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Wednesday, December 1, 1999
Captain Happy still getting better
(CP) -- It's difficult to believe, but St. Louis Blues captain Chris Pronger is in his seventh NHL season.It seemed just like yesterday that the lanky defender was patrolling the blue-line for the OHL's Peterborough Petes.
"I was just talking to someone the other day and he said: 'Geez, this is your fifth year in St. Louis.' I said 'Yeah, and it's my seventh year in the league. I'm only 25,"' Pronger said Wednesday during an NHL conference call.
At an age when most players are just settling into the league, the six-foot-six blue-liner from Dryden, Ont., has fulfilled much of the potential that made him Hartford's first pick, second overall, in the 1993 entry draft.
But he's not done learning.
In his first few seasons, Pronger's skating and passing skills dramatically improved. Now he's on to another aspect of his game.
"The biggest thing I wanted to work on is my mental game," he says. "Sure, it's fine to be unpredictable and not have guys take liberties with you, but at times you're going to have to just suck it up."
Translation: He's trying not to beat everybody up like he used to. He's trying to control his temper. It's worked so far, he has only 11 penalty minutes. He had 180 penalty minutes in 1997-98, followed by 113 last season.
His game is well-rounded. Named the world's top defensive defenceman by The Hockey News, Pronger can also join the attack and is critical to the transition game of the Blues with pin-point passes to the forwards from deep into his own zone.
"He's got such a great stick," Blues assistant Mike Kitchen told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "His hand-eye co-ordination is the best I've ever seen."
And already in his young career, he's been in the running for the Norris Trophy, finishing third in voting two years ago and fourth last season, when teammate Al MacInnis won it.
Last season Pronger had 13 goals and 33 assists for a career-high 46 points. He has two goals, 13 assists and is plus-11 this season.
"He's such a great player making that first pass out of our end," said Kitchen, a former NHL defencemen. "Then he joins the rush. He's more give-and-go now. He's moving his feet more."
After two years in Hartford, Pronger was traded to St. Louis in the summer of 1995 in a blockbuster deal that saw star forward Brendan Shanahan go the other way. Then-Blues GM Mike Keenan took a lot of heat for the trade at the time for trading the popular Shanahan.
"Realistically, coming in here, I really didn't really feel any pressure ...," Pronger said, recalling the trade. "I didn't realize the type of player Brendan was in St. Louis. You knew he scored 50 goals and all those things, but you didn't realize the pillar in the community that he was and that things that he did off the ice that everybody loved him for."
But the Blues get the most out of the $3.425 million US they pay their captain. Pronger is second only to Derian Hatcher of Dallas in averaging just over 30 minutes of ice time a game.
"Specialty teams really come into play," he says of his workload. "If we're killing a lot of penalties, I'll be a lot more tired."
Pronger's nickname is Captain Happy, a crack at Pronger's crankiness.
"That's from my good friend in Calgary, Grant Fuhr," Pronger said, referring to his former teammate in St. Louis. "It comes from just being intense and being a grouch sometimes around the rink when things aren't going well."
Reports say Pronger slashes his teammates in practice when he feels they're not giving it their all. It's rubbing off in games. The Blues are 15-7-2-0 and in first place in the Central Division.
"We've quietly snuck up on people," Pronger said of the Blues. "For the most part, the effort's been there and we've played really well defensively. It's been a lot of fun."
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