Crosby Or Pronger (prime). Who Would You Add To This Roster?

[McSuper]

Pronger would make us much better and would turn it up come playoff times . Crosby would make us like the Pens of the last few years . Even in their cup winning year it was Malkin that went into beast mold .

I would take Pronger 10 times out of 10 . look at 2006 he took an average team at best to the cup finals

 

[CaptainSexyPants]

Only skimmed the first page, but a little shocked at the number of Pronger votes. Was the stipulation made that he can't ask for a trade?

I'm a huge fan and it's no question we need a dominant #1 D more than a dominant #1 C, but Crosby for me AINEC. To have a guy like that elevating the play of Hall & Eberle and mentoring RNH...wow.

 

[Roof Daddy]

Man the praise Pronger gets here is incredible. Sure he was a good Dman. Seriously though best dman to ever play the game?

Weird he only won the one cup, but he can thank Niedermayer for that one.

Who said he was the best D man to ever play the game? For his era he was top 3, Lidstrom would have to be ahead of him, debatable between him and Niedermayer. But neither of those guys brought the nasty, physical edge Pronger brought. That edge is something that never gets factored into Norris voting, but definitely plays a part in the game. There's a reason ultra talented guys like Robert Nilsson don't last in this league, and it's because they are unwilling to pay the price to go to the front of the net. Pronger charged a higher price than most.

Nobody is saying it's an easy choice, you really couldn't go wrong with either, but on this team I don't get how the answer can be anything but Pronger. A defensive rock who can take every 2nd shift, penalty kill, play the point on the PP, and put up 50+ pts and 100PIMs (nearly all of the intimidating variety)? I'll take that guy.

 

[GMofOilers]

I may be biased from lingering 2006 nostalgia, but I think a prime, injury-free Pronger was one of the best defensemen to ever play. Look back to the 2006 Red Wings series - playing against another generational talent, Pronger basically beat Detroit by himself at times.

Who said he was the best D man to ever play the game? For his era he was top 3, Lidstrom would have to be ahead of him, debatable between him and Niedermayer. But neither of those guys brought the nasty, physical edge Pronger brought. That edge is something that never gets factored into Norris voting, but definitely plays a part in the game. There's a reason ultra talented guys like Robert Nilsson don't last in this league, and it's because they are unwilling to pay the price to go to the front of the net. Pronger charged a higher price than most.

Nobody is saying it's an easy choice, you really couldn't go wrong with either, but on this team I don't get how the answer can be anything but Pronger. A defensive rock who can take every 2nd shift, penalty kill, play the point on the PP, and put up 50+ pts and 100PIMs (nearly all of the intimidating variety)? I'll take that guy.

Post #32

Wow are memorys are short, in his era there was plenty of high end dman, Blake, Chara, Zubov, Gonchar, ontop of Lidstrom, and Niedermayer.

So Top 3? I dont think so, there is plenty of guys that made as big of or bigger impacts on their teams than Pronger, hell Pronger wasnt even his teams #1 man during his 10 years in St louis, Macinnis was.

 

[Njoy Oilers]

Pronger. Regardless of how it ended here. A bunch of scrubs went to within a game of winning it all, knowing he was their leader. Crosby doesn't seem to exude this.

 

[oobga]

Pronger. We need a Pronger so badly on this team. 30 mins/night against all the best players and hitting our forwards over the red line with perfect passes from our end all night long.

 

[booyakasha]

Pronger would make us much better and would turn it up come playoff times . Crosby would make us like the Pens of the last few years . Even in their cup winning year it was Malkin that went into beast mold .

I would take Pronger 10 times out of 10 . look at 2006 he took an average team at best to the cup finals

that is a BIG stretch.

I remember how under whelmed, I, and quite a few fans were with him during the season.
The Oilers scraped into the playoffs, do you not remember?

and then a lot of things, and players went right during the 2006 run...coaching, Roloson, Pisani, ..hell, if it wasn't for Torres, and his hit on Michalek during the SJ series to turn it around along with Rolosons save on Cheechoo, Edmonton is done.

the myth of Pronger has grown IMO..."he took a team"???? laughable. he was a part of it, sure, but not the only one.

 

[Spawn]

that is a BIG stretch.

I remember how under whelmed, I, and quite a few fans were with him during the season.
The Oilers scraped into the playoffs, do you not remember?

and then a lot of things, and players went right during the 2006 run...coaching, Roloson, Pisani, ..hell, if it wasn't for Torres, and his hit on Michalek during the SJ series to turn it around along with Rolosons save on Cheechoo, Edmonton is done.

the myth of Pronger has grown IMO..."he took a team"???? laughable. he was a part of it, sure, but not the only one.

No it isn't a myth. For that playoff stretch he was far and away the best player in the world and the best Oiler since Marc Messier left. It was an absolute sham that he didn't win the Conn Smythe that year.

If you are talking about all time defensemen you put Lidstrom ahead of Pronger due to having such a high peak for so long and having all those Norris trophies and so much team success. But absolute peak? I take Pronger all day every day. He did everything Lidstrom could do but was the hardest player in the world to play against.

I think prime Pronger vs Crosby now, I take Pronger. Crosby would be great obviously, but I think Pronger would make such a massive difference at both ends of the ice.

 

[Tarus]

that is a BIG stretch.

I remember how under whelmed, I, and quite a few fans were with him during the season.
The Oilers scraped into the playoffs, do you not remember?

and then a lot of things, and players went right during the 2006 run...coaching, Roloson, Pisani, ..hell, if it wasn't for Torres, and his hit on Michalek during the SJ series to turn it around along with Rolosons save on Cheechoo, Edmonton is done.

the myth of Pronger has grown IMO..."he took a team"???? laughable. he was a part of it, sure, but not the only one.

He started slow due to the lockout, much like many many other players

The Oilers also struggled much of the season due to atrocious goaltending

They reset for the playoffs after barely scraping in, and Pronger's dominant play anchored the newly installed neutral zone trap, turned the Oiler's defensive end into a no-fly zone for opposing teams for upwards of 30 minutes a game, every game. There is no myth about his contributions to that run, one of the best playoff performances in franchise history by an individual player. He out-played both Neidemayer and Lidstrom, and set the standard for the team throughout, and arguably should have won the Conn Smythe despite being on the losing team in the finals.

 

[GMofOilers]

He started slow due to the lockout, much like many many other players

The Oilers also struggled much of the season due to atrocious goaltending

They reset for the playoffs after barely scraping in, and Pronger's dominant play anchored the newly installed neutral zone trap, turned the Oiler's defensive end into a no-fly zone for opposing teams for upwards of 30 minutes a game, every game. There is no myth about his contributions to that run, one of the best playoff performances in franchise history by an individual player. He out-played both Neidemayer and Lidstrom, and set the standard for the team throughout, and arguably should have won the Conn Smythe despite being on the losing team in the finals.

Oh please Roli played as big or or bigger part in the 06 playoffs than Pronger. If Roli didnt get hurt we win the cup, Pronger couldnt win the cup by himself

 

[Tarus]

Oh please Roli played as big or or bigger part in the 06 playoffs than Pronger. If Roli didnt get hurt we win the cup, Pronger couldnt win the cup by himself

Pronger gets injured in the first game of the finals instead of Roloson, they don't win the cup either.

Roloson was good, but he also faced most of the shots from the perimeter due to the Oiler's suffocating defensive play during that run.

 

[Roof Daddy]

Post #32

Wow are memorys are short, in his era there was plenty of high end dman, Blake, Chara, Zubov, Gonchar, ontop of Lidstrom, and Niedermayer.

So Top 3? I dont think so, there is plenty of guys that made as big of or bigger impacts on their teams than Pronger, hell Pronger wasnt even his teams #1 man during his 10 years in St louis, Macinnis was.

Whose memory is short? You're trying to tell me MacInnis was the number 1 in St.Louis?

Check the time on ice there bud. There isn't a single season (other than the year Pronger only played 5 games due to injury) where Pronger doesn't play at least 1:00 more average ice time, including the Hart trophy season where he averaged more than 3:00 per game, over MacInnis. Maybe it's just me, but I'd think my #1 D man would see the most ice time.

As for the players you mentioned, Blake is definitely deserving to be in the conversation, but I still take the guy with the Hart trophy over him. Chara, equally deserving, but when he officially established himself it was when Pronger was nearing the end of his prime. Gonchar? Zubov? Do you work for the PHWA? *Looks at points for D men, submits Norris vote.*

 

[Roof Daddy]

Post #32

This post?

I may be biased from lingering 2006 nostalgia, but I think a prime, injury-free Pronger was one of the best defensemen to ever play. Look back to the 2006 Red Wings series - playing against another generational talent, Pronger basically beat Detroit by himself at times.

The post where he says "one of the best" suddenly becomes "best" when you read it? One of the best could mean anything, top 10 (would be a stretch), top 20 (debatable, but I'd put him there).

Pronger, in terms of where he ranks among all-time D men, is probably right in the same vicinity of where Crosby would rank among all time centers.

 

[Still DRAI]

I suppose "peak" would have been more accurate to say, but I stand by my belief that Pronger, in his physical prime and at the apex of his ability, was a special player.

Sure, Lidstrom played at a high level for longer, and Niedermayer had aspects to his game that Pronger didn't, but I personally think that the ability to physically take over for 30+ minutes is both rare and extremely valuable.

As far as "one of the best", like I've already said, Pronger's performance against Detroit was one of the best individual performances I've seen. He did that while playing against Lidstrom. I'm not going to bother with top-X all-time rankings, but if we could have that Pronger on our team, I'd take him over Crosby.

 

[McSuper]

that is a BIG stretch.

I remember how under whelmed, I, and quite a few fans were with him during the season.
The Oilers scraped into the playoffs, do you not remember?

and then a lot of things, and players went right during the 2006 run...coaching, Roloson, Pisani, ..hell, if it wasn't for Torres, and his hit on Michalek during the SJ series to turn it around along with Rolosons save on Cheechoo, Edmonton is done.

the myth of Pronger has grown IMO..."he took a team"???? laughable. he was a part of it, sure, but not the only one.

Without him or Rolo we do not make it to the finals . Rolo was aquired at trade deadline and he did not play that well until they playoffs , so he had no impact on getting us to the playoffs . Pronger was here for the year and was a big part of getting us to the show / Playoffs . But you are right others played above their heads on that run and Klowe then over paid them base on that run

 

[zetterburgers40]

would the oilers be serious cup contenders with crosby and pronger?

 

[Soundwave]

would the oilers be serious cup contenders with crosby and pronger?

Well an Oilers team with considerably less talent on it with Pronger went to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals.

I'm guessing yes.

Adding a player of this magnitude would completely change the franchise.

With Crosby *and* Pronger you're talking multiple Cups. Sid has never player with a d-man that dominant before, especially in a playoff setting.

Hockey isn't quite like basketball where one player can ridiculously tip the scales himself, but with Crosby or Pronger, given enough talent around them, they are huge game changers.

 

[AM]

Pronger should read this thread and realize what he missed out on.

 

[AlowlyMcOilersfan]

Pronger should read this thread and realize what he missed out on.

hope to see him behind the bench one day

 

[DarkSaturn]

Take Crosby.

Trade one of the wunderkids for a #1D.

 

[Beerfish]

Pronger was great in his prime but the oilers almost missed the playoffs with him and it was more Roloson getting us to the final in any case seeing as we were out shot in every game vs Det and the 1st two vs san jose.

Crosby is the best player in the game and does indeed have one cup. Crosby all day.

 

[Mc5RingsAndABeer]

Prime Pronger, in my opinion, is a top 3 defenseman to ever play the game. I put his prime behind Orr and on par with Lidstrom. I'd put his prime ahead of Bourque, Stevens, etc...

I'm taking prime Pronger.

 

[SK13]

I see some people here need to have the 05/06 season myth-busted.

First of all, the Oilers were an excellent team that year. They should have won the division.

They were 12th in GA with the worst Goaltending in the league. For 63 games that year, the Oilers had Morrison (.882), Conklin (.880) and Markkanen (.880) in goal. There were like 45 Goaltenders with 20 games better than all of them. That's every teams starter and half of their back-ups.

Imagine goaltending worse than Dubnyk last year for 25 more games and STILL making the playoffs. You honestly think if we had Roloson from the start, we wouldn't have cleared the 8 point differential between us and Calgary for the Northwest Division that year?

The Oilers allowed the fewest shots in the NHL. They were among the best faceoff and PK teams. They were the leagues best shot blockers. They had an excellent group of defensive forwards that included Horcoff, Stoll, Pisani, Moreau, Smyth, Reasoner, Dvorak and Peca - all but the last name on that list was at their most effective in the NHL.

Pronger was significant, but this wasn't all his doing. There were lots of areas the Oilers were better and it can't all be attributed to Pronger trickle-down.