see Chris Chelios back for another season with the Detroit Red Wings.

At 46, Chelios is the oldest NHL player since Gordie Howe retired in 1980 at age 52. Now entering his 25th season, Chelios will one day retire with a number of standards that will never be matched.

Here are 10 of them. (Note: some are projected. Chelios will keep playing until 50.)

10. Win Stanley Cup titles 16 years apart: 1986 in Montreal and 2002 in Detroit.



9. Win Stanley Cup titles more than 20 years apart: 1986 in Montreal and 2008 in Detroit. Gordie Howe’s Stanley Cups were separated by just five years.

8. Most playoff games played. He’s the leader with 260, 13 ahead of Patrick Roy.



7. Most years in playoffs. He’s the leader with 23, two ahead of Ray Bourque.

6. Most unusual way to end a lockout. Threatening the well-being of NHL commissioner Gary Bettman in 1994-95.

5. Sticking it to the Blackhawks. Chicago traded him in 1999 when he was 37 and seemingly in the twilight of his career. He has outlasted more than 20 teammates from that 1998-99 Hawks team, including Tony Amonte, Alexei Zhamnov, Doug Gilmour, Eric Daze, Ed Olczyk, Bob Probert, Dave Manson, Nelson Emerson and Jocelyn Thibault.



4. 400-game club. No other player has managed 400 or more regular season games with three teams: Montreal (402), Chicago (664) and Detroit (550 and counting).

3. 3,000 PIM club. At 2,873 penalty minutes, Chelios is poised to become the only defenseman with 3,000 PIMs. Marty McSorley had 3,381, but played most of those games as a forward.



2. Most regular season games played. At 1,616, he’s 151 games – virtually two full seasons – behind Howe.

1. Most regular season and playoff games played. He’s in fourth place with 1,876, just 116 behind the leader, Mark Messier (1,992). Howe (1,924) and Ron Francis (1,902) are second and third.

The THN.com Top 10 appears Wednesdays only on thehockeyenews.com.

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