Yeah whatever.

I just think that Philly wanted to throw its hat in the “Which Pennsylvania team can make the more-lopsided trade in favor of Anaheim” sweepstakes.  Dear Eastern Conference...please stop making the Ducks stronger and stronger.  But the backs of the Western Conference players’ heads would like to offer a collective ‘thank you’.

Posted by Animal Drew from A Nightmare on Helm Street on 06/29/09 at 10:04 AM ET

What is there to misunderstand about a dirty player that takes cheap shots and is frequently-suspended (and even then should get suspended more)?

Absolutely nothing.

Posted by Primis on 06/29/09 at 10:14 AM ET

Now the Eastern Conference can learn to love Pronger as the fans throughout the West has over the last decade & change.

Posted by mc keeper on 06/29/09 at 10:21 AM ET

I take it you’re referring to the Kunitz trade?

/sarcasm/
Yeah, what an awful trade, the Penguins worst +/- guy for a gritty winger and the guy who is now the Penguins top prospect according to Hockey Futures.

Awful trade.
/sarcasm/

Obviously Whitney was an unneeded commodity, since the Pens won the cup without him. If anything, he was hurting the team more than helping them on most nights.

Posted by Kstewy16 on 06/29/09 at 10:29 AM ET

Starring Chris Pronger and Danny Briere in the new hit film: Diving Tiger, Hidden Elbow! Coming this fall to an arena near you!

Posted by Alan from Atlanta on 06/29/09 at 10:54 AM ET

I take it you’re referring to the Kunitz trade?
/sarcasm/
Yeah, what an awful trade, the Penguins worst +/- guy for a gritty winger and the guy who is now the Penguins top prospect according to Hockey Futures.
Awful trade.
/sarcasm/
Obviously Whitney was an unneeded commodity, since the Pens won the cup without him. If anything, he was hurting the team more than helping them on most nights.
Posted by Kstewy16 on 06/29/09 at 11:29 AM ET

Did I say that it was an awful trade?  I said it made Anaheim stronger...which it did.  Man, you Pen(i)s guys are sure defensive.

Posted by Animal Drew from A Nightmare on Helm Street on 06/29/09 at 11:03 AM ET

Certainly, he has crossed the line at times, as eight career suspensions attest, but fans who are convinced that Pronger is nothing but evil are severely misguided.

Nope. We’re not the misguided folks here. Neither is the league, though I sometimes think the league gives him too much benefit of the doubt. He’s the anti-christ and everybody knows it. The elbows, the cross checks..he knows exactly what he’s doing and I have no sympathy when he gets caught. I actually used to like him. Sure, he was big and nasty, but he was a good adversary for the wings and everybody else in the west to have in st. louis. Then he goes knee hunting in an obvious attempt to injure. Although he got a bit of karma in the play, it sealed his fate and reputation.

Posted by UMFan from Colorado on 06/29/09 at 11:13 AM ET

You called it a lopsided trade, which it was not. It made the Pens stronger as well.

Posted by kstewy16 on 06/29/09 at 11:13 AM ET

Pronger’s personality is exceedingly strong, and there are definitely moments when he is surly. In time, he might rub some people the wrong way.

Yeah. He definitely “rubbed” Homer and many others the “wrong way”. I hope he has a long and “productive” career in the East...maiming their star players. It’ll make it just that much easier for a Western team to win the Cup in the future.

And as Drew said, we offer the Ducks organization a collective thank you for moving this goon out of the West.

Posted by OlderThanChelios from Grand Rapids on 06/29/09 at 11:19 AM ET

Color me underwhelmed. Wood’s defense of Pronger seems to consist of “Yeah, he’s a jerk and a dirty player, but he doesn’t actually strangle kittens.” Wood manages to dig up a few instances when Pronger didn’t act like an a-hole, plus a bunch of other cases where he finds some semi-plausible rationalization for Pronger acting like an a-hole.

Funny, I see a more direct explanation: he’s an a-hole.

Posted by jvwalt on 06/29/09 at 11:39 AM ET

Of course Pronger’s misunderstood.  So few people these days speak Cro-Magnon.

Posted by Stevis on 06/29/09 at 11:55 AM ET

Whatever.  Pronger’s a scumbag. Anaheim still has plenty of scumbags to go around including their granola munching Captain and punk ass bitch Corey Perry. So that’s good.

Oh, and I’ll bet you 19 dollars that the reporter Pronger so graciously granted an interview to was none other than the Eklund Tummy Rubber Andy Strickland, who has made a career of soiling himself if it means he stays on the good side of Sasquatch.

And, yes, here you go Pens fans...we know your team won the Cup.  They’re very talented. They played well.  They even deserved to win a few of the games.  Now go enjoy your summer with Stanley.  You have 48 Tuesdays left.

Posted by IwoCPO from Washington, DC on 06/29/09 at 12:49 PM ET

Wow.  Welcome back, Chief.  I missed you.  By the way...just booked my tickets for October 2nd and 3rd.  So I’ll be seeing you b!tches in Stockholm.

Posted by Animal Drew from A Nightmare on Helm Street on 06/29/09 at 12:57 PM ET

I’m happy.  With the whole Flyers/Pen(i)s matchup, it gives us a lot of great opportunities to watch the ‘quatch and cindy piss and moan at each other.  It’ll be interesting to see how gary handles it when pronger lays an elbow into his little muffin and puts him out for a couple weeks.  The rules of fizzix may finally not apply…

Posted by Ha Hockey on 06/29/09 at 01:39 PM ET

Posted by jvwalt on 06/29/09 at 12:39 PM ET

I think you’re wrong.  I bet he DOES strangle kittens. 

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 06/29/09 at 01:43 PM ET

Dan Wood can suck it.  Anyone who’s a fan of their team’s top players’ heads were leveled by Sasquatch’s fizzix-driven elbows and cross-checks completely understands Sasquatch.

Posted by SYF from Las Vegas, NV on 06/29/09 at 02:57 PM ET