Chelios' role with Wings won't include bench
Chris Chelios (far right) won’t be behind the Red Wings bench, but he’ll be involved. (USATSI)
Despite previous reports that Chris Chelios was set to join new Detroit Red Wings head coach Jeff Blashill’s staff, it appears he’ll be involved on a more limited basis instead. Chelios will work with the team’s defensemen, but told MLive.com’s Ansar Khan that he won’t be a full-time bench coach due to family considerations.
The Hall of Fame defenseman has been an advisor to hockey operations for the Red Wings for five years. He spent most of his time the last two seasons working with the Red Wings’ defensive prospects in the American Hockey League. He’ll continue working with blueliners, but it will mostly be at the NHL level now.
“Basically it’s the same role I had in Grand Rapids. I’m not going to be on the bench,” Chelios said. “It’s going to be great. I worked with Blash the last two years. The team had a lot of success and it was a lot of fun helping out.”
Though Chelios won’t be behind the bench for the Red Wings, he will be for the U.S. National Junior Team this year. On Wednesday, the four-time Olympian was named one of three assistant coaches to Ron Wilson for the 2016 World Junior Championship. U.S. National Team Development Program head coach Danton Cole and USA Hockey’s national goaltending coach Kevin Reiter were also named assistants.
It will be Chelios’ first time behind the bench for a U.S. national team after representing his country on 10 separate occasions as a player. Perhaps that will give the longtime defenseman the itch to take on a more prominent role within the Red Wings coaching staff, but for now he wants to focus on his family after a 26-year career as a player.
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