CHICAGO – One of the toughest, and longest-playing stars of the National Hockey League, Chris Chelios, at a ceremony where the Chicago Blackhawks retired his number 7 jersey, said the day he was traded to his hometown team “was the greatest day of my life.”

“I just think how unique it is,” Chelios said after the ceremony. “It’s one thing to get your jersey retired and then it’s another thing to do it in your hometown,” he said at the event where it was raised to the rafters, said The Detroit Free Press.

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He helped the Detroit Red Wings win two Stanley cups and also played for the Montreal Canadiens and Atlanta Thrashers in a career that went from 1984-2010 and saw him among the league’s best ever.

“I should have thanked the Ilitch family, which I forgot, but my mind was racing,” Chelios said. “I think the Ilitches know how much I appreciated my time there and how great they were to me, too.”

Those at the ceremony included Dennis Rodman, who played for the Detroit Pistons and the Chicago Bulls during his career. Michael Jordan couldn’t make it. “MJ is here in spirit,” Chelios said of his close friend, the Bulls icon. “I’m hanging in the rafters with his jersey. We spoke yesterday. He’s always been there for me,” he said.

Chelios recalled how he got to know Rodman and Jordan during his days with the Blackhawks. Both they and the Bulls play at the United Center.

“We had a relationship with all the Bulls,” Chelios said. “Michael went out a lot, Dennis went out all the time. We could come back from practice and we would scrimmage with them before games. Rodman, he was a character.”

“There’s no question I was lucky, breaking in with Montreal the time I did it,” Chelios said. “I got to Montreal and it was like getting a Harvard degree because of the great players they had and the coaches and the leaders. It developed me into the player I was. By the time I got to Chicago, I was ready to take charge.

Chelios summed up his career – three Stanley Cups and tenures on three Original Six teams in one sentence: “No question, I was incredibly lucky.”