Fan In Van

Pronger-mania

I don’t know what it is with Chris Pronger and Vancouverites, but it’s amazing how quickly he’s become public enemy number one in this town.

Let’s look at this objectively. I didn’t have a big problem with him while he was in Edmonton for that one season of glory; how could anyone really have a big problem with a player like Pronger at the time? Like Vincent Lecavalier, Joe Sakic and Nick Lidstrom, Pronger is another guy I would give an arm and a leg for; he’s won it all, hasn’t he? The Norris Trophy, the Hart Trophy, Olympic Gold, the Stanley Cup … they’re all in that trophy case back home in Dryden, Ontario. Yet there is a fire in this guy’s belly which enables him to play with such fierce competitiveness that you can’t really be surprised with what he did to Ryan Kesler.

I know I’m going against the grain of every Canuck fan’s thoughts here, but I’m only now starting to look at this objectively. Chris Pronger, though he’s a true blue Canadian, is not the smartest of NHL players, and his eight NHL suspensions will attest to that. And quite certainly, his skate stomping fiasco with Kesler is the worst suspension he’s ever taken. It was blatant, it was deliberate, and by God it was stupid. But Pronger was caught up in the heat of the moment, in a leg lock with Kesler. And when players get caught up in the heat of the moment, they can do some stupid things. True, he could’ve handled his action a lot differently, but again, I’m not here to talk about how he’s a smart player. To be completely honest, I’m surprised he didn’t get 10+ games.

But the point I’m making is that Chris Pronger’s skate stomp is a hell of a lot more different than Simon’s, Canuck fans. Simon’s skate stomp came after the whistle had blown. Simon deliberately tried to injure ex-Canuck Jarkko Ruutu after the play, whereas Pronger gave Kesler a stomp or two trying to free himself to get back into the play. Though they are the same action, they’re completely different scenarios. Any Canuck fan who suddenly expected Pronger to get anywhere close to the 30 games Chris Simon got was only kidding themselves. Had it been my way it would’ve been a 12 to 14 game suspension.

However, if you think this is going to suddenly eliminate Chris Pronger’s competitiveness, think again. I don’t know what is about Pronger, but I’m confident when I say Pronger is one of the top three defencemen in the NHL, up in the echelon where Nicklas Lidstrom and Sergei Zubov are standing with him. But the difference between Pronger and Lidstrom and Zubov is that he presents a unidimensional game; relentless physicality, a burning desire to win (and win consistently), and the ability to compete effectively at all facets of the game. And that’s something that only a big Canadian boy can do on that blueline.

Or maybe I’ve just been watching too many Don Cherry segments.