Chelios reportedly signs one-year deal

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DETROIT -- Chris Chelios must be very good friends with Father Time.

Elias Says
Chelios According to reports Wednesday, Chris Chelios signed a one-year deal with the Red Wings with intentions of playing his 23rd NHL season this fall. Only two defensemen have played as many as 23 seasons in the NHL: Tim Horton (24) and Al MacInnis (23). • For more Elias Says, Click here

According to a report by the Detroit Free Press on Wednesday, Chelios will return to the Detroit Red Wings for his 23rd NHL season in 2006-07 after signing a one-year contract with the club Tuesday.

The newspaper is reporting the deal is worth $850,000, the identical amount Chelios, 44, made this past season. The Chicago native, who has spent the last 6½ seasons with the Red Wings, is the oldest active player in the league and oldest ever to play for Detroit.

A second-round pick of Montreal in 1981, Chelios helped the Canadiens win the Stanley Cup five years later and also was a member of Detroit's championship team in 2002. He became the first American to win the Norris Trophy, in 1989, while with the Canadiens and captured the award in 1993 and 1996 while patrolling the blue line for the Chicago Blackhawks.

In 1,476 career games -- fourth all-time among defensemen -- with Montreal, Chicago and Detroit, Chelios has 182 goals, 925 points and 2,803 penalty minutes. He has represented the U.S. in four Winter Olympics, including in February in Torino, where he was team captain.

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