10 years ago.

[Quality Oil]

I haven't even reviewed my comments.

But I remember thinking that it was twilight zone material for Pronger to be coming to the Oilers. This being the same guy that as a NHLPA rep who was fervent in his statements that small market clubs like the Oilers didn't belong in the NHL. I thought Pronger was a hypocrite to come here after his statements and never felt he would stay long or belong. He was a hired gun.

Also I have a perennial distaste for the St Louis Blues who pretty much since they got in the NHL have had a phoney tough style of play. A team that's tough in regular season that never does anything when it counts. Indeed the latter was one of my knocks on Pronger as well so I was surprised on how well he played in our post season.

All that said I don't like the Pronger personality. The player impressed me.

I want to buy you a beer, you beautiful cynical *******.

 

[Cizin]

There really is a contingent on here that is negative just for the sake of being negative.

There also must always be a whipping boy, some aren't happy unless someone has been singled out.

I don't remember where I was when I heard about the Pronger trade.

 

[Frank the Tank]

I'd take Bourque over doughty and most of those guys you listed. MacInnis didn't play a good enough all round game. Stevnens only looked that good offensively playing with good puck movers. Leetch and Coffey were borderline brutal in their own zone and flat out brutal during their first few years in the league.

I'd take Bourque over Niedermeyer, but IMO he's nowhere near Pronger or Lidstrom. Did either of Pronger or Lidstrom ever miss the playoffs in their entire career? I don't believe so.

Pronger/Lidstrom

Bourque
Niedermayer

MacInnis

Coffee


Stevens/Leetch

Bourque is arguably the second best defenseman ever (with Harvey and Potvin). I think Pronger was an all-time great defender, but no way is he in the discussion to be the guy behind Orr. For the record, the well-versed History of Hockey guys have Pronger at 20th all-time, which I consider low, but even in the most generous of listings he is closer to 20th than 2nd.

 

[Reverend Mayhem]

thadd, here you go underrating guys that don[t need it. Like, Bourque is severely overrated as a defensive player, but his offensive skills outweigh that heavily. Same for Leetch. These guys are fourth forwards in the same vein as Karlsson. They are invaluable simply cause no one plays like they do in their game, maybe there are 2 more guys like them in the league at a time. That however props them up and that's fine. They don't need to be great defensive players, they need to be at least zero-sum players which they eclipse easily. Don't get me wrong, Bourque is overrated, but he's still a once in a lifetime player.

 

[Blue And Orange]

10 years ago, I was in China visiting my grandparents. It was my first time in China in 9 years (before 2005, my last visit was 1996) and back then Internet was still not widely used. I found out about the Pronger trade at an Internet cafe in Beijing

 

[joestevens29]

Going through that old thread it really dumbfounds me how anybody can bring themselves to be negative about acquiring a world class talent like Pronger for such a reasonable price.


Even Prongers contract extension was very reasonable.

There really is a contingent on here that is negative just for the sake of being negative.

I don't know, people are the same now. Any time an elite level talent is talked about being traded for people become afraid of trading anyone worth while. Brewer was an Olympic d-man on a real country and was entering prime years. Woywitka was somewhat a local boy who was a 1st rounder who guys loved. Lynch I didn't think had much, but there was still some hype around him. Yet anytime Klefbom is mentioned in a trade we can't move him because he's some sort of elite prospect.

Go and look at the names mentioned in our prospect pool from the backend. People were okay with moving those propsects because we had Chorney, Syvret, Tesliuk, Roy, etc...

All of those guys including the guys we dealt were busts. Yet here we are 10 years later and still far too many love prospects far too much.

I keep seeing this being brought up in different threads. I have no idea what it's in reference to. I must have somehow missed this story back then. What's it about?

There was a rumor that people in Edmonton were burning Pronger's kid's crib. I can't remember where it started.

 

[Replacement*]

I want to buy you a beer, you beautiful cynical *******.

heh, this org has conditioned me to be negative about it through the years.

At the time of the acquisition I was convinced Pronger was only here because he needed a bridge year or landing place, shelter from the cap storm if you will, as most good teams had no capspace in which to pay such a player given the vastly reduced capspace contained in the new CBA. The good clubs had to pare cap severely, they couldn't pay for a Pronger in 05-06.

Fact is Pronger signed here because it was one of the few teams that could pay him. Suddenly the pay game had flipped and a small market team was one of the few that could pay in the range he wanted. That was a far cry from precap when only the rich teams could.

The reality is Pronger used us, and this org, to get a deal and probably had no intention ever of honoring the 5yrs. Really rumblings of discontent were sounding off half way through the initial season.

All that said Pronger played fantastic here, especially in the playoffs, during the short time that he did play here. But I was reluctant to be much of a fan of his play while fully expecting that his duration here would be brief.

Never thought Peca would be here long either. Neither player struck me as being thrilled to be here. Peca looked deflated in TC and much of the regular season.

 

[Del Preston]

There was a rumor that people in Edmonton were burning Pronger's kid's crib. I can't remember where it started.

Blues reporter Andy Strickland (Pronger's friend) started it on Eklund's site. Pronger eventually went on Jim Rome's show and repeated it. Idiotic. I remember the furniture store he had rented from called a radio station to say no damage was done to anything.

 

[Replacement*]

Blues reporter Andy Strickland (Pronger's friend) started it on Eklund's site. Pronger eventually went on Jim Rome's show and repeated it. Idiotic. I remember the furniture store he had rented from called a radio station to say no damage was done to anything.

Pronger appeared to be pulling cards out of the deck of epic excuses in his attempts to justify getting out of a contract;

-Wife is upset being here.

-No Macys here

-No Tiffany and Co. here

-Furniture on fire

-Kids getting picked on

-Restaurants not good enough

-local TV personalities too hot

-maid is too hot

-puck bunnies too hot

-too cold here, cept for opposite sex which is too hot here..

-Lauren no like any of the above..

 

[KMart27]

Pronger never missed the playoffs.

Pronger missed the playoffs twice.

 

[Quality Oil]

heh, this org has conditioned me to be negative about it through the years.

At the time of the acquisition I was convinced Pronger was only here because he needed a bridge year or landing place, shelter from the cap storm if you will, as most good teams had no capspace in which to pay such a player given the vastly reduced capspace contained in the new CBA. The good clubs had to pare cap severely, they couldn't pay for a Pronger in 05-06.

Fact is Pronger signed here because it was one of the few teams that could pay him. Suddenly the pay game had flipped and a small market team was one of the few that could pay in the range he wanted. That was a far cry from precap when only the rich teams could.

The reality is Pronger used us, and this org, to get a deal and probably had no intention ever of honoring the 5yrs. Really rumblings of discontent were sounding off half way through the initial season.

All that said Pronger played fantastic here, especially in the playoffs, during the short time that he did play here. But I was reluctant to be much of a fan of his play while fully expecting that his duration here would be brief.

Never thought Peca would be here long either. Neither player struck me as being thrilled to be here. Peca looked deflated in TC and much of the regular season.

This all makes me hurt inside.

 

[Replacement*]

This all makes me hurt inside.

Does anybody really dispute it?

Its what occurred. Even the org after the fact realized it had been played. I knew it from the outset and questioned often how NHLPA reps like Pronger and Peca, heads of an association that was outwardly critical of small market clubs even continuing to be in the league could end up playing for one.

Pronger for years had been clear that if small market clubs could not pay inordinate and inflated salaries they shouldn't be in the league. They weren't financially fit to be in the league. That was his position. Until he ended up signing a contract for one when it selectively benefitted him

Anybody should have detected the outright irony in Pronger ending up playing here. As stated a twilight zone moment from the word go.

The above is no comment on the player, its a comment on the person and his take on Edmonton Oilers even being in the NHL.

 

[Quality Oil]

Does anybody really dispute it. Its what occurred. Even the org after the fact realized it had been played. I knew it from the outset and questioned often how NHLPA reps like Pronger and Peca, heads of an association that was outwardly critical of small market clubs could end up playing for one.

Pronger for years had been clear that if small market clubs could not pay inordinate and inflated salaries they shouldn't be in the league. That was his position. Until he ended up signing a contract for one when it selectively benefitted him

Anybody should have detected the outright irony in Pronger ending up playing here. As stated a twilight zone moment from the word go.

The above is no comment on the player, its a comment on the person and his take on Edmonton Oilers even being in the NHL.

I was a fool to believe many of the players after the run would re-sign here. They all dashed from Edmonton faster than I could've imagined.

 

[oilz89*]

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?

You didn't stay at the GF's house?

 

[Replacement*]

You didn't stay at the GF's house?

She had another engagement at 12...


just kidding around

lol that you caught that part.

 

[rboomercat90]

heh, this org has conditioned me to be negative about it through the years.

At the time of the acquisition I was convinced Pronger was only here because he needed a bridge year or landing place, shelter from the cap storm if you will, as most good teams had no capspace in which to pay such a player given the vastly reduced capspace contained in the new CBA. The good clubs had to pare cap severely, they couldn't pay for a Pronger in 05-06.

Fact is Pronger signed here because it was one of the few teams that could pay him. Suddenly the pay game had flipped and a small market team was one of the few that could pay in the range he wanted. That was a far cry from precap when only the rich teams could.

The reality is Pronger used us, and this org, to get a deal and probably had no intention ever of honoring the 5yrs. Really rumblings of discontent were sounding off half way through the initial season.

All that said Pronger played fantastic here, especially in the playoffs, during the short time that he did play here. But I was reluctant to be much of a fan of his play while fully expecting that his duration here would be brief.

Never thought Peca would be here long either. Neither player struck me as being thrilled to be here. Peca looked deflated in TC and much of the regular season.

I think you're bang on in this post. It's easy to look back ten years later and come to this conclusion but like you, something smelled rotten to me from day 1 as well. I found it odd that he said it only took 10 minutes to talk his wife into it as well. I remember thinking a decision like that would have been more of an in depth conversation unless it was as simple as "hey, this is the only team that can pay me right now". I also thought his off the cuff comment about playing in Edmonton being a life sentence instead of a death sentence wasn't something a committed guy says about a team he just signed a five year extension with. Pronger and Peca were two of the most outspoken players against small markets during the lockout. My first thought when we landed both of them was that they were being punished for their comments.

 

[RoboNerdOK]

The whole Pronger saga reads like Charles Dickens...

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,
It was a season of hope, it was a season of disappointment,
It was the promised land, it was the depths of Hades,
It was a time of character wins, it was a time of mailed in games...

 

[McDynasty]

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

It's a interesting proposition, I think with Pronger we would have been contender for another 5-6 years with key pieces in place. It would have been great to see what would have been.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

You didn't stay at the GF's house?

it was Tuesday night...had to work the next day

plus, we got all that other stuff done earlier