Chris Pronger

Chris Pronger
Pronger pictured in 2007 after winning the Stanley Cup with the Anaheim Ducks.
Born	October 10, 1974 (1974-10-10) (age 37) Dryden, ON, CAN
Height	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
Weight	220 lb (100 kg; 15 st 10 lb)
Position	Defence
Shoots	Left
NHL team Former teams	Philadelphia Flyers Hartford Whalers St. Louis Blues Edmonton Oilers Anaheim Ducks
National team	Canada
NHL Draft	2nd overall, 1993 Hartford Whalers
Playing career	1993–present
Website	ChrisPronger.com

Christopher Robert Pronger (pronounced /ˈprɒŋɡər/ or /ˈprɒŋər/; born October 10, 1974) is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman and captain for the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League (NHL). Originally selected 2nd overall by the Hartford Whalers in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft, Pronger has played for Hartford, the St. Louis Blues, Edmonton Oilers, and Anaheim Ducks before being traded to the Flyers before the 2009–10 season, having also captained the Blues and Ducks during that time. He has appeared in the Stanley Cup finals with three different teams (Edmonton, Anaheim, and Philadelphia), winning the Cup with the Ducks in 2007. Pronger won the Hart Trophy as the league's most valuable player (for the 1999–2000 season) and was the first defenceman to win the award since Bobby Orr in 1972. A mainstay on Team Canada, Pronger won Olympic gold medals at Salt Lake City 2002 and Vancouver 2010 and is a member of the Triple Gold Club. Pronger is also one of only two former Whalers still active in the NHL (the other is goaltender Jean-Sébastien Giguère of the Colorado Avalanche).

Playing career

Early years

Pronger was born in Dryden to Jim and Eila Pronger, an immigrant from Finland. Before entering the Junior ranks in Ontario he grew up playing minor hockey in his hometown. As a 15-year old, he was identified through the Ontario U-17 program and signed with the Stratford Cullitons Jr. B (OHA) club for the 1990–91 season. One of his defence partners in Stratford was future NHLer Greg DeVries.

In May 1991, Pronger indicated he was going to join his older brother Sean at Bowling Green State University (NCAA) instead of opting for the OHL. Regardless of his pre-draft indications, Pronger was selected in the 6th round by the Peterborough Petes in the OHL Priority Selection. He subsequently reported to the Petes and played two years in the OHL before being selected in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft.

After two outstanding seasons with the Peterborough Petes of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), and because of being highly regarded for his rare combination of imposing size, speed, offensive skill (particularly on the power play) and physicality as a defenceman, Pronger was selected second overall by the Hartford Whalers in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft, behind Alexandre Daigle, who made the infamous statement, "I'm glad I got drafted first, because no one remembers number two."^[1]

Hartford Whalers and St. Louis Blues

He made his debut in the 1993–94 NHL season, playing 81 games for the Whalers and earning a spot on the NHL All-Rookie Team. However, Pronger was arrested for drunk driving, involved in a barroom brawl, and was considered by some to be impatient and immature.^[2] After a second season in Hartford, he was traded to the St. Louis Blues for star forward Brendan Shanahan on July 27, 1995.

In the early years of his St. Louis career, Pronger played under coach and general manager Mike Keenan. He would eventually become the team's captain, from 1997–2003.

In his third season with St. Louis, at age 23, Pronger was again named to the All-Star team. That year Pronger also had a brief cardiac arrest during the 1998 Stanley Cup Playoffs when he was hit in the chest with a puck in a game against the Detroit Red Wings.^[3] Prior to this he played for the Canadian Olympic team in Nagano. In 1999–2000, Pronger recorded a career-high 62 points and a +52 rating. His efforts culminated in a Norris and Hart Trophy at the end of the season. Pronger beat Art Ross winner Jaromír Jágr by just one point in Hart Trophy voting, which was, at the time, the smallest margin of victory in the history of the award. (Two years later, Jarome Iginla and José Théodore tied in overall voting; Théodore won with more first-place votes.)^[4] Pronger was also named to the First All-Star Team.

Pronger notched 47 points the next season, but appeared in only 51 games due to injury problems. In February 2002, he won a gold medal with the Canadian Olympic Team in the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. That same year in the NHL, he had another fine season and played in the All-Star Game once again. But injuries became a problem again in 2002–03, limiting him to just five games played. Pronger bounced back with another quality season in 2003–04. Following the 2004–05 NHL lockout and imposition of the NHL salary cap, the Blues traded Pronger to the Edmonton Oilers for defencemen Eric Brewer, Jeff Woywitka and Doug Lynch. While the Blues needed to reduce team salaries to make it easier to sell the team, the Oilers were able to sign Pronger to a five-year, $31.25 million contract.

Edmonton Oilers

Pronger was selected to play for Team Canada at the 2006 Winter Olympics, marking his third consecutive Olympic Games. The Oilers went to the Stanley Cup Final that same year. On June 5, 2006, in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals against the Carolina Hurricanes, Pronger became the first player in NHL history to score a penalty shot goal in a Stanley Cup Final game. The Oilers lost in game seven, with Pronger scoring a team-leading 21 points (5 goals, 16 assists) in 24 games, as well as a team leading plus/minus rating of +10 during the playoffs.

On June 23, 2006, Pronger requested a trade through his agent, Pat Morris, from the Edmonton Oilers. Edmonton GM Kevin Lowe said that the request was due to personal reasons,^[5] while media outlets^[6][7] reported that Pronger's wife, Lauren, was not happy in Edmonton. The controversy surrounding Pronger's trade request has led many to describe him as "Public Enemy No.1" in Edmonton.^{[8][9][10][11]} On July 3, Pronger was traded to the Anaheim Ducks for forward Joffrey Lupul, defensive prospect Ladislav Šmíd, Anaheim's 2007 first-round draft pick (traded to the Phoenix Coyotes, picked Nick Ross), a conditional first-round draft pick (dependent on the Ducks reaching the Stanley Cup Finals in the next 3 years, which they did, becoming forward Jordan Eberle),^[12] and Anaheim's 2008 second-round draft pick (later traded to the New York Islanders).

Anaheim Ducks

Chris Pronger with Anaheim.

In 2007, Pronger played an important role for the Ducks run as they reached the Stanley Cup Finals and later won the championship. It was also Pronger's second straight finals appearance. During the Conference Finals, Pronger was suspended for one game for a check on Detroit Red Wings winger Tomas Holmström.^[13] He later criticized the Canadian media's coverage of the incident.^[14] In the final round, Pronger was suspended for one game for elbowing Ottawa Senators winger Dean McAmmond in the head during game 3.^[15] With the Stanley Cup victory he became a member of the Triple Gold Club.

On September 28, 2007, Pronger was named the captain of the Ducks, replacing Scott Niedermayer.^[11][16] Although Niedermayer returned to the lineup later in the season, Pronger remained captain until the start of next season when Niedermayer was re-named captain. Pronger retained a role as alternate captain.

On March 12, 2008, Pronger was involved in an incident with Vancouver's Ryan Kesler. Pronger, after being tangled up with Kesler behind the Anaheim blue line, stomped unnecessarily on Kesler's leg. Kesler was not injured, and upon initial review the NHL did not suspend Pronger. However, upon new video evidence, which provided a better angle, the league once again reviewed the incident and gave Pronger an 8 game suspension. He returned to the ice April 6 against the Phoenix Coyotes in Anaheim's last regular season game of the year.^[17]

The 2008–09 season was quite successful for Pronger who played his 1000th career game on February 20, 2009. The Ducks would rally late in the season to jump into 8th place of the Western conference. They dispatched the President's Trophy winner San Jose Sharks in six games before falling to the Detroit Red Wings in seven games. Pronger had 2 goals and 8 assists in 13 playoff games.

Philadelphia Flyers

On June 27, 2009, Pronger, along with forward Ryan Dingle, was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for Lupul (earlier traded to Edmonton for Pronger in 2006), the rights to defenceman Luca Sbisa, two first round draft picks and a conditional third round draft pick. Ten days later, Pronger signed a seven-year contract extension that will most likely see him finish his career in Philadelphia.^[18] Nearly a month after signing, the NHL announced they had launched an investigation on Pronger's deal to determine whether it was a circumvention of the salary cap under the collective bargaining agreement. Because the contract is front-loaded, with annual salaries of just $525,000 in the final two years, and expires by the time Pronger is 42, the investigation was launched with the focus on the potential of negotiations between Pronger and the Flyers to retire before contract expiration.^[19] However, as Pronger's contract took effect after his 35th birthday, under the terms of the current collective bargaining agreement, his over-35 contract cannot be deleted from the Flyers' cap space unless he is placed on long-term injured reserve, and even then it would come back on the team's cap space during the offseason.

On December 30, 2009, Pronger was selected to play for Team Canada at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. He served as one of the team's alternate captains, along with Sidney Crosby and Jarome Iginla.^[20] The team won the gold-medal that year. Pronger became the leader for most Olympic games played for Canada after playing his 25th Olympic Game on February 28, 2010.

In the NHL regular season, the Flyers qualified for the playoffs on the last day of the season with a shootout win against the New York Rangers. However, a playoff run marked by an upset of the New Jersey Devils, an astounding comeback against the Boston Bruins from down 0-3 in the series and a thumping of the Montreal Canadiens would culminate in the Flyers playing the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2010 Stanley Cup Finals. Though the Flyers lost 4-2, it was another achievement for Pronger who had a strong playoff performance and lead a team that traded for him to the Finals for the third time in a row. Conversely, his former team continued another bizarre streak, as the Anaheim Ducks missed the playoffs. No team that traded Pronger away qualified for the playoffs the following year. Pronger has made the playoffs with every team that he has played for, except for the Whalers, and in every season, again except for the Whalers.

Following the playoffs, Pronger underwent arthroscopic knee surgery.^[21] Pronger missed the first two games of the 2010–11 season. Various other injuries would limit Pronger to just 50 games, marking the first time that Pronger missed significant time since the 2002–03 season, where Pronger missed 77 games. On September 16, 2011, Pronger was named the 18th captain in Philadelphia Flyers history, replacing Mike Richards.

Personal life

He and his wife Lauren have two sons, Jack Hunter (b. 2001) and George William (b. 2004), and one daughter, Lilah Marie, who was born on July 23, 2008.^[22][23] He lived in Irvine, California, while playing for the Anaheim Ducks.^[24] Pronger now resides in Haddonfield, New Jersey, while playing for the Philadelphia Flyers. He appears on the cover of NHL Hitz 20-03.

Transactions

Pronger playing at the 2010 Winter Olympics.

• June 26, 1993 – Drafted by the Hartford Whalers in the 1st round, 2nd overall.
• July 27, 1995 – Traded to the St. Louis Blues for Brendan Shanahan.
• August 3, 2005 – Traded to the Edmonton Oilers for Eric Brewer, Jeff Woywitka and Doug Lynch.
• July 3, 2006 – Traded to the Anaheim Ducks for Joffrey Lupul, Ladislav Šmíd, 1st round pick in 2007 (Riley Nash), and 1st (Jordan Eberle) and a 2nd round pick (traded to NY Islanders, Travis Hamonic).
• June 26, 2009 – Traded to the Philadelphia Flyers along with Ryan Dingle for Joffrey Lupul, Luca Sbisa, and Philadelphia's first round pick in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft (Traded to Columbus, John Moore) and the 2010 NHL Entry Draft (Emerson Etem), and a conditional pick for either the 2010 NHL Entry Draft or the 2011 NHL Entry Draft.

Awards

• OHL First All-Star Team – 1993
• Max Kaminsky Trophy – 1993
• CHL Plus/Minus Award – 1993
• CHL Best defenceman – 1993
• NHL All-Rookie Team – 1994
• Bud Light NHL Plus/Minus Award – 1998, 2000
• Played in NHL All-Star Game – 1999, 2000, 2001 (voted in as starter but injured), 2002, 2004, 2008
• James Norris Memorial Trophy – 2000
• Hart Trophy (MVP) – 2000
• NHL First All-Star Team - 2000
• NHL Second All-Star Team - 1998, 2004, 2007
• 2002 Winter Olympics - Won Olympic Gold with Team Canada
• Stanley Cup – 2007
• 2010 Winter Olympics - Won Olympic Gold with Team Canada

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

				Regular season						Playoffs
Season	Team	League		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1991–92	Peterborough Petes	OHL		63	17	45	62	90		10	1	8	9	28
1992–93	Peterborough Petes	OHL		61	15	62	77	108		21	15	25	40	51
1993–94	Hartford Whalers	NHL		81	5	25	30	113		—	—	—	—	—
1994–95	Hartford Whalers	NHL		43	5	9	14	54		—	—	—	—	—
1995–96	St. Louis Blues	NHL		78	7	18	25	110		13	1	5	6	16
1996–97	St. Louis Blues	NHL		79	11	24	35	143		6	1	1	2	22
1997–98	St. Louis Blues	NHL		81	9	27	36	180		10	1	9	10	26
1998–99	St. Louis Blues	NHL		67	13	33	46	113		13	1	4	5	28
1999–00	St. Louis Blues	NHL		79	14	48	62	92		7	3	4	7	32
2000–01	St. Louis Blues	NHL		51	8	39	47	75		15	1	7	8	32
2001–02	St. Louis Blues	NHL		78	7	40	47	120		9	1	7	8	24
2002–03	St. Louis Blues	NHL		5	1	3	4	10		7	1	3	4	14
2003–04	St. Louis Blues	NHL		80	14	40	54	88		5	0	1	1	16
2004–05	DNP — Lockout	NHL		—	—	—	—	—		—	—	—	—	—
2005–06	Edmonton Oilers	NHL		80	12	44	56	74		24	5	16	21	26
2006–07	Anaheim Ducks	NHL		66	13	46	59	69		18	3	12	15	26
2007–08	Anaheim Ducks	NHL		72	12	31	43	128		6	2	3	5	12
2008–09	Anaheim Ducks	NHL		82	11	37	48	88		13	2	8	10	12
2009–10	Philadelphia Flyers	NHL		82	10	45	55	79		23	4	14	18	36
2010–11	Philadelphia Flyers	NHL		50	4	21	25	44		3	0	1	1	4
NHL totals				1154	156	530	686	1580		173	26	95	121	326

International

Medal record
Competitor for Canada
Men's ice hockey
Olympic Games
Gold	2002 Salt Lake City	Ice hockey
Gold	2010 Vancouver	Ice hockey
World Championships
Gold	1997 Finland	Ice hockey
World Junior Championships
Gold	1993 Sweden	Ice hockey

Year	Team	Event		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1993	Canada	WJC		7	1	3	4	6
1997	Canada	WC		9	0	2	2	4
1998	Canada	Oly		6	0	0	0	4
2002	Canada	Oly		6	0	1	1	2
2006	Canada	Oly		6	1	2	3	16
2010	Canada	Oly		7	0	5	5	2
Senior int'l totals				34	1	10	11	36

All-Star Games

Year	Location		G	A	P
1999	Tampa Bay		0	2	2
2000	Toronto		0	0	0
2001	Colorado		—	—	—
2002	Los Angeles		0	1	1
2004	Minnesota		0	0	0
2008	Atlanta		0	0	0
All-Star totals			0	3	3

Notes

1. ^ Foster, Chris (2007-06-02). "Alexandre wasn't all that great". LA Times. http://articles.latimes.com/2007/jun/02/sports/sp-briefing2. Retrieved 2008-07-13. 
2. ^ Wigge, Larry (2006). "Pronger twists, turns into champion". NHL.com. http://www.nhl.com/columns/wigge/pronger060906.html. Retrieved 2007-02-26. ^{[dead link]}
3. ^ Dan Patrick:Outtakes: Chris Pronger (uncut)
4. ^ Smith, Cheryl M, ed (2000). FaceOff 2001 NHL Yearbook. Toronto: Worldsport Properties, Inc.. pp. 5. 
5. ^ "Pronger trade request overshadows Oilers draft". NHL.com. 2006. http://www.nhl.com/news/2006/06/275760.html. Retrieved 2007-02-26. ^{[dead link]}
6. ^ Tychkowski, Robert (2006-06-24). "Pronger's agent confirms he wants a trade". edmontonsun.com. http://www.edmontonsun.com/Sports/Oilers/2006/06/24/1650808-sun.html. Retrieved 2007-06-04. ^{[dead link]}
7. ^ Ireland, Joanne (2006-06-25). "Trade must strengthen Oilers". The Edmonton Journal. http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/sports/news/story.html?id=542a5646-0900-4f07-851b-0dcca2b6fdb1&k=81023. Retrieved 2007-06-04. 
8. ^ The Calgary Sun
9. ^ CANOE – SLAM! Sports – Hockey NHL – Phoenix – He's public enemy No. 2
10. ^ "Pronger: 'I knew I'd be Public Enemy No. 1'". ESPN.com. 2006. http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=2594778. Retrieved 2007-02-26. 
11. ^ ^{a b} CANOE – SLAM! Sports – Hockey NHL – Edmonton – Edmonton awaits Pronger's return
12. ^ Oilers watching Ducks' success closely
13. ^ Ducks' Pronger suspended one game
14. ^ Pronger speaks out on Game 4 suspension
15. ^ Ducks' Pronger suspended one game
16. ^ "Ducks Name Pronger Team Captain". Anaheim Ducks. 2007. http://ducks.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=NewsPage&articleid=338565. Retrieved 2007-09-28. 
17. ^ "NHL reviews Pronger stomp after getting clearer video of incident". Canadian Press. 2008. http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5j_ZLpPYot-w6lJKdgrdHgvfY9Ijg. Retrieved 2008-03-14. 
18. ^ http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/2009/07/07/pronger_extension_flyers/
19. ^ "Sources:NHL investigates Marion Hossa, Chris Pronger contracts". ESPN. 2009-08-01. http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=4369897. Retrieved 2009-10-16. 
20. ^ "Canadian Olympic Hockey Team: 2010 Roster Released". Huntington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/30/canadian-olympic-hockey-t_n_407458.html. Retrieved 2009-12-30. 
21. ^ "Arthroscopic knee surgery successful for Pronger". NHL.com. http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=535440. Retrieved 2010-09-13. 
22. ^ http://downloads.ducks.nhl.com/other/ANAplayoffguide09.pdf
23. ^ http://www.hockeycanada.ca/index.php?ci_id=11737&la_id=1&ss_id=22222&player_id=12378
24. ^ Lansner, Jon (2007-12-06). "Shady Canyon's last lot goes for $1.9 million". Orange County Register. http://lansner.freedomblogging.com/2007/12/06/shady-canyons-last-lot-is-sold/. Retrieved 2008-05-08. 

External links

• Chris Pronger's Official Website
• Chris Pronger's career stats at The Internet Hockey Database
• Chris Pronger at Hockey-Reference.com
• Chris Pronger's NHL player profile
• Chris Pronger at TSN.ca
• "Captain Crunch's Time Has Come", The Toronto Sun, February 1, 1998.

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Jaromir Jagr	Hart Trophy winner 2000	Succeeded by Joe Sakic
Preceded by Al MacInnis	Norris Trophy winner 2000	Succeeded by Nicklas Lidstrom
Preceded by John LeClair	Winner of the NHL Plus/Minus Award 2000	Succeeded by Joe Sakic and Patrik Elias
Preceded by John LeClair	Winner of the NHL Plus/Minus Award 1998	Succeeded by John LeClair
Preceded by Róbert Petrovický	Hartford Whalers first round draft pick 1993	Succeeded by Jeff O'Neill
Preceded by Wayne Gretzky	St. Louis Blues captain 1997–2003 Al MacInnis*, 2002–03	Succeeded by Al MacInnis
Preceded by Scott Niedermayer	Anaheim Ducks captain 2007–08	Succeeded by Scott Niedermayer
Preceded by Mike Richards	Philadelphia Flyers captain 2011–present	Incumbent

*NOTE: Al MacInnis served as captain for nearly the entire 2002–03 NHL season, while Pronger was injured and out of the line-up. Pronger resigned the captaincy at the start of the 2003–04 NHL season, in favour of MacInnis, but resumed the captaincy after MacInnis suffered a career-ending injury.

Persondata
Name	Pronger, Christopher Robert
Alternative names	Pronger, Chris
Short description	Canadian ice hockey defenceman
Date of birth	October 10, 1974
Place of birth	Dryden, Ontario, Canada
Date of death
Place of death