Red Wings again champs in deadline dealing

Sporting News, The, April 5, 1999 by Larry Wigge

He always looks angry at something or somebody. From hip checks to hammerlocks, Chris Chelios will do anything he can to win. He'd even cheat to win a game of marbles with his son. But that competitive nature has made him a three-time Norris Trophy winner as the NHL's best defenseman.

"That game face hasn't changed," Blackhawks center Doug Gilmour says of Chelios. "He's poured out more blood, sweat and tears for the Blackhawks than any other player.

"And now that the Blackhawks have turned their backs on him, he will take that kind of dedication to the Red Wings--and help them win their third straight Stanley Cup. Maybe four. You just watch and see."

"Never in a million years did I expect to wind up in Detroit," Chelios said before his first game against the Sabres, one day after the March 23 trading deadline. "I guess I'm going to have to change my mind-set. I've hated the Red Wings for so long.

"There were certainly some funny looks in our room in the first game against Buffalo, if you know what I mean. I looked at Brendan Shanahan one time--and we both started laughing about all the battles we've had over the years."

Chelios grew to loathe the Red Wings in nine seasons as a member of the division-rival Blackhawks. In fact, he hated them as a kid growing up outside Chicago.

"Now, maybe we can put our emotions together on the ice," Chelios says. "I wanted to finish my career as a Blackhawk. But I told the team if they had to trade me, I wanted to go to a team that had a chance to win another Stanley Cup. In that way, I think this is the perfect fit."

So how did Chelios go from never wanting to leave Chicago, from having a handshake, no-trade deal with Blackhawks owner Bill Wirtz, to pulling that Red Wings jersey he loved to hate for so long over his head last week? Because he wanted to be wanted, and the Blackhawks wouldn't give the 37-year-old defenseman a one-year contract extension for the same $3.7 million he's making now beyond next season when he told them he wanted to finish his career in Chicago.

The night before the trading deadline, Blackhawks general manager Bob Murray called Red Wings G.M. Ken Holland. His words were unexpected:

"Chris Chelios is now available."

Paying the price to win is what it's all about in the NHL--and the Red Wings have proved for the third straight year they can manipulate the trading deadline better than anyone else. They not only traded young defenseman Anders Eriksson and first-round draft choices in 1999 and 2001, but also gave Chelios a two-year contract extension at $5.5 million for each season.

"We knew all along that management would find a way to help us prolong this and give us a great opportunity to win three straight titles," Red Wings captain Steve Yzerman says.

And they weren't finished.

The Red Wings also acquired left winger Wendel Clark and goaltender Bill Ranford from Tampa Bay in separate deals and obtained defenseman Ulf Samuelsson from the Rangers.

In all, Detroit gave up Eriksson, two first-round picks, two second-rounders and one third-round pick

"I wasn't able to add up all the money," Offers G.M. Glen Sather says, jokingly. "The numbers went too high for me. I don't think they have a budget, so it doesn't make any difference.

"We had to break up the great Edmonton teams because the salaries got too high. Pittsburgh couldn't win the third Cup became they couldn't afford to pay the players more. But the Red Wings have a chance to be a dynasty because they have an owner who seems to have unlimited resources--and isn't afraid to spend it."

The past two seasons, the Red Wings were perceived to have a creaky defense, one with players 30 going on 50. It was seen as the team's primary weakness. Yet, the Wings scored back-to-back Stanley Cup finals sweeps over Philadelphia and Washington.

And now they have Chelios and Samuelsson, two high-mileage defensemen who routinely log between 24 and 30 minutes per game. Chelios won a Stanley Cup with Montreal in 1986 and knows the Western Conference well. Samuelsson won two Cups in Pittsburgh, the second one for current Red Wings coach Scotty Bowman in 1992.

"At the trade deadline, the haves have a distinct advantage over the have-nots in terms of what they can package," Canucks G.M. Brian Burke says. "If you look at Detroit, being able to part with some of the things they were able to part with, this is where depth in the organization shows up. When you get into that elite core of teams that have a legitimate shot, that's when you have to roll the dice."

Despite the Red Wings' 34-30-6 record, they again are positioned as favorites to become the first team since the 1980-84 Islanders to win three straight championships.

"We understand that there's going to come a time when we wake up and say, `Wow, we've got some holes,'" Holland says. "We could have gone status quo, but the way we were playing, it didn't look like a Cup was going to happen.

"It will be a long time in Detroit before a group of players like Sergei Fedorov, Steve Yzerman, Igor Larionov, all playing the way they are right now, are together again.... So why not add to that mix?"