Chris Pronger

Chris Pronger
Christopher Robert Prongeris a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who is currently under contract with the Arizona Coyotes of the National Hockey League. He has not played since 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 eyeby the blade of another player's stick. Though not officially retired, he is not expected to play again. In October 2014, Pronger signed a contract...
ProfessionHockey Player
Date of Birth10 October 1974
CityDryden, Canada
When you don't win, obviously people are going to look and point fingers. Looking at the teams we had and looking at the teams Detroit had, there's a reason they were winning those Stanley Cups and we were losing to them.
We kind of got thrown under the bus after the first game. But we really stuck together. We saw our team evolve and develop into the team you saw at the end. Everybody was on the same page and playing great.
It was pretty disappointing, obviously. To come out with two periods, in probably our most important game of the season, the way we did ... It's disappointing and disheartening to see the position we've left ourselves in. At the same time, we need to dust ourselves off and come out and play a good game against one of the best teams in the league in Detroit.
Al did such a great job as captain last year. I need to focus and concentrate on helping this team win hockey games. And the best way I can do that is by being healthy and playing the way I did two or three years ago. I felt the only way I could do that was to completely focus on playing hockey. Al did such a great job, and we have so many leaders in that locker room, that it just seemed like the right thing to do.
They're a team you can't fall behind on. They play that defensive system. If you fall behind early it's an uphill battle and you exert a lot of energy trying to claw your way back.
I think it was bound to happen. I mean, you're eventually going to lose. What's important is how we respond to the loss. That's going to be critical for us. The makings of winning teams are how they return from a loss.
I'm not involved in any Philadelphia-related game or situation. When people claim I'm going to have a "vendetta" against every other Eastern Conference team I don't understand the logic: I'm not the one doling out the punishment.
You do what you can to help your team win, whether it's playing that many minutes or 24 or whatever is asked of you, you do. You prepare yourself to play as much as you're asked to play.
I was still very invested in the team, very invested in how we were doing. I realized I needed to take a step back and start focusing on myself, my head and my eye, try to get my health back.
You could kind of see after that first game how important he was. Taking the focus off of us and putting it on him, he awakened the team and let us go about our job. It'll be great having him there from a leadership perspective.
I'm sure he's looking. He's got a lot of cap room. I don't think there's too many teams who have as much as we do, but it's a tough market out there to find anybody right now. There's not a lot of teams who are going to give up anything.
We fell behind 2-0 to those guys and played right into their hands.
The so-called splinter faction in the union that is going a different direction has been drummed up by a lot of media members and people hoping a deal gets done. I can unequivocally say everyone is on board and understands the issues better.
Aside from our special teams, we played pretty well. That's been the story of our season so far.