Chris Chelios leaving Detroit Red Wings for Blackhawks couldn't wait?

Detroit Free Press

Really, Cheli?

I don’t own a Detroit Red Wings sweater. But I feel like buying my first one today: a Chris Chelios No. 24 Red Wings sweater, just so I can burn it. Preferably during lunch time in front of Cheli’s Chili Bar.

To be clear, I have zero problems with Chelios moving home to Chicago to be closer to his family, and particularly his recently widowed mother. That was one of the main reasons he gave when he announced Thursday he was leaving the Wings organization after 19 years.

Chelios admitted in a released statement he was “skeptical about the 1999 trade that brought me to Detroit” because, as a Chicago guy playing for the Blackhawks, “we despised those Detroit teams of the 1990s.”

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Last week, this all felt true. This all felt real. Detroit and Chicago teams generally hate each other, and so do their fans. Wings-Hawks, Pistons-Bulls, Lions-Bears, Tigers-Sox. Hate. Beautiful, passionate hate.

Detroit Red Wings Chris Chelios smiles after it was announced that he was the second oldest player to play in the NHL after during the first period against the Colorado Avalanche in Detroit, MI on Tuesday, January 8, 2008.

But Chelios felt like a Wing right away. He was gritty, raw and real. He was a great player who helped the Wings win the Stanley Cup in 2002 and 2008.

Then, just four days after announcing he was leaving the Wings and planned on visiting Detroit whenever he could, Chelios took a job Monday as a Blackhawks ambassador.

Really, Cheli? Four days? Couldn’t wait just a little longer for the tears in Detroit to dry? I assumed he would take a job with the Blackhawks eventually. But four days?

This feels like it was orchestrated from the start. Maybe it wasn’t. Maybe the timing was just an incredible coincidence.

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But if Chelios’ job with the Hawks was already in the works last week, he should have waited to announce his move and his new job at the same time. I could understand a beloved player saying he’s leaving Detroit to be closer to family and also taking a job with his hometown team, even if it is a hated rival. It would make sense. The dude’s moving and he needs a job.

Instead, the delayed announcement feels like a calculated manipulation. And Chelios never acted that way when I covered him over the years. He was always a go-to guy and a straight shooter in the Wings’ dressing room. He was honest – probably too honest if you ask NHL commissioner Gary Bettman – and he didn’t pander.

Still, I wish Chelios well in his new gig. He suddenly feels a little less like a Red Wing to me, but you can’t deny the contributions he made the organization for nearly two decades.

So, good luck to you, Cheli. And one more thing: Blackhawks stink!

Contact Carlos Monarrez at cmonarrez@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @cmonarrez.