Chris Pronger

Christopher Robert Pronger ( or ; born October 10, 1974) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman and 2015 inductee to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

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.

Originally selected second overall by the Hartford Whalers in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft, Pronger has 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.

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 Nagano.

He won the Hart Memorial Trophy as the NHL's most valuable player for the 1999–2000 season.

He later was an advisor to the Florida Panthers of the National Hockey League (NHL).

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.

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.

A mainstay on Team Canada, Pronger won Olympic gold medals at the 2002 and 2010 Winter Olympics and is a member of the Triple Gold Club.

In February 2002, he won a gold medal with the Team Canada at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

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.

He has appeared in the Stanley Cup Finals with three different teams (Edmonton, Anaheim and Philadelphia), winning the Cup with the Ducks in 2007.

Pronger's playing career ended in November 2011 due to post-concussion syndrome related to three separate hits suffered during his career; he also suffers from 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.

In 2017, he was named one of the "100 Greatest NHL Players" in history.