10 years ago.

[CantHaveTkachev]

this happened:
http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?t=158553

Lowetide with a nice piece:
http://oilersnation.com/2015/8/2/ten-years-ago-on-a-cold-dark-night

I was coming home from GF's place around 11PM that night when Gregor announced the trade on the TEAM 1260...darn near drove my car off the road

really signaled the "new era"of the NHL and that the Oilers were gonna be a major player with the big spending dogs of the NHL

where were you?

Click to read more...

 

[ohheyhemsky]

Brewer...Lynch AND Woywitka.

yikes. I dont know guys...if Prongs signs long term then yeah it's worth it.

This makes me laugh, and get angry all at once.

 

[McJeety McJeet]

A couple of funny posts in that thread about Pronger and his wife being "very excited" on coming to Edmonton. Man, they really didn't contain that excitement for very long.

 

[Aequitas]

I love how that thread really illustrates how people over value prospects. Too much for pronger? Both prospects busted. Sometimes potential is just that. I understand seeing a trade from the past is different but until you have a proven commodity you don't have a lot.

 

[Pointteen]

This announcement is what brought me back in as an Oilers diehard. It kinda fell off for a few years. Then the lockout surely didn't help.

Then...CFP.

 

[McChucky]

10 years ago I found HF Oil through the Pronger trade.

 

[Del Preston]

Reading that thread and knowing how much happened it's weird to think he was only an Oiler for 11 months.

 

[Perfect_Drug]

Haha, I was living in LA at the time. Didn't even know HF existed until that march.

XD

 

[Jumptheshark]

I was out drinking at the Maple leaf here in London with former mod Rabi Saulton (for those who remember him he has gone from IT to real estate and lost 100 pounds) and we were *****ing about the lack of activity by the oilers--I called him and woke him up at like 2 am London time to tell him

 

[lakai17]

Dvorak and Pisani were sick then. Spacek and Ulanov also going under the radar.

I was in shock that summer, I will never forget round 1 vs the wings later on and San Jose was a great series too.

 

[Ninety7]

Here's a question... would you rather pronger have never left and stayed until he retired, or mcdavid become an oiler?

 

[McRpro]

I was up late that evening, living in Thunder Bay, Ontario, when I decided to check the TSN website....BAMMM!

I was actually a bit bummed though cause I really liked Brewer and was a bit worried how the new rules on obstruction would affect Prongers game.

 

[Supermassive]

Here's a question... would you rather pronger have never left and stayed until he retired, or mcdavid become an oiler?

Pronger. Nothing is worth having to go through 9 years of this garbage.

 

[doorbag]

Pronger. Nothing is worth having to go through 9 years of this garbage.

Disagree. If there is one thing that could ever make 9 years of garbage worthwhile it is Connor McDavid.

 

[Rafters]

Would be nice to see similar trade on this anniversary

 

[vb]

A historic night! Remember being bummed out by all the free agents signing elsewhere - dont remember who exactly but Kairya and Niedermayer ring a bell. After the year long lockout this night made me so happy.

Only a few nights I remember like it, game 6 win in 2006, Gagner 8 point game, mcdavid lottery, ?

Thanks fir the reminder!

 

[LTIR]

Replacement was still replacement 10 yrs ago

 

[Frank the Tank]

I remember them introducing Pronger and Peca that summer. Pronger leaving decimated the franchise, but having a strong NHLPA man in Peca hanging out with the likes of Horcoff and Smyth for a season did not help matters either.

 

[LTIR]

I dont think anyone could come close to that deal now... Seabrook maybe the closest but he is not at that level.
If only Byfuglien would be more cerebral.

 

[guymez]

Prongers average TOI bewteen the ages of 24-32 years old was anywhere from 27 to 30 minutes a game.

Playing a player of that caliber for almost half the game changes everything.

I dont know if there is a player playing in the game today that can equal the impact of a Chris Pronger.
Maybe Drew Doughty but even he doesnt have Prongers physical dominance combined with elite defensive and offensive skills..

 

[thadd]

I dont think anyone could come close to that deal now... Seabrook maybe the closest but he is not at that level.
If only Byfuglien would be more cerebral.

There's no deal that could be that big for us now because we already have several players who're expected to be better than so many players on that team 10 years ago and a lot of our players are expected to get a lot better.

Our weak spot is still our blueline and the biggest move we could make is obviously one for a d-man.

There's no way that Chicago lets Seabrook go. They've given up too many assets that were going to cost them way more cap space further down the road. There's no way that they would have let so many good players go unless they had 100% intention of resigning Seabrook.

Big Buff would be huge for us and he's not going to cost a lot if the Jets trade him. If he goes to free agency he isn't getting 7M because he isn't a well polished product and because he often lets his temper get the best of him.

He'd be great on the 2nd pairing with Nurse. Nurse passes and rushes the puck well in the d-zone and the neutral zone and he skates well. That pairing would be more than a handful to deal with.

There have been 101 proposals involving Hopkins and Jones(Nashville) since we were a week into free agency and I'm a firm believer that we'll see this trade proposal pop up twice as often as soon as next season ends assuming that LD takes a significant step forward next year.

Nashville fans agree that the Preds would have to add. Doesn't matter what they're adding, we're making us a much better overall team if that trade ever goes through. If we grab Jones or Buff within the next 16 months it won't be a big of a pick-up as Pronger, but it'll probably be bigger for our team because we'll be picking up someone who's going to be the last piece we need to stay incredibly competitive for many years to come.

Pronger is the best d-man to ever play for us for sure. Beats out Coffee because of his better overall game, his ability to destroy forwards and his ability to control the pace of the game in the defensive zone. Before he came to Edmonton I just thought he was a beast in all zones, but I never really understood what a vacuum machine he was in the d-zone. Pucks coming into our zone were literally attracted to Pronger.

That being said picking up a right handed #2 d-man who either movies the puck really well, shoots the puck really well or knocks the **** out of everything that moves will transform our back end and Reinhart and Nurse will put us over the top.

We won't be stuck with Vancouver's problems of having too many #2 d-men and not having 1 amazing d-man to put our d-game over the top because we've got too many forwards who are smart, fast and skilled enough to play on the top line, whereas the Sedins had nothing behind them except Kesler on most years.

 

[Stainsy]

I was ecstatic. I thought that this was the beginning of something special. Then the Oilers proceeded to play like ****, lose games they should win. Lowe made some more trades, and we managed to back into the playoffs.

It was like someone turned on a lightswitch. The Oilers started to play decent hockey as a team. The first series, against Detroit, yeah, we were being out reffed, but MacTavish said something, and for once Detroit started to not get the veteran calls.

Second Series against SJ, we lost the first two games, and after Smytty left his teeth on the ice, came back, and set up Horcoff in the third OT period, they had no answer after that.

Against the Ducks, Oilers dominated.

When we got up against Carolina, and were ahead by so much in the first game, I was ready to celebrate six. Then Rolo go hurt, Conklin went in, and we lost. I won't blame him alone. After watching most of that series, the Oilers down, when they played game six, they dominated. May have been the most dominating game I saw from the Oilers since 1990. So how do you lay such a turd in game seven? I have a few theories, I will keep them to myself.

The only thing I thought after that rollercoaster, was, at least we still have Pronger. NOPE. ******* wants a trade. KLowe should have come out with, we signed a good contract with Chris, and we expect him to honour it. Instead, we traded him for peanuts, and Anaheim got a ****in cup with him.

 

[Rafters]

I dont think anyone could come close to that deal now... Seabrook maybe the closest but he is not at that level.
If only Byfuglien would be more cerebral.

Weber.....maybe Chara if it was a couple yrs ago

 

[thadd]

Prongers average TOI bewteen the ages of 24-32 years old was anywhere from 27 to 30 minutes a game.

Playing a player of that caliber for almost half the game changes everything.

I dont know if there is a player playing in the game today that can equal the impact of a Chris Pronger.
Maybe Drew Doughty but even he doesnt have Prongers physical dominance combined with elite defensive and offensive skills..

Did his minutes actually drop off when he hit 32? I thought it was around 34, but that's apples and oranges.

Doughty is the best d-man in the league. He can play any role... but he's no Pronger. I consider Pronger a generational talent. Doughty is almost up there... but I don't feel that we have a generational d-man right now.

Doughty might be one or look like one if he was playing with a team that played a different style of hockey. If his coach allowed him to pot 70 points a year this conversation would probably be going in a different direction.

 

[thadd]

Weber.....maybe Chara if it was a couple yrs ago

Weber wasn't as physically imposing because he's not as mean.
Weber doesn't move the puck as well.
Weber doesn't skate as well.
Weber doesn't dominate positionally like Pronger did.
Weber hasn't won anything.

Chara has 2-3 years where he was certainly up there, but he wasn't as mean often enough, he was much slower and he didn't distribute the puck as well.

Since the 90's it's Lidstrom and Pronger and then there's a huge discussion for #3-#20.