Chris Nilan
Encyclopedia
Christopher John Nilan is a retired professional ice hockey
player. Nilan played 688 NHL
regular season games as a right-wing
for the Montreal Canadiens
, Boston Bruins
, and New York Rangers
between 1980 and 1992. He won the Stanley Cup in 1986 with Montreal. Known as "Knuckles," he was famous for his propensity to fight.
where he idolized Bobby Orr
and dreamt of playing for the Boston Bruins
. He played his youth hockey with the Parkway (West Roxbury, MA) team of the Greater Boston Youth Hockey League (GBYHL), sponsored by the Metropolitan District Commission (MDC). He later played college hockey for the Northeastern University Huskies, from 1976 to 1979, averaging 3.5 penalty minutes per game in his final collegiate season.
Nilan was selected 231st overall in the 1978 NHL Entry Draft, and was best known as a tough-guy for the Montreal Canadiens in the mid 1980s. One of only nine players in NHL
history to have recorded more than 3,000 career penalty minutes, he holds the records of highest penalty minute average per game at 4.42 minutes per game, as well as the record for most penalties in a single game. It was March 31, 1991, when Hartford
played at Boston. Nilan was penalized a record ten penalties; six minors, two majors, one misconduct and one game misconduct, for a total of 42 penalty minutes.
Seriously hobbled by repeated injuries, Nilan missed over two hundred games in his final five seasons, and retired after the 1992 season. Highlights of his career include winning the Stanley Cup
in 1986 while with the Canadiens, being named to play for Team USA in the 1987 Canada Cup
and his controversial all-star selection to the 1991 NHL All-Star Game by his then-coach Mike Milbury
(Nilan missed the game with a broken left ankle), which led to changes in how players are selected for all-star games.
before returning to hockey as a coach. He was initially hired as an assistant coach of the New Jersey Devils
on August 3, 1995, and remained in that position until May 1996, before becoming a head coach for the Chesapeake Icebreakers
of the ECHL
.
In 2009, Nilan was arrested in Braintree, Massachusetts
for shoplifting after attempting to leave a Lord & Taylor
store wearing a pair of Tommy Bahama
swim shorts underneath the shorts he wore in. Nilan struggled with store security before police officers managed to subdue him. "I just wanted to save a few bucks," he told police.
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
player. Nilan played 688 NHL
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
regular season games as a right-wing
Winger (ice hockey)
Winger, in the game of hockey, is a forward position of a player whose primary zone of play on the ice is along the outer playing area. They typically work by flanking the centre forward. Originally the name was given to forward players who went up and down the sides of the rink...
for the Montreal Canadiens
Montreal Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The club is officially known as ...
, Boston Bruins
Boston Bruins
The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The team has been in existence since 1924, and is the league's third-oldest team and its oldest in the...
, and New York Rangers
New York Rangers
The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the borough of Manhattan in New York, New York, USA. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . Playing their home games at Madison Square Garden, the Rangers are one of the...
between 1980 and 1992. He won the Stanley Cup in 1986 with Montreal. Known as "Knuckles," he was famous for his propensity to fight.
Playing career
Nilan grew up in MassachusettsMassachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
where he idolized Bobby Orr
Bobby Orr
Robert Gordon "Bobby" Orr, OC is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. Orr played in the National Hockey League for his entire career, the first ten seasons with the Boston Bruins, joining the Chicago Black Hawks for two more. Orr is widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest...
and dreamt of playing for the Boston Bruins
Boston Bruins
The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The team has been in existence since 1924, and is the league's third-oldest team and its oldest in the...
. He played his youth hockey with the Parkway (West Roxbury, MA) team of the Greater Boston Youth Hockey League (GBYHL), sponsored by the Metropolitan District Commission (MDC). He later played college hockey for the Northeastern University Huskies, from 1976 to 1979, averaging 3.5 penalty minutes per game in his final collegiate season.
Nilan was selected 231st overall in the 1978 NHL Entry Draft, and was best known as a tough-guy for the Montreal Canadiens in the mid 1980s. One of only nine players in NHL
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
history to have recorded more than 3,000 career penalty minutes, he holds the records of highest penalty minute average per game at 4.42 minutes per game, as well as the record for most penalties in a single game. It was March 31, 1991, when Hartford
Hartford Whalers
The Hartford Whalers were a professional ice hockey team based for most of its existence in Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.A.. The club played in the World Hockey Association from 1972–79 and in the National Hockey League from 1979–97...
played at Boston. Nilan was penalized a record ten penalties; six minors, two majors, one misconduct and one game misconduct, for a total of 42 penalty minutes.
Seriously hobbled by repeated injuries, Nilan missed over two hundred games in his final five seasons, and retired after the 1992 season. Highlights of his career include winning the Stanley Cup
Stanley Cup
The Stanley Cup is an ice hockey club trophy, awarded annually to the National Hockey League playoffs champion after the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Finals. It has been referred to as The Cup, Lord Stanley's Cup, The Holy Grail, or facetiously as Lord Stanley's Mug...
in 1986 while with the Canadiens, being named to play for Team USA in the 1987 Canada Cup
1987 Canada Cup
The 1987 Canada Cup was a professional international ice hockey tournament held from August 28 to September 15, 1987. The finals took place in Montreal on September 11 and Hamilton, Ontario, on September 13 and September 15, and were won by Team Canada....
and his controversial all-star selection to the 1991 NHL All-Star Game by his then-coach Mike Milbury
Mike Milbury
Michael Milbury is an American sportscaster currently working as an ice hockey analyst for the New England Sports Network , Hockey Night in Canada and the NHL on NBC. He played twelve seasons in the National Hockey League , all of them as a defenseman for the Boston Bruins...
(Nilan missed the game with a broken left ankle), which led to changes in how players are selected for all-star games.
Post career
Nilan returned to the Boston area and went into the insurance business after retirement. He spent three years as community relations consultant for John Hancock InsuranceJohn Hancock Insurance
John Hancock Financial is a loose term for a United States insurance company which existed, in various forms, from its founding on April 21, 1862, until its acquisition in 2004 by the Canadian insurance company Manulife Financial. It was named in honor of John Hancock, a prominent patriot...
before returning to hockey as a coach. He was initially hired as an assistant coach of the New Jersey Devils
New Jersey Devils
The New Jersey Devils are a professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey, United States. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...
on August 3, 1995, and remained in that position until May 1996, before becoming a head coach for the Chesapeake Icebreakers
Chesapeake Icebreakers
The Chesapeake Icebreakers are a defunct minor league ice hockey team that played in the East Coast Hockey League from 1997-1999. The Icebreakers were an expansion team that was granted to Upper Marlboro, Maryland for the start of the 1997–98 ECHL season.Home games were played at a converted...
of the ECHL
ECHL
The ECHL is a mid-level professional ice hockey league based in Princeton, New Jersey with teams scattered across the United States...
.
In 2009, Nilan was arrested in Braintree, Massachusetts
Braintree, Massachusetts
The Town of Braintree is a suburban city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Although officially known as a town, Braintree adopted a municipal charter, effective 2008, with a mayor-council form of government and is considered a city under Massachusetts law. The population was 35,744...
for shoplifting after attempting to leave a Lord & Taylor
Lord & Taylor
Lord & Taylor, colloquially known as L&T, or LT, based in New York City, is the oldest upscale, specialty-retail department store chain in the United States. Concentrated in the eastern U.S., the retailer operated independently for nearly a century prior to joining American Dry Goods...
store wearing a pair of Tommy Bahama
Tommy Bahama
Tommy Bahama is the Seattle-based manufacturer of casual, men’s & women’s sportswear, denim, swimwear, accessories, footwear and a complete home furnishings collection. The brand is owned by Atlanta-based Oxford Industries. Tommy Bahama is available at Macy's, Neiman Marcus, Sak's Fifth Avenue,...
swim shorts underneath the shorts he wore in. Nilan struggled with store security before police officers managed to subdue him. "I just wanted to save a few bucks," he told police.
Career statistics
| Regular season | Playoffs | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season Season (sports) In an organized sports league, a season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session. For example, in Major League Baseball, one season lasts approximately from April 1 through October 1; in Association football, it is generally from August until May In an... |
Team | GP | G Goal (ice hockey) In ice hockey, a goal is scored when the puck completely crosses the goal line between the two goal posts and below the goal crossbar. A goal awards one point to the team attacking the goal scored upon, regardless of which team the player who actually deflected the puck into the goal belongs to... |
A Assist (ice hockey) In ice hockey, an assist is attributed to up to two players of the scoring team who shot, passed or deflected the puck towards the scoring teammate, or touched it in any other way which enabled the goal, meaning that they were "assisting" in the goal. There can be a maximum of two assists per goal... |
Pts Point (ice hockey) Point in ice hockey has three official meanings:* A point is awarded to a player for each goal scored or assist earned. The total number of goals plus assists equals total points. In some European leagues, a goal counts as two points, and an assist counts as one... |
PIM Penalty (ice hockey) A penalty in ice hockey is a punishment for inappropriate behavior. Most penalties are enforced by detaining the offending player within a penalty box for a set number of minutes, during which, the player can not participate in play. The offending team usually may not replace the player on the ice,... |
GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | ||
| 1979–80 | Montreal Canadiens Montreal Canadiens The Montreal Canadiens are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The club is officially known as ... |
15 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 50 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 1980–81 | Montreal Canadiens | 57 | 7 | 8 | 15 | 262 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 1981–82 | Montreal Canadiens | 49 | 7 | 4 | 11 | 204 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 22 | ||
| 1982–83 | Montreal Canadiens | 66 | 6 | 8 | 14 | 213 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | ||
| 1983–84 | Montreal Canadiens | 76 | 16 | 10 | 26 | 338 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 81 | ||
| 1984–85 | Montreal Canadiens | 77 | 21 | 16 | 37 | 358 | 12 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 81 | ||
| 1985–86 | Montreal Canadiens | 72 | 19 | 15 | 34 | 274 | 18 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 141 | ||
| 1986–87 | Montreal Canadiens | 44 | 4 | 16 | 20 | 266 | 17 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 75 | ||
| 1987–88 | Montreal Canadiens | 50 | 7 | 5 | 12 | 209 | |||||||
| 1987–88 | New York Rangers New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the borough of Manhattan in New York, New York, USA. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . Playing their home games at Madison Square Garden, the Rangers are one of the... |
22 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 96 | |||||||
| 1988–89 | New York Rangers | 38 | 7 | 7 | 14 | 177 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 38 | ||
| 1989–90 | New York Rangers | 25 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 59 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 19 | ||
| 1990–91 | Boston Bruins Boston Bruins The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The team has been in existence since 1924, and is the league's third-oldest team and its oldest in the... |
41 | 6 | 9 | 15 | 277 | 19 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 62 | ||
| 1991–92 | Boston Bruins | 39 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 186 | |||||||
| 1991–92 | Montreal Canadiens | 17 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 74 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 15 | ||
| NHL totals | 688 | 110 | 115 | 225 | 3043 | 111 | 8 | 9 | 17 | 541 | |||
Awards and achievements
- 1991 NHL All-Star Game (injured, did not play)
- Played for Team USA in 1987 Canada Cup1987 Canada CupThe 1987 Canada Cup was a professional international ice hockey tournament held from August 28 to September 15, 1987. The finals took place in Montreal on September 11 and Hamilton, Ontario, on September 13 and September 15, and were won by Team Canada....
tournament