It's often said that everything old is new again.
On Feb. 15, 2011, after five-plus seasons with the Ottawa Senators, the 6-foot, 193-pound center was traded to the Boston Bruins, an Original Six team that believed resolutely in its current championship credentials.
It's often said that everything old is new again.
On Feb. 15, 2011, after five-plus seasons with the Ottawa Senators, the 6-foot, 193-pound center was traded to the Boston Bruins, an Original Six team that believed resolutely in its current championship credentials.
The Senators, meanwhile, were in rebuild mode.
Coveted by the Bruins as a reliable face-off man and penalty killer, Kelly was hoisting the Stanley Cup aloft at Rogers Arena in Vancouver a little over four months later as the Bruins subdued the Canucks in a fractious seven-game series.
Quite the introduction to Beantown.
Drafted by the Senators in the third round (No. 94) in the 1999 NHL Draft, Kelly would spend three-plus seasons with London in the Ontario Hockey League before being acquired by rival Sudbury for a playoff push in his final junior year. Turning pro, there were the obligatory minor-league pit stops in Grand Rapids, Mich., Muskegon, Mich., and Binghamton, N.Y., to fine-tool his game.
After scoring 24 goals and 60 points in the 2004-2005 season with Binghamton, the Toronto native stuck with the Senators out of the next training camp, playing all 82 games.
His second year in Ottawa was one the fans won't soon forget, as the Senators went on one of those magical, galvanizing playoff marches, eliminating the Pittsburgh Penguins, New Jersey Devils and Buffalo Sabres en route to the city's first Stanley Cup Final appearance since 1927. There, they lost in five games to the Anaheim Ducks, with Kelly playing all 20 post-season games.
The trade to Boston brought Kelly a Stanley Cup title in 2011 - he contributed five goals and 13 points in 25 postseason games - and the Bruins appeared to be on their way again in the 2012-13 season, but they lost in the Stanley Cup Finals to the Chicago Blackhawks in six games.
On. Nov. 3, 2015, during a game against the Dallas Stars, Kelly suffered a broken leg that required surgery. A six-to-eight-month recuperation period effectively ended his season.
A free agent at age 35, Kelly brought his career full circle when he signed a one-year contract on July 7 to return to the Senators.
