TAMPA, Fla. — Lightning digital reporter and road radio color commentator Caley Chelios has resigned from her position to spend more time with her growing family as a full-time mom, she posted on Twitter.
“After five unforgettable seasons working for the Tampa Bay Lightning I have decided to resign from my position,” she wrote. “I loved every second of coming to the rink to work for this team and my Bolts family. While it was a very difficult decision, my husband and I are growing our family and residing in Chicago now, expecting our second child in a few weeks now.
“I hope to be back in the rink in the near future! Thank you Tampa Bay, Bolts Nation and all my colleagues for all the love and support these last few seasons.”
Chelios, the daughter of Hall of Fame defenseman Chris Chelios, was a mainstay on the team’s “Morning Skate Show,” often working with Lightning reporter Bryan Burns and radio play-by-play announcer Dave Mishkin.
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, Chelios has worked from Chicago, mostly in a Zoom video conference-based environment.
“I’m a little sad to have to stop working for the Lightning because I was so ready to continue growing my career,” she wrote in a goodbye post on NHL.com. “But I feel like right now, even financially putting that aside, I just feel like I should be present for my family. Two kids under two years old is going to be a handful.”
In March, Chelios covered the NWHL’s Isobel Cup Championship in Boston as a rinkside reporter with NBC’s AJ Mleczko Griswold and Kate Scott.
Chelios married Danny Vitale, a former fullback with the Green Bay Packers who was originally drafted by the Bucs, in the summer of 2019. Vitale retired from the NFL this summer.
Chelios delivered her first child, her daughter, Bella, soon after the 2020 season was paused due to the pandemic. Now, she is eight months pregnant with the couple’s second child. Her parents recently bought a house down the street from where she and Vitale live, she wrote in the goodbye post.
“My priority right now is being a mom and if I freelance and still stay in hockey as much as possible, I’m going to try to do both and do what I can,” she wrote.
“But it would have to be a pretty fortunate opportunity that comes up to be able to do both and not have to rely on full-time help at home in order to do that. So I want to be present while the kids are young and then I hope to definitely return once they’re a little bit older and in school full time. That’s my goal.”
