I suggested in a prior post that Chris Chelios manning the blueline for the New York Rangers was intriguing for me. The 47-year-old could serve as a sort of mentor to the solid crop of young blueliners the team has. Now it appears that Chelios does have interest in playing for New York. His buddy Jeremy Roenick says here that Chris Chelios has told him he wants to play for the Rangers. Chelios has played for only "original six" teams during his career: Montreal, Chicago and Detroit. The U.S. born defenseman is a first ballot hall-of-famer and one of the all around best defenseman I have seen. A one-year deal - and who knows maybe a coaching role with the team thereafter - would be a very good investment.
Chelios was once described by coach Mike Keenan as the only player that could play all 60 minutes of a game without a break - he's that much of a fitness freak.
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query chris chelios. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query chris chelios. Sort by date Show all posts
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
NHL Thoughts...
You know I find it comical that Pierre McGuire is a broadcaster, I really do. He was at his finest over the weekend when he asked Red Wings Head Coach Mike Babcock, "So, this probably isn't the start you wanted," after Detroit fell behind 1-0 to San Jose in Game Five. I also find it laughable that Bill Clement pretends to be objective when it comes to commentating about any of the New York area teams. Hey, he's a Flyer through and through, no problem. Go ahead Billy Boy wave your orange crush pompoms. But let's get to my predictions for the Conference Finals, however, let's first look back and see how the Dog and I did in the second round:
I said San Jose in 6, Dog said Detroit in 7. Wings won in 6.
I said Ducks in 7, Dog said Canucks in 7. Anaheim won in 5.
I said Rangers in 6, Dog said Sabres in 5. Buffalo won in 6.
I said Devils in 7, Dog took the Senators in 5. Ottawa won in 5.
So now we move on...
WESTERN CONFERENCE
Detroit vs. Anaheim
I was thinking earlier about how the Red Wings have been so good for so long, despite all the changes. However, they do have some constants. Solid goaltending: Dom Hasek. An amazingly gifted but in some ways overlooked d-man, Nic Lidstrom. The main thing, though, is the team's commitment to playing solid defense and being masters at puck control. Detroit has also somehow been able to make Matt Schneider look like a big-time defenseman; and Chris Chelios looks to be playing like he is in his 20s, not in his 40s.
Anaheim meanwhile, has a great blend of young players and vets looking to get a ring. I always start in goal and work my way out, by the way. J.S. Giguere doesn't face many shots on most nights, but is very good between the pipes. Now let's work our way out and look at the awesome tandem of Chris Pronger and Scott Niedermayer. When you have two guys as good as they are, it gives Head Coach Randy Carlyle many options. They can play together or on separate pairs, which would mean that one of the two d-men would potentially be on the ice for the entire game. Those two regularly log at least 30 minutes per game.
Anaheim plays very close games and for some reason does not score as many goals as I would expect, what with Teemu Selanne leading the charge.
The Ducks have been the consensus pick of many around the NHL to go to the finals since they lured Chris Pronger away from Edmonton last summer. I agree, and take the Ducks in 6.
EASTERN CONFERENCE
Buffalo vs. Ottawa
Ottawa boasts some incredibly exciting forwards in Dan Heatley, Dan Alfredsson, and Jason Spezza. Plus, they've got Chris Phillips on the blueline. But they are a bit suspect in goal with Ray Emery. The goalie is definitely prone to letting in the soft goal, and becoming unnerved. With the speed that Buffalo can generate that is a recipe for disaster for the Senators. There's plenty of pressure on both these teams, and there actually is some bad blood stemming from an incident earlier in the year. Buffalo wins this won in a breeze, I like the Sabres in 5.
By the way, the Dog was too busy chewing on a bone and was unable to make his predictions.
I said San Jose in 6, Dog said Detroit in 7. Wings won in 6.
I said Ducks in 7, Dog said Canucks in 7. Anaheim won in 5.
I said Rangers in 6, Dog said Sabres in 5. Buffalo won in 6.
I said Devils in 7, Dog took the Senators in 5. Ottawa won in 5.
So now we move on...
WESTERN CONFERENCE
Detroit vs. Anaheim
I was thinking earlier about how the Red Wings have been so good for so long, despite all the changes. However, they do have some constants. Solid goaltending: Dom Hasek. An amazingly gifted but in some ways overlooked d-man, Nic Lidstrom. The main thing, though, is the team's commitment to playing solid defense and being masters at puck control. Detroit has also somehow been able to make Matt Schneider look like a big-time defenseman; and Chris Chelios looks to be playing like he is in his 20s, not in his 40s.
Anaheim meanwhile, has a great blend of young players and vets looking to get a ring. I always start in goal and work my way out, by the way. J.S. Giguere doesn't face many shots on most nights, but is very good between the pipes. Now let's work our way out and look at the awesome tandem of Chris Pronger and Scott Niedermayer. When you have two guys as good as they are, it gives Head Coach Randy Carlyle many options. They can play together or on separate pairs, which would mean that one of the two d-men would potentially be on the ice for the entire game. Those two regularly log at least 30 minutes per game.
Anaheim plays very close games and for some reason does not score as many goals as I would expect, what with Teemu Selanne leading the charge.
The Ducks have been the consensus pick of many around the NHL to go to the finals since they lured Chris Pronger away from Edmonton last summer. I agree, and take the Ducks in 6.
EASTERN CONFERENCE
Buffalo vs. Ottawa
Ottawa boasts some incredibly exciting forwards in Dan Heatley, Dan Alfredsson, and Jason Spezza. Plus, they've got Chris Phillips on the blueline. But they are a bit suspect in goal with Ray Emery. The goalie is definitely prone to letting in the soft goal, and becoming unnerved. With the speed that Buffalo can generate that is a recipe for disaster for the Senators. There's plenty of pressure on both these teams, and there actually is some bad blood stemming from an incident earlier in the year. Buffalo wins this won in a breeze, I like the Sabres in 5.
By the way, the Dog was too busy chewing on a bone and was unable to make his predictions.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Free Agents For The Rangers?
I have nothing against free agency, per se. It’s just that it doesn’t seem to work very often for the teams I root for. If I was a general manager of a sports team I would pay my own guys whatever they were worth, but I would have a real tough time bringing in someone that achieved success elsewhere and paying them to be a mercenary. The draft is the way to go and especially in the N.H.L. when the best players don’t necessarily come out of the first round only. Just go see the Detroit Red Wings and some of their outstanding later round picks for evidence. Still, tomorrow at noon is when unrestricted free agents can start signing on the bottom line, so who do I think the Rangers should get or could get. Let’s have a look:
GOALIE
N/A. They are all set with Lundqvist and Valiquette.
DEFENSE
The Rangers have a great crop of young defenseman both on the roster (Dan Girardi, Marc Staal) and even younger d-men ready to make the jump to the N.H.L. (New Jersey native Bobby Sanguinetti, Michael Del Zotto and last year’s Hobey Baker award winner, Matt Gilroy). I am slightly intrigued about bringing in Chris Chelios for a year as a mentor for the young blueliners.
FORWARDS
The Rangers need scoring and more scoring, but who is out there and worth signing? Injury prone Wild forward Marian Gaborik is too risky; Alex Kovalev = been there, done that, don’t get fooled again; I suppose that 37-year-old Mike Knuble seems like the most likely addition. Brian Gionta's goal scoring has dropped every year since he scored 48 in 2005-2006. Gionta would eat up way too much salary for a team that can ill afford to make their cap situation worse than it already is.
FINAL ANALYSIS
What about just standing pat? Who says the Rangers should do anything? For me, Chelios is intriguing but I wouldn’t go out of my way to sign him. As far as Knuble, he’s a big guy that gives them a solid physical presence on the power play, but I’m not sure that he makes a huge difference in the standings.
GOALIE
N/A. They are all set with Lundqvist and Valiquette.
DEFENSE
The Rangers have a great crop of young defenseman both on the roster (Dan Girardi, Marc Staal) and even younger d-men ready to make the jump to the N.H.L. (New Jersey native Bobby Sanguinetti, Michael Del Zotto and last year’s Hobey Baker award winner, Matt Gilroy). I am slightly intrigued about bringing in Chris Chelios for a year as a mentor for the young blueliners.
FORWARDS
The Rangers need scoring and more scoring, but who is out there and worth signing? Injury prone Wild forward Marian Gaborik is too risky; Alex Kovalev = been there, done that, don’t get fooled again; I suppose that 37-year-old Mike Knuble seems like the most likely addition. Brian Gionta's goal scoring has dropped every year since he scored 48 in 2005-2006. Gionta would eat up way too much salary for a team that can ill afford to make their cap situation worse than it already is.
FINAL ANALYSIS
What about just standing pat? Who says the Rangers should do anything? For me, Chelios is intriguing but I wouldn’t go out of my way to sign him. As far as Knuble, he’s a big guy that gives them a solid physical presence on the power play, but I’m not sure that he makes a huge difference in the standings.
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Get Ready To Drop The Puck!
So before I get into hockey, I was unable to post anything on baseball the past couple of days so I am going to refrain from making my picks for this round. I will wait until the second round to do so. I will say, that so far nothing has surprised me.
Well, tonight is like Christmas Eve to me; the NHL season begins. But tomorrow is Christmas Day with the New York Rangers getting into action, opening at home against the Washington Capitals. I haven't researched it, but it seems as though the Blueshirts usually open on the road. I hope that over the next four or five days I will do a more in-depth analysis of the National Hockey League, but right now I will kind of just do a basic overview and focus in on only a few teams.
The Outdoor Life Network (OLN) is now known as Versus and they will kick things off with a double-header tonight when the Carolina Hurricanes raise their Stanley Cup banner against the Buffalo Sabres followed by the Dallas Stars visiting the Colorado Avalanche, the other game will be the Toronto Maple Leafs and new Head Coach Paul Maurice hosting the Ottawa Senators.
The Buffalo Sabres have the best coach in the NHL, Lindy Ruff, a former tough-as-nails blueliner for the Rangers among other teams that he played for in the 1980s. His teams are always very, very disciplined. I expect the Sabres to be in the Eastern Conference Finals come May. The Sabres feature some very good forwards such as Connecticut native Chris Drury, Maxim Afinogenov, Brian Campbell, and Jochen Hecht, while they have two stellar goalies in Martin Biron and Ryan Miller. When Buffalo had some down times, pre-lockout, they still played with snarl and discipline, now that they have some guys who can play, they are very dangerous. A brick wall in goal and some very gritty forwards makes for a team built for the regular season and the playoffs. They could use another scorer but these guys are defintite Cup contenders. This will be the year they usurp Ottawa from the top of the Northeast division.
The Carolina Hurricanes have a great goalie in Cam Ward and a wily veteran in captain Rod Brind'Amour, lets see how much Eric Staal will continue to develop. But there is no reason to think these guys aren't going to be one of the top teams in the east again. They lost some good veterans in Matt Cullen and dependable, yet unspectacular blueliner, Aaron Ward. But I expect them to finish either first or second in the conference and are runaway winners of the Southeast division.
Things are different in 'Big D' with Brendan Morrow becoming the new captain of the Dallas Stars taking over for Mike Modano, who gave over the captaincy to Morrow. Eric Lindros and Matthew Barnaby join the team, as did Patrik Stefan. Stefan has been plagued throughout his career with injuries, and surprise, surprise starts the season on the injured list. Lindros' injury problems have been well-documented. Darryl Sydor comes back to Dallas to join a pretty formidable blueline with all-world d-man Sergei Zubov, backed up by goalie Marty Turco. If you get a chance don't miss Zubov in the shootout, he's money in the bank. Mike Modano isn't getting any younger, but he and his aging team will be very resilient. They'll need to be. The Stars won the Pacific last year but they will be hard-pressed to do so this season with the Anaheim Ducks poised to become the best team in the division and in the NHL.
The Colorado Avalanche have not done a good job adjusting to the new NHL and the salary cap which is why Rob Blake is back in Los Angeles. Joe Sakic is still Joe Sakic, but beyond forwards Milan Hejduk and Marek Svatos this team will definitely not remind you of the old Avalanche. Time to rebuild, and there is no better place to start then in goal, Jose Theodore doesn't even come close to Patrick Roy.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have brought in one of my all-time favorite players in Michael Peca, but his leadership and hipchecks won't be enough for this team. Yes, Captain Mats Sundin is who he is and Darcy Tucker hits like an NFL lineman, but you won't hear "Go Leafs Go" too often in Ontario. They will play hard and may be a seventh or eighth seed if all breaks right, but I don't think so.
The Ottawa Senators beat out the Sabres last year by three points to win the Northeast Division, I expect the same neck-and-neck battle, but this time the Sens will fall short. This team boasts an enormous amount of talent up front with Danny Heatley, Daniel Alfredsson, and Jason Spezza; on the blueline they are no slouches either with Wade Redden and Chris Phillips giving nightmares to opposing forwards, and in goal they have Martin Gerber who replaces the high-maintenance Dominik Hasek.
Speaking of Hasek he returns to Detroit to try and reclaim some past glory with the Detroit Red Wings. Don't write the Wings off just yet, yes they lost Brendan Shanahan and Steve Yzerman, but they still boast the best defenseman in the game, in Nicklas Lidstrom. Chris Chelios has had some magnificent years in his 40s, and up front, Pavel Datsyuk, Kris Draper, Tomas Holmsrom, Henrik Zetterberg and Robert Lang will keep this team in the playoffs.
So I will continue to preview the rest of the teams, but time does not allow me to continue much further. So I will leave you with my picks for the season:
Eastern Conference
1- Buffalo Sabres
2- Carolina Hurricanes
3- New York Rangers
4- Ottawa Senators
5- New Jersey Devils
6- Philadelphia Flyers
7- Montreal Canadiens
8- Tampa Bay Lightning
9- Toronto Maple Leafs
10- Boston Bruins
11- Pittsburgh Penguins
12- New York Islanders
13- Atlanta Thrashers
14- Washington Capitals
15- Florida Panthers
Western Conference
1- Anaheim Ducks
2- Nashville Predators
3- Calgary Flames
4- San Jose Sharks
5- Edmonton Oilers
6- Vancouver Canucks
7- Dallas Stars
8- Detroit Red Wings
9- St. Louis Blues
10- Colorado Avalanche
11- L.A. Kings
12- Columbus Blue Jackets
13- Chicago Blackhawks
14- Phoenix Coyotes
15- Minnesota Wild
Eastern Conference Finals
Buffalo beats New Jersey in 7
Western Conference Finals
Anaheim Ducks beat Nashville Predators in 6
Stanley Cup Finals
Anaheim Ducks over Buffalo in 7
I don't want to jinx the New York Rangers so I can't pick them in any way when it comes to the playoffs but I do expect big things from them this season!
Well, tonight is like Christmas Eve to me; the NHL season begins. But tomorrow is Christmas Day with the New York Rangers getting into action, opening at home against the Washington Capitals. I haven't researched it, but it seems as though the Blueshirts usually open on the road. I hope that over the next four or five days I will do a more in-depth analysis of the National Hockey League, but right now I will kind of just do a basic overview and focus in on only a few teams.
The Outdoor Life Network (OLN) is now known as Versus and they will kick things off with a double-header tonight when the Carolina Hurricanes raise their Stanley Cup banner against the Buffalo Sabres followed by the Dallas Stars visiting the Colorado Avalanche, the other game will be the Toronto Maple Leafs and new Head Coach Paul Maurice hosting the Ottawa Senators.
The Buffalo Sabres have the best coach in the NHL, Lindy Ruff, a former tough-as-nails blueliner for the Rangers among other teams that he played for in the 1980s. His teams are always very, very disciplined. I expect the Sabres to be in the Eastern Conference Finals come May. The Sabres feature some very good forwards such as Connecticut native Chris Drury, Maxim Afinogenov, Brian Campbell, and Jochen Hecht, while they have two stellar goalies in Martin Biron and Ryan Miller. When Buffalo had some down times, pre-lockout, they still played with snarl and discipline, now that they have some guys who can play, they are very dangerous. A brick wall in goal and some very gritty forwards makes for a team built for the regular season and the playoffs. They could use another scorer but these guys are defintite Cup contenders. This will be the year they usurp Ottawa from the top of the Northeast division.
The Carolina Hurricanes have a great goalie in Cam Ward and a wily veteran in captain Rod Brind'Amour, lets see how much Eric Staal will continue to develop. But there is no reason to think these guys aren't going to be one of the top teams in the east again. They lost some good veterans in Matt Cullen and dependable, yet unspectacular blueliner, Aaron Ward. But I expect them to finish either first or second in the conference and are runaway winners of the Southeast division.
Things are different in 'Big D' with Brendan Morrow becoming the new captain of the Dallas Stars taking over for Mike Modano, who gave over the captaincy to Morrow. Eric Lindros and Matthew Barnaby join the team, as did Patrik Stefan. Stefan has been plagued throughout his career with injuries, and surprise, surprise starts the season on the injured list. Lindros' injury problems have been well-documented. Darryl Sydor comes back to Dallas to join a pretty formidable blueline with all-world d-man Sergei Zubov, backed up by goalie Marty Turco. If you get a chance don't miss Zubov in the shootout, he's money in the bank. Mike Modano isn't getting any younger, but he and his aging team will be very resilient. They'll need to be. The Stars won the Pacific last year but they will be hard-pressed to do so this season with the Anaheim Ducks poised to become the best team in the division and in the NHL.
The Colorado Avalanche have not done a good job adjusting to the new NHL and the salary cap which is why Rob Blake is back in Los Angeles. Joe Sakic is still Joe Sakic, but beyond forwards Milan Hejduk and Marek Svatos this team will definitely not remind you of the old Avalanche. Time to rebuild, and there is no better place to start then in goal, Jose Theodore doesn't even come close to Patrick Roy.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have brought in one of my all-time favorite players in Michael Peca, but his leadership and hipchecks won't be enough for this team. Yes, Captain Mats Sundin is who he is and Darcy Tucker hits like an NFL lineman, but you won't hear "Go Leafs Go" too often in Ontario. They will play hard and may be a seventh or eighth seed if all breaks right, but I don't think so.
The Ottawa Senators beat out the Sabres last year by three points to win the Northeast Division, I expect the same neck-and-neck battle, but this time the Sens will fall short. This team boasts an enormous amount of talent up front with Danny Heatley, Daniel Alfredsson, and Jason Spezza; on the blueline they are no slouches either with Wade Redden and Chris Phillips giving nightmares to opposing forwards, and in goal they have Martin Gerber who replaces the high-maintenance Dominik Hasek.
Speaking of Hasek he returns to Detroit to try and reclaim some past glory with the Detroit Red Wings. Don't write the Wings off just yet, yes they lost Brendan Shanahan and Steve Yzerman, but they still boast the best defenseman in the game, in Nicklas Lidstrom. Chris Chelios has had some magnificent years in his 40s, and up front, Pavel Datsyuk, Kris Draper, Tomas Holmsrom, Henrik Zetterberg and Robert Lang will keep this team in the playoffs.
So I will continue to preview the rest of the teams, but time does not allow me to continue much further. So I will leave you with my picks for the season:
Eastern Conference
1- Buffalo Sabres
2- Carolina Hurricanes
3- New York Rangers
4- Ottawa Senators
5- New Jersey Devils
6- Philadelphia Flyers
7- Montreal Canadiens
8- Tampa Bay Lightning
9- Toronto Maple Leafs
10- Boston Bruins
11- Pittsburgh Penguins
12- New York Islanders
13- Atlanta Thrashers
14- Washington Capitals
15- Florida Panthers
Western Conference
1- Anaheim Ducks
2- Nashville Predators
3- Calgary Flames
4- San Jose Sharks
5- Edmonton Oilers
6- Vancouver Canucks
7- Dallas Stars
8- Detroit Red Wings
9- St. Louis Blues
10- Colorado Avalanche
11- L.A. Kings
12- Columbus Blue Jackets
13- Chicago Blackhawks
14- Phoenix Coyotes
15- Minnesota Wild
Eastern Conference Finals
Buffalo beats New Jersey in 7
Western Conference Finals
Anaheim Ducks beat Nashville Predators in 6
Stanley Cup Finals
Anaheim Ducks over Buffalo in 7
I don't want to jinx the New York Rangers so I can't pick them in any way when it comes to the playoffs but I do expect big things from them this season!
Thursday, June 05, 2008
Sidney Crosby = LMAO! Part I
Congratulations to the Detroit Red Wings for winning the Stanley Cup last night. I'm so glad to see Chris Osgood (great story), Chris Chelios (coming soon: Cheli's chili from the Cup?), and Nicklas Lidstrom (class act) get to hoist above their heads the most difficult trophy in all of sports to win.As far as Sidney Crosby? Well, the pools are now open so he can work on his diving all day!
Monday, June 29, 2009
N.H.L. Draft and Other Hockey Thoughts
The New York Islanders did the sensible thing and picked John Tavares with the number one pick on Friday night at the N.H.L. Draft. Although there is no guarantee that Tavares is going to become a superstar, the Isles could not afford to be cute with their fanbase by choosing someone else.
The New York Rangers chose Chris Kreider at No. 19 in the first round. The Rangers also took diminutive center Ryan Bourque, son of Hall of Fame defenseman Ray Bourque, at No. 80.
The New Jersey Devils packaged their third round pick along with their 23rd overall pick in the first round to Calgary in exchange for Calgary's 20th overall pick. The Devils then chose the third ranked European skater, Jacob Josefson, a Swede.
In other news, Rangers coach John Tortorella was named as an assistant to Team USA coach Ron Wilson for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, along with Islanders coach Scott Gordon.
Teemu Selanne and Scott Niedermayer will both be returning for another season with the Anaheim Ducks. Meanwhile, 47-year-old Chris Chelios will be playing one more season in the N.H.L.
I suppose the big news is that N.Y. Rangers GM Glen Sather couldn't swing a deal for Ottawa's Dany Heatley. In news that won't grab headlines but will hurt the Blueshirts on the ice, the Rangers extended a qualifying offer to Nik Zherdev which means he won't be going anywhere, but they didn't qualify the speedy Freddie Sjostrom, which means he will be gone. Blair Betts, a superb penalty killer, is an unrestricted free agent and should garner plenty of interest around the league. Thus, his days as a Ranger have also ended.
Perhaps the most interesting pick for the Broadway Blues was Russian defenseman, Mikhail Pashnin. The 20-year-old was the top pick in the the Kontinental Hockey League draft earlier this month. He'll spend two years in that league before coming to North America.
The Rangers start their week-long prospects camp tomorrow.
The New York Rangers chose Chris Kreider at No. 19 in the first round. The Rangers also took diminutive center Ryan Bourque, son of Hall of Fame defenseman Ray Bourque, at No. 80.
The New Jersey Devils packaged their third round pick along with their 23rd overall pick in the first round to Calgary in exchange for Calgary's 20th overall pick. The Devils then chose the third ranked European skater, Jacob Josefson, a Swede.
In other news, Rangers coach John Tortorella was named as an assistant to Team USA coach Ron Wilson for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, along with Islanders coach Scott Gordon.
Teemu Selanne and Scott Niedermayer will both be returning for another season with the Anaheim Ducks. Meanwhile, 47-year-old Chris Chelios will be playing one more season in the N.H.L.
I suppose the big news is that N.Y. Rangers GM Glen Sather couldn't swing a deal for Ottawa's Dany Heatley. In news that won't grab headlines but will hurt the Blueshirts on the ice, the Rangers extended a qualifying offer to Nik Zherdev which means he won't be going anywhere, but they didn't qualify the speedy Freddie Sjostrom, which means he will be gone. Blair Betts, a superb penalty killer, is an unrestricted free agent and should garner plenty of interest around the league. Thus, his days as a Ranger have also ended.
Perhaps the most interesting pick for the Broadway Blues was Russian defenseman, Mikhail Pashnin. The 20-year-old was the top pick in the the Kontinental Hockey League draft earlier this month. He'll spend two years in that league before coming to North America.
The Rangers start their week-long prospects camp tomorrow.
Friday, May 09, 2008
As Much As I Can't Stand Sidney Crosby And The Penguins...
The day I start rooting for the Philadelphia Flyers is when the time will have come for you to give me the "Old Yeller" treatment! Again, Detroit over Dallas in six and Pens over Philly in five. I guess I will impersonate Sweden and act neutral throughout the rest of the playoffs. Although seeing 46-year-old Chris Chelios raise the Stanley Cup once more would be cool. I hear Cheli's Chili Bar in Detroit has some mean chili! I wonder if the Red Wings will eat some out of the Cup when this is over?
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