Wings GM says Chris Chelios likely to be back next year

[mmorland 16]

Chelios plays at Lidstrom-like levels when he's needed, in the clutch. He's old, and he gets limited time, but he has shown he can help carry the defensive load with top minutes (have we forgotten last years playoff run so quickly?). The guy has a lot to offer, and I'm glad he can come back. Yeah, we need to develop the younger players, but why would yuo want to dump Chelios instead of Lebda or Lilja? Chelios is best for clutch situations and for training the new kids. Bring him back every year he feels capable of playing. The guy may not score, but he's still key in preventing the other team from scoring.

I'm not sure why you quoted me on this? I was replying to the previous person who thinks Eriksson is ready to jump into the lineup. No where in there did I say I didn't want Chelios back. I think Chelios plays a great game and is in excellent physical shape. Brining him back next season is a no-brainer.

[RyanBarnes! 293]

Chelios is starting to become a liability on the ice. Watch him closely when he is on the ice. On defense, he gets caught out of position way too frequently and has to be bailed out by a forward. On offense he rarely gets the puck on net, hell, most of the time it gets blocked and the play goes back the other way. There comes a time when this franchise needs to say goodbye. There are a lot of young players that need to be developed and that won't happen until there are enough roster spots for them. Sorry Cheli, I love you, but it is time to hang them up.

Boy that was a painful post to type!

Yeah, totally agree with you here. Chelios is not as sound as people make him out to be. Plus the whole mentoring aspect is overrated. Detroit has plenty of experince to mentor the kids, besides who is he going to mentor? There's never any room on Detroit's blueline for youngsters to play full-time.

I hope Chelios and Lilja are gone next season and Stuart gets a new contract.

[interminded 1]

Awesome !

As long as he has value (which he still has !), keep him around.

He's no Lidstrom or Rafalski, but still a solid defenseman.

Another year.... love it !

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

Meh, I'm indifferent.

I want to see young guys get a chance but Chelios is such a freak of nature physically with the way he keeps in shape that I don't mind seeing him back in his role as one of the last regular d-men night in and out.

[jvxp 0]

No thanks we don't need yet another 3rd pairing guy let alone a 47 yr old one.

I agree. At this point in his career he is just taking up a roster spot. I would rather see a younger, faster D-man in there.

[jvxp 0]

Chelios is starting to become a liability on the ice. Watch him closely when he is on the ice. On defense, he gets caught out of position way too frequently and has to be bailed out by a forward. On offense he rarely gets the puck on net, hell, most of the time it gets blocked and the play goes back the other way. There comes a time when this franchise needs to say goodbye. There are a lot of young players that need to be developed and that won't happen until there are enough roster spots for them. Sorry Cheli, I love you, but it is time to hang them up.

Boy that was a painful post to type!

Oh so true. Time to hang them up Cheli.

[zombiewing 3]

I would not want to be the one to tell Chelios to hang up the skates.

Me-"um...mr chelios...um..we think that um..you would look good in a suit next year."

Part of me is almost worried of a "curse of the bambino" thing being ignited if we put him out to pasture.

Edited March 23, 2008 by zombiewing

[DaKineMaui 8]

In the cap world,

(Could you repeat ^that^ 50x for the kids?)

I thought around here, at LGW, the general concensus is:

- We wanna bring up the new kid(s) and groom 'em quick.

- We really don't give a s*** about the regular season record.

- We wanna sign the big expen$ive $tud(s) at the deadline.

Chelios brings enough to the Wings' table to warrant another go. He's earned it anyway.

I'd keep him around just because he's willing to get in the refs' faces.

And again - it's minimum wage folks.....he's staying out of the way if things go south inna hurry.

Hell - let's have this talk after this coming playoff run.

aloha

[Pucks 66]

Yeah, totally agree with you here. Chelios is not as sound as people make him out to be. Plus the whole mentoring aspect is overrated. Detroit has plenty of experince to mentor the kids, besides who is he going to mentor? There's never any room on Detroit's blueline for youngsters to play full-time.

I hope Chelios and Lilja are gone next season and Stuart gets a new contract.

This is how i feel also.

[haroldsnepsts 4,826]

Yeah, totally agree with you here. Chelios is not as sound as people make him out to be. Plus the whole mentoring aspect is overrated. Detroit has plenty of experince to mentor the kids, besides who is he going to mentor? There's never any room on Detroit's blueline for youngsters to play full-time.

I hope Chelios and Lilja are gone next season and Stuart gets a new contract.

I reluctantly agree with you.

The Wings have kind of a logjam on D. And honestly when you're talking about a 3rd pairing guy, Chelios may be solid, but a kid in that lineup spot has greater upside, even if he makes mistakes. Because the hope is whichever young guy that is in the third pairing, there's potential for him to become a better defenseman and move up in the lineup. With Cheli that ain't gonna happen.

Also agree that mentoring isn't really a factor on the Wings, considering the top pairing has 5 stanley cups and about 25 years experience between them.

Still, I hated Cheli for all the years he was with the Hawks, then learned to love him on the Wings. It's sad to think of him no longer on the ice pissing somebody off.

I really hope Stuart comes back, but it seems unlikely due to contract size, and he seems to want to be in southern cal.

Edited March 23, 2008 by haroldsnepsts

[Yzerfan1999 81]

I reluctantly agree with you.

The Wings have kind of a logjam on D. And honestly when you're talking about a 3rd pairing guy, Chelios may be solid, but a kid in that lineup spot has greater upside, even if he makes mistakes. Because the hope is whichever young guy that is in the third pairing, there's potential for him to become a better defenseman and move up in the lineup. With Cheli that ain't gonna happen.

Also agree that mentoring isn't really a factor on the Wings, considering the top pairing has 5 stanley cups and about 25 years experience between them.

Still, I hated Cheli for all the years he was with the Hawks, then learned to love him on the Wings. It's sad to think of him no longer on the ice pissing somebody off.

I really hope Stuart comes back, but it seems unlikely due to contract size, and he seems to want to be in southern cal.

QFT

Its time to make some room for some of these younger guys to get regular minutes. If he wants to stay with they Wings, give him an office job.

[Guest CaliWingsNut]

I'm all for keeping cheli another year.

I don't see this giant logjam in defense, and don't feel he needs to go. I also think our D is what's mostly getting traded this offseason.

[Opie 308]

I reluctantly agree with you.

The Wings have kind of a logjam on D. And honestly when you're talking about a 3rd pairing guy,Chelios may be solid, but a kid in that lineup spot has greater upside, even if he makes mistakes. Because the hope is whichever young guy that is in the third pairing, there's potential for him to become a better defenseman and move up in the lineup. With Cheli that ain't gonna happen.

Also agree that mentoring isn't really a factor on the Wings, considering the top pairing has 5 stanley cups and about 25 years experience between them.

Still, I hated Cheli for all the years he was with the Hawks, then learned to love him on the Wings. It's sad to think of him no longer on the ice pissing somebody off.

I really hope Stuart comes back, but it seems unlikely due to contract size, and he seems to want to be in southern cal.

I would whole heartedly agree with you if this was another team, can you imagine what these boards would have looked like had the wings not had Cheli, I am not talking about the injury bug, I am talking about with everyone healthy Lilja, Lebda, Meech, Kronwall, Quincey would all get dogged on. Making mistakes is not tolerated in Det, hell look at Lilja, Sammy, Lebda, anyone not named Lidstrom or Zetterberg at some point in time was critique for not shooting when and where they should, for giving up the puck, for passing when they should shoot, all the other crap (I might add all of this critiquing is done by people who have a better shot a Pro's VS Joe's than they do playing in the NHL).

Mistakes at the blue line is one thing that I think this team stresses on, when this team has been great in recent history the D was a big part of that, in years when the D wasn't as solid (either due to injuries, lack of Chem or lack of skill) the team has been ousted early in the post season.

I think the only reason Cheli is around still is that Defensively he is still better than the options.

He may not be the fastest, but the fastest (Lebda) is not as good defensively, he may not be the biggest (Lilja) but he is better defensively, so on and so forth. I am torn with the Cheli situation as well. I would love for him to be a tutor/mentor for the young guys, the only way to do that with Cheli is to have him playing here, he won't retire, and won't except a coaching position yet. Maybe things change if the wings win the cup, maybe they don't.

But I think until one of Lilja, Lebda, Meech, Quincey, Ericsson, Kindl can show that they are better in their own zone, Cheli will still be in the winged wheel.

Det is more concerned with winning than with making sure that Kindl or Lebda are happy with their ice time with the big club, Not that they are unhappy just saying the wings wouldn't care.

They will find a way to fill the void missing, and make sure they are a winner every year, because that is what the org wants.

If Cheli at training camp is the best option he will be, if someone shows to be better (and the contract situation works out ie waivers, FA, whatever) I have a feeling the wings will let Cheli know their plans and if he doesn't mind being a part time player (which I think he would not want to do) then he will probably stick around.

Because for every Dion Phanuef (Legit #1-2 ) there are 10 Maxim Kuznetsov's(busts) and 5 Brett Lebda's(Servicable #5-6) that come along, but there are very few Cheli's, guys who can play a very smart (Greg Maddux, bad analogy I know) heady game at an older age when they used to be a more physical and offensive of a player.

Either way I am torn, but I don't see the wings abandoning him soon, but if they do he will be picked up quickly, especially a team like the Panthers (not that Cheli would go there, or that I know some inside info) a young team that could really use a veteran smart D man, on the Leafs who could use at least one defensive defenseman!

[shannyfan1414 0]

I have to say that i'm not surprised on this one. I have a feeling that he just might play until he is 70. And that wouldn't surprise me either.

[NeverForgetMac25 483]

I reluctantly agree with you.

The Wings have kind of a logjam on D. And honestly when you're talking about a 3rd pairing guy, Chelios may be solid, but a kid in that lineup spot has greater upside, even if he makes mistakes. Because the hope is whichever young guy that is in the third pairing, there's potential for him to become a better defenseman and move up in the lineup. With Cheli that ain't gonna happen.

Also agree that mentoring isn't really a factor on the Wings, considering the top pairing has 5 stanley cups and about 25 years experience between them.

Still, I hated Cheli for all the years he was with the Hawks, then learned to love him on the Wings. It's sad to think of him no longer on the ice pissing somebody off.

I really hope Stuart comes back, but it seems unlikely due to contract size, and he seems to want to be in southern cal.

I'd love to bring Stuart back, but I don't see it happening. It's pretty clear he wants to be in SoCal and it might not matter what the Wings offer him. Obviously, they can't go overboard to keep him, but if the Wings give him $750,000 more than his market value, he still might not take it just so he can keep his family in Cal.

That being said, I think the Wings are looking at a UFA this offseason to fill the gap or inevitably bring up Meech full time along with Lebda or Lilja. Personally, I'd rather they go after a guy like Markov or another UFA of the like.

[Opie 308]

I think Markov's days as a wing are done, I wouldn't be surprised if his days in the NHL are done.

Mainly because no one wanted to touch him with a ten foot pole or their respective wallets.

Unless he drastically drops his asking price I have a feeling he is in Mother Russia for a long time.

Even if he dropped his asking price I would still rather have Stuart over him, but as you say the chances of that are slim to none, and none is in the lead right now.

For some people being away from their family is not a big deal, for some moving their family for a job is not a big deal, but personally I think that if this guy wants to be close to his family, doesn't want to move them more power to him, I have to respect that, but he has to realize what he is doing will impact the way teams look at and pay him. As long as he is OK with that than fine.

I just hope some how he realizes that Det will more than likely be a winning org for the next 5-10 years and he could have a shot at a cup everyone of those years that he is in Det. Then when he looks at the west coast and sees the teams he could play for have a lot of defenseman (ANA), rebuilding (LAK, PHO), or shipped him off (SJS, granted for a top 5 player in the league, but some guys take that personal), leaving him with Cal and Van. He went to Cal after Bos, and has never been to VAN.

I still see him playing of the west coast just not sure where?

[NeverForgetMac25 483]

I think Markov's days as a wing are done, I wouldn't be surprised if his days in the NHL are done.

Mainly because no one wanted to touch him with a ten foot pole or their respective wallets.

Unless he drastically drops his asking price I have a feeling he is in Mother Russia for a long time.

Even if he dropped his asking price I would still rather have Stuart over him, but as you say the chances of that are slim to none, and none is in the lead right now.

For some people being away from their family is not a big deal, for some moving their family for a job is not a big deal, but personally I think that if this guy wants to be close to his family, doesn't want to move them more power to him, I have to respect that, but he has to realize what he is doing will impact the way teams look at and pay him. As long as he is OK with that than fine.

I just hope some how he realizes that Det will more than likely be a winning org for the next 5-10 years and he could have a shot at a cup everyone of those years that he is in Det. Then when he looks at the west coast and sees the teams he could play for have a lot of defenseman (ANA), rebuilding (LAK, PHO), or shipped him off (SJS, granted for a top 5 player in the league, but some guys take that personal), leaving him with Cal and Van. He went to Cal after Bos, and has never been to VAN.

I still see him playing of the west coast just not sure where?

I would agree, but that's still the type of player I want the Wings to add this offseason. Ideally they'll ink Stuart, but seeing as that I don't think he'll stay I'd like to see them add someone like him or Markov. That type of player is a great compliment to the other Dmen currently under contract.

Edited March 24, 2008 by Never Forget Mac #25