Chris Nilan

If you wore the opposition's uniform in a game against a team with Chris Nilan on it, you were guaranteed of one thing - he'd hit you. Hard. Very hard!

Best known as the long time tough guy of the Montreal Canadiens, Chris combined his incredible upper body strength with his good balance on skates to routinely paste guys into the boards or right on their behinds! He loved to hit, and his good hockey sense helped him become a devastating forechecker. Although just an average skater, Nilan used persistence and determination, along with anticipation, to hustle in on the puck carrier. And like all good hockey players, Nilan always finished his check, often running into the player after he hurried a pass to nowhere in particular. Unfortunately for Nilan, he was often a victim of his reputation and over aggressiveness. He'd often cancel out his hard forechecking work by raising his elbow or giving a guy a little shot to the head. That resulted in many minor penalties against the man known as one of the baddest boys in the NHL.

Known as "Knuckles" because of the bad shape his hands were in from the numerous fights he was in throughout his career, Nilan's true job in the NHL was to protect his teammates and act as the team's enforcer. He wasn't afraid of anyone and while he didn't always win his fights, he showed up and gave it everything he got. And you know he had to show up a lot when he was in Montreal in particular. Fierce rivalries with Quebec and Boston made Chris' knuckles ache in anticipation of the big game. He was a great guy off the ice, a great leader, always keeping the opposition honest and sacrificing his body for the good of the team. He was also known for using his stick for intimidation purposes.

Nilan led the NHL in penalty minutes two years in a row. In 1983-84 he sat in the penalty box for 338 minutes while in 1984-85 he bumped that up to 358. However Nilan wasn't strictly a goon who was good in the dressing room. In addition to his good forechecking ability, Nilan was at least a decent player. In the two years he led the league in PIMs, he scored 16 and 21 goals respectively. He added a 19 goal season in 1985-86 and was even part of the 1987 United States team in the Canada Cup tournament, scoring twice in 5 games.

Nilan patrolled the right win for Montreal from 1980-1988. In the 1987-88 season Chris' production slowed down a bit and there was even talk that he wasn't quite as physical as he used to be. The Canadiens decided to trade him while they could still get good value for him. They dangled him to the New York Rangers in a flip of 1st round draft picks.

In New York, Nilan ran into some serious injury problems, including a strained pelvic muscle that caused him to miss more than half of a season. He played in only 85 games in just over 2 seasons with the Blueshirts. In most of those games he was playing at less than 100% health, thus affecting his effectiveness on the ice.

The unthinkable happened in 1990 when the Rangers traded Nilan to the Boston Bruins. Finally Chris had a chance to play in his hometown, but it seemed extremely weird to see him wearing the "spoked B" on his chest. For so many years in Montreal Nilan would be the big gun in the on-ice war between the two hated rivals, and just never seemed quite right.

Nilan's injury problems continued to plague him Beantown. Ankle surgery cause him to miss half of the 1990-91 season.

1991-92 proved to be the final year that Chris played in the NHL. After playing 39 games with the Bruins, the Canadiens elected to pluck their former gunslinger from the Bruins via the waiver draft on February 12, 1992. Chris finished his career in a Habs uniform, just like it started.

Chris retired with 110 goals, 225 points and 3043 PIM! He added 8 goals and 17 points in the playoffs, as well as 541 PIM, which once stood as a record for most PIM in the playoffs in a career.