Christopher Robert Pronger ( or ; born October 10, 1974) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman. He won the Hart Memorial Trophy as the NHL's most valuable player for the 1999–2000 season and was inducted to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2015. Pronger was later an advisor to the Florida Panthers of the National Hockey League (NHL).
Originally selected second overall by the Hartford Whalers in the 1993 NHL entry draft, Pronger played for Hartford, the St. Louis Blues, Edmonton Oilers and Anaheim Ducks before being traded to the Philadelphia Flyers before the 2009–10 season. He was captain of the Blues, Ducks and Flyers. He appeared in the Stanley Cup Final with three different teams (Edmonton, Anaheim and Philadelphia), winning the Cup with the Ducks in 2007. Pronger won the Hart Memorial Trophy as the NHL's most valuable player for the 1999–2000 season, becoming the first defenceman to win the award since Bobby Orr in 1971–72. A mainstay on Canada national team, Pronger won Olympic gold medals at the 2002 and 2010 Winter Olympics and is a member of the Triple Gold Club. In 2017, he was named one of the "100 Greatest NHL Players" in history.
Pronger's playing career ended in November 2011 due to post-concussion syndrome related to three separate hits suffered during his career; he also has vision impairment due to being hit in the eye(s) by the blade of another player's stick. In October 2014, Pronger signed a contract with the NHL to assist its Player Safety Division.
Pronger was suspended eight times during his NHL career.
The St. Louis Blues retired Pronger's No. 44 on January 17, 2022.
Pronger was born in Dryden, Ontario, to Jim and Eila Pronger, an immigrant from Pori, Finland. Pronger is Finnish Canadian. Before entering the junior ranks in Ontario, he grew up playing minor hockey in his hometown. As a 15-year-old, he was identified through the Ontario U-17 program and signed with the Stratford Cullitons Jr. B (OHA) club for the 1990–91 season. One of his defence partners in Stratford was future NHLer Greg de Vries.
In May 1991, Pronger indicated he was going to join his older brother Sean at Bowling Green State University to play in the NCAA instead of opting to play in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL). Regardless of his pre-draft indications, the Peterborough Petes selected Pronger in the sixth round in the OHL Priority Selection. Contrary to his initial intentions, Pronger reported to Peterborough.
After two stand-out seasons with Peterborough, and because of being highly regarded for his rare combination of imposing size, speed, offensive skill (particularly on the power play) and physicality, Pronger was selected second overall by the Hartford Whalers in the 1993 NHL entry draft, behind Alexandre Daigle, who made the infamous statement, "I'm glad I got drafted first, because no one remembers number two."
Pronger made his debut in the 1993–94 NHL season, playing 81 games for the Whalers and earning a spot on the NHL All-Rookie Team. However, he was one of multiple Whalers that season with off-ice issues, being one of six players arrested for a barroom brawl in Buffalo in late March (the brawl also involved a Whalers assistant coach), and then being arrested for drunk driving in Ohio three days after his rookie season ended, leading some to consider Pronger impatient and immature. On his rookie season, then-teammate Kelly Chase said, "You could see [Pronger] had talent, but it was a ho-hum thing. He really didn't have any direction. He was under a lot of pressure and just wasn't ready for the responsibility. Of course that team wasn't exactly overloaded with players who knew how to win" (the Whalers finished second-last in the Eastern Conference that season). After a second season in Hartford, on July 27, 1995, he was traded to the St. Louis Blues in exchange for star forward Brendan Shanahan.
In the early years of his St. Louis career, Pronger played under coach and general manager Mike Keenan, who insisted he improve his conditioning and reduce his mistakes. Late in his first season in St. Louis, the acquisition of Wayne Gretzky took pressure off Pronger which, combined with Keenan's practices, allowed Pronger to concentrate on improving his defensive play.
In his third season with St. Louis and first as team captain, Pronger was again named to the All-Star team. That year during the 1998 Stanley Cup playoffs, he had a cardiac arrest caused by commotio cordis when he was hit in the chest with a puck in a game against the Detroit Red Wings. Prior to this, he played for the Canadian Olympic team in the 1998 Winter Olympics. In 1999–2000, Pronger recorded a career-high 62 points and a +52 rating. His efforts won him the Norris and Hart trophies at the end of the season. Pronger beat Art Ross winner Jaromír Jágr by just one point in Hart Trophy voting, which was, at the time, the smallest margin of victory in the history of the award. (Two years later, Jarome Iginla and José Théodore tied in overall voting; Théodore won with more first-place votes.) Pronger was also named to the first All-Star team.
Pronger scored 47 points the next season, but appeared in only 51 games due to injury problems. In February 2002, he won a gold medal with Canada at the 2002 Winter Olympics. That same year in the NHL, he had another fine season and played in the All-Star Game once again. But injuries became a problem again in 2002–03, limiting him to just five games played, during which time Al MacInnis replaced him as captain. Pronger bounced back with another quality season in 2003–04. Following the 2004–05 NHL lockout and the imposition of an NHL salary cap, the Blues traded Pronger to the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for defencemen Eric Brewer, Jeff Woywitka and Doug Lynch. While the Blues needed to reduce team salaries to make it easier to sell the team, the Oilers were able to sign Pronger to a five-year, $31.25 million contract.
Pronger was selected to play for Canada at the 2006 Winter Olympics, marking his third consecutive Winter Olympic Games. The Oilers went to the Stanley Cup Final that same year. On June 5, 2006, in game one of the Stanley Cup Final against the Carolina Hurricanes, Pronger became the first player in NHL history to score a penalty shot goal in a Stanley Cup Final game. The Oilers lost in game seven, with Pronger scoring a team-high 21 points (5 goals and 16 assists) in 24 playoff games, as well as a team-leading plus/minus rating of +10 during the playoffs.
On June 23, 2006, Pronger requested a trade through his agent, Pat Morris, from the Edmonton Oilers. Edmonton GM Kevin Lowe said the request was for personal reasons, while media outlets reported that Pronger's wife, Lauren, was not happy in Edmonton. The controversy surrounding Pronger's trade request has led many to describe him as "Public Enemy No. 1" in Edmonton.
On July 3, Pronger was traded to the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for forward Joffrey Lupul, defensive prospect Ladislav Šmíd, Anaheim's 2007 first-round draft pick (traded to the Phoenix Coyotes, which selected Nick Ross), a conditional first-round draft pick (contingent on the Ducks reaching the Stanley Cup Final within the next three seasons, which they did; the pick was used to select Jordan Eberle), and Anaheim's 2008 second-round draft pick (later traded to the New York Islanders).
In 2007, Pronger played an important role for the Ducks run as they won the Stanley Cup. It was also Pronger's second-straight Final appearance. During the Conference Final, Pronger was suspended for one game for a check on Detroit Red Wings winger Tomas Holmström. He later criticized the Canadian media's coverage of the incident. In the final round, Pronger was suspended for one game for elbowing Ottawa Senators winger Dean McAmmond in the head during game three. With the Stanley Cup victory, he became a member of the Triple Gold Club.
On September 28, 2007, Pronger was named captain of the Ducks, replacing Scott Niedermayer, who sat out the beginning of the 2007–08 season. Although Niedermayer returned to the lineup later in the season, Pronger remained captain until the start of next season, when Niedermayer was renamed captain. Pronger retained a role as alternate captain.