Blues Keep Pronger In Green
Chris Pronger, the NHL's most valuable player last season, has agreed to a contract extension with the St. Louis Blues that will make him one of the league's highest-paid players.
The Blues and Pronger announced the deal at a news conference Thursday at the Savvis Center, prior to the team's game against the Calgary Flames.
Pronger signed a three-year, $29.5 million deal beginning in the 2001-02 season. He will get a $1 million signing bonus and earn $9.5 million per year for each of the three seasons, according to his agent, Pat Morris.
"Without question, it's a great day in the history of the franchise," owner Bill Laurie said.
Pronger, 26, is in the final season of a contract that pays him $4.675 million annually. Brian Leetch of the New York Rangers, at $7.68 million for this season, is currently the highest paid defenseman. Colorado's Peter Forsberg and Anaheim's Paul Kariya, each earning $10 million, are the league's highest paid players.
"All along, it wasn't completely about money," Pronger said. "But obviously, you expect to be in the area where you feel you are, and they put me there."
Pronger won the Norris Trophy as the NHL's best defenseman in addition to the MVP award last season. He was eligible to become a Group II free agent in July, meaning the Blues could have matched offers from other teams.
Late last month, Pronger and Morris called a news conference to announce they would not negotiate with the Blues during the season. At the time, Pronger said he didn't want to be distracted, though he expressed a desire to stay in St. Louis.
However, Pronger said the pending free agency proved distracting, keeping his mind on statistics and issues other than hockey.
"The biggest thing was when playing, I caught myself doing things not conducive to winning," Pronger said. "I want to concentrate on being a great hockey player."
At a lunch last Friday with team president Mark Sauer to talk about other issues, Pronger "wondered aloud" how final the team's final offer actually was. After the lunch, he asked Morris to call the Blues and work out a deal.
General manager Larry Pleau said what came next could hardly be called negotiations.
"When money is the only thing that matters, it's tough decision for both sides," Pleau said. "They put a number on the table. I wouldn't even call it negotiations - it took two or three minutes."
Besides the dual awards, Pronger led the NHL in ice time at 30 minutes, 14 seconds per game last season. He played 79 games last season and had 14 goals and 48 assists. His plus/minus of plus-52 was the best in the league.
In seven games this season, Pronger is averaging 27:43 a game. He has one goal and five assists, is a team-best plus-8, and is second on the Blues with 25 penalty minutes.
He served a one-game suspension imposed by the NHL Oct. 13 for leaving the bench two nights earlier to fight Los Angeles defenseman Kelly Buchberger. That fight was in retaliation for Buchberger breaking the nose of the Blues' Pavol Demitra.
Pronger, then a shaky 20-year-old, was something of a scapegoat when he came to St. Louis in 1995 in exchange for popular winger Brendan Shanahan. He has since become one of the city's favorite athletes, and was named captain of the Blues in 1997.
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