Chris Pronger (Anaheim Ducks) - He has to be seriously considered because of his veteran presence and the fact that he had a good playoff. He's a big game player. He also called me after I named my team [in February] and said "I'm going to make this team. I know I'm not on that list and I don't deserve to be on the list right now, but I'm going to be there."First off, I'm surprised that a guy like Pronger would be that worried about what old P might think about who is and isn't on his team, and I really am not just looking to rain all over his parade in the hours leading up to what is one of his most exciting events of the year, the NHL draft (although I'm sure he'll have us all excited tomorrow night as our respective teams draft their future all-stars), but REALLY? "Has to seriously be considered?". Matty and I were talking about this tonight, and neither of us think there's anyway that you can't have Pronger on the team. Forget his veteran leadership, forget his "big game" ability. While those definitely contribute, so does fact that Chris Pronger is considered one of the dirtiest players in the NHL.
While his presence on the ice alone may not strike fear in the hearts of our European foes and what is sure to be an undersized squad of US opponents, he will be in their minds when they step onto the ice with him. It's things like this that give Canada a great advantage when they can get opposing players off their game. While I don't have access to the players directly, I'm sure that a quick survey with players from Canada and abroad, if I asked "name one defenseman you would love to have on your team, but would hate to be playing against", the name Chris Pronger would come up more times than not.
Oh, and he's also a pretty good defenseman with a more than decent shot from the point.
Come on Pete, this guy's gotta be on the team.
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