But at the same time you have to look at the fact that Murray wasn't going to be able to retain him so he had to get the best deal he could.
It was about maximizing assets and I think those assets are still paying off for us.
No.
Pronger was traded because they couldn't afford to give him a very expensive, very risky 35+ contract. Also, if we kept Pronger, we most likely wouldn't have Fowler and Lindholm right now.
It was also a team in such cap hell that they needed to put a $1.65 million cap hit on long-term injured reserve just to call up a rookie, with not a whole lot on the way in terms of prospects. There was no way Prongermayer would have existed after that season.
In retrospect, having Scotty retire and keeping Pronger probably would have been the best course of action. Then again, who knows, maybe Pronger let it be known he wouldn't be going through any kind of re-tool. Tough to blame Murray if his hand was forced.
I think you have to look more to Murray's bosses on this one. It was the Samuelis that opened the wallets to green light Burke on bringing Pronger and big ticket players in, and it was most likely their directive to Murray that he get the team back within a certain healthy budget range that dictated the eventual Pronger trade. Signing him to that long term retirement contract might have seemed good for the short term, but with the plan to re-tool the team, restock the farm, and rebuild the team's depth through the draft, keeping Pronger in the long term was counter to that goal. Trading him for futures was the right call all things considered. I think it's also worth noting that Henry S. was in a little legal trouble circa 2008-9 and had to step out of his involvement with some of the team's decision making and financials. I have no idea what exactly he was or wasn't involved in with during that situation, but it could have had an impact on the financial flexibility of the ownership and Murray's ability to spend around that time.
Fiscially, we were in a bind. Thanks Burkie! Cupboard-wise we were bare. Again, thanks, Burkie!
It was a necessary move. You know how like all those cap teams had to get rid of its players a la Hawks this year (should have been last year too). We fell into that rut from Burkie. I'm happy with the cup, but realized doing it that way was wreckless. I don't like being a flash of light to never be seen again. I'd like sustained success. I'm quite happy with Bob's re-building on the fly construction to maintain sustained success.
From the drafts alone, because we weren't all that great due to lack of talent on the ice as well as in the pipeline, we were able replenish the cupboard and talent on NHL ice.
The Pronger trade kept us afloat as well as restock our cupboard. As the OP denoted:
Parts to re-acquire Beauch was great! He also helped in the mentoring of both Fowler and Magnus.
Parts to acquire Kesler... i'm still amazed at that one.
But Bob did a lot of trading. In a little unknown trade in the same year of the Prongs trade, we acquired Bonino from the sharks by trading away one of the components of the shutdown line Travis Moen. Bones was part of the package for Kesler.
Bob's tendencies of looking toward the future re-surfaced in the trading away of Bobby Ryan. We actually got the Sens' first round pick, which eventually ended up becoming a top 10 pick. So we had two #1's that year. We sent our original pick (not the Sens) in a package for Kesler.
It's pretty crazy that we're still dealing with components that are/were still a part of the Pronger trade. Thanks for re-visiting this, OP.