Chris Pronger Earns His Say

Hockey Hall of Famer Chris Pronger stopped by to promote his new book, Earned: The True Cost of Greatness, and the conversation moved fast across three decades of hockey, two gold medals, and one legendary house party.

Pronger opened by connecting the dots between himself, Rich, Joe Buck, and Michelle Beadle. Rich, it turns out, was the reason Joe and Michelle ever exchanged numbers. Beadle was working at NFL Network when Buck asked Rich for an introduction. Twelve years of marriage and two kids later, those kids are now skating at Blues games on intermission. Pronger and Buck go back to St. Louis, where John Hamm, Pronger's old bartender, and Joe all intersect in the book.

The Hartford Whalers chapter got a laugh. Pronger remembered playing at the mall rink, ESPN colleagues taking a young Rich to a game, and the night Jagr and Mario Lemieux both dropped hat tricks while Pronger wore a green plus-minus-five jersey.

The Gretzky stories carried real weight. Pronger credited Wayne with taking the scrutiny off him at a critical point in his St. Louis years, a quiet lane to find his own game. Then came the Mike Keenan story, second game of the second round against Detroit, the glowing Fox puck, an 8-1 loss, and Keenan going off on every player in the room, including Gretzky himself. Pronger believes that's the moment Wayne decided not to re-sign.

On the current NHL, Pronger's must-watch list included Macklin Celebrini in San Jose, Nathan MacKinnon, Connor McDavid, and Sidney Crosby, who he marveled at for still producing at age 38. On Alex Ovechkin breaking Gretzky's goal record, Pronger emphasized the longevity piece. Twenty years of 40-plus goals, while playing a physical style, is something he doesn't expect anyone to approach soon.

He ran through his own surgical resume without flinching. Sixteen operations. Three wrist, three hand, five right knee, one left knee, foot, back, jaw. A new knee. The hardest hit of his career came from Ethan Moreau in Edmonton on a play where Pierre Turgeon bailed at the last second and Pronger picked his head up to meet a freight train.

Asked why hockey lets players fight and stay in the game, Pronger gave the practitioner's answer. It's a pressure valve. It sends messages. It prevents the stick from becoming a weapon. He referenced the Four Nations USA-Canada throwdown as proof that three fights in 35 seconds can set the tone for an entire tournament.

The closer was the 2007 Stanley Cup party in Shady Canyon. Sugar Ray played by the pool, a subterranean garage turned into a blacked-out club, and the cops spent three hours trying to find his house because the bass was echoing across the canyon off the 405. When they finally knocked, Pronger invited them in for photos before politely turning the music back up the moment they left.

Chris Pronger remains exactly what you expect. Blunt, funny, and honest about every surgery, every fight, and every cup he ever raised.