To Oilers fans, Pronger returning to scene of a crime
One of the greatest defensemen in NHL history will hit a notable career milestone this week, and hardly anyone is going to notice. Such is the reality for Scott Niedermayer.
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| Chris Pronger delivered bigtime in the playoffs for Edmonton. (US PRESSWIRE) |
Pronger, of course, is the other potential Hall of Fame defenseman on the Anaheim roster. And he'll be a lightning rod on a night circled on most local calendars since early July when the towering player joined the Ducks, only two weeks after leading the Oilers to the seventh game of the Stanley Cup Finals.
To say the least, Pronger's jilting of the organization didn't go over well with the long-suffering faithful who had conferred on him the iconic status of Oilers players from another generation in just his first season with the team. It was a tribute not only to his remarkable play but to his representing real hope for a hockey-crazed small market franchise under the new collective bargaining agreement.
When Edmonton traded for him as it revamped immediately after the lockout, Pronger signed a lucrative five-year contract that suggested smartly managed teams could compete in a salary-capped world and even afford some super-elite talent. And when Pronger keyed upsets of three powerful conference rivals after the Oilers barely sneaked into the playoffs, it helped create the sense that this relatively young team had an extremely bright future.
Then things changed before the proverbial body even had a chance to get cold from a tough Game 7 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes. And Pronger became a pariah in the process.
His agent let it be known that Pronger wanted out of Edmonton, leaking word as NHL teams gathered for the draft and Pronger was on a family vacation in Hawaii. It was a poor way to handle things, and it resulted in a frenzy of rumors and Internet innuendo that involved Pronger's wife and other personal matters. But Pronger waited several weeks before addressing the situation directly and even then would not reveal the reasons for his trade request.
"I understand why people were hurt, I feel for them," Pronger said back in July. "I didn't want it to turn out this way, but it was a personal matter, and it's going to stay that way."
So at the same time he was insisting that his experience in Edmonton was memorable, Pronger was also making it seem as if it wasn't where a superstar wanted to be. And that made it more difficult for the Oilers to extract the value they were looking for.
Funny thing is that it has turned out to be one of those extreme rarities, a trade that has worked out equally well for both sides.
At 32, Pronger has come as advertised, and alongside Niedermayer, has given the Ducks the most imposing and productive blue line in the league this season. Pronger leads all defenseman in scoring with 26 points, and Niedermayer is fourth. The duo has been great defensively as well and is the biggest reason for Anaheim's best start ever and runaway conference lead.
Meanwhile, the Oilers have worked around losing Pronger and others quite nicely, and they'll go into Tuesday's game riding a five-game winning streak and sharing first place in the Northwest Division. Just as important, the players they got in the package for Pronger are making significant contributions.
Right winger Joffrey Lupul, a playoff star for the Ducks last spring at age 22, is on pace to score almost 30 goals, and 20-year-old rookie Ladislav Smid is already playing nearly 19 minutes a night. Edmonton picked up three draft choices in first or second rounds as well, and with Pronger's $6.5 million salary off the books, it was able to afford the raises necessary to keep several other key players such as goalie Dwayne Roloson and forwards Ales Hemskey, Jarett Stoll and Fernando Pisani.
