Hall of Famer Chris Pronger details how hockey greatness comes with a price
Fourteen years after hanging up his skates, Hall of Famer Chris Pronger has written a memoir that came out last week titled Earned: The True Cost of Greatness from One of Hockey’s Fiercest Competitors.
Pronger, a 6-foot-6, 220-pound defenceman, was indeed a fierce competitor during his 18-year NHL career after being selected by the Hartford Whalers with the No. 2 overall pick at the 1993 NHL Draft. He finished his career with 157-541-698 totals and 1,590 penalty minutes in 1,167 regular-season games.
He won both the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player and the Norris Trophy as the top defenceman in 1999-2000 with the St. Louis Blues. He won the Stanley Cup with the Anaheim Ducks in 2007 and won two Olympic gold medals with Team Canada in 2002 and 2010. In 2015 the Dryden, Ont., native was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame and in 2018 he was named one of the NHL’s 100 Greatest Players.
In his memoir, Pronger writes on learning about leadership, accountability and dealing with injuries. Those included a near-fatal cardiac event when his heart stopped beating after getting hit in the chest by a slapshot during a game in 1998, a career-ending eye injury and the concussions he suffered that made him realize he had to stop drinking alcohol in 2023.
During a recent 30-minute phone interview, Pronger talked with me about why he decided to write his memoir, his favourite and most difficult chapters in the book, playing high-school hockey instead of Triple-A hockey as a kid, what he’s most proud about his career and if he has any regrets, along with the possibility of a future working in TV or in management with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Here’s what the 51-year-old Hall of Famer had to say:
On why he decided to write a memoir
“I kind of kicked tires on doing a book off and on over the last 10, 12 years. Book agents and publishers and different people come at you for different reasons and I kind of went down that path for a little bit here and there and the book just didn’t feel right — the premise, the framework. About two-and-a-half years ago after I started building up my speaking platform and doing more speaking and taking advantage of that and digging into my career and the different experiences through youth hockey and then my career and post-playing it kind of really came together. A platform and a framework kind of presented itself and so as I started doing these speeches and whatnot and it started to kind of take shape. I was like: ‘OK, I think there’s a really impactful book here, one of intention and one that I think people can get a lot out of.’ Also a cathartic way of telling my story in my own unique way and kind of using it as a tool to help people develop and grow in their own way and in their own life.”
What’s his favourite chapter in the book?
“I’m partial to the early days.
“I kind of like my hockey history and things like that. Hearing (Winnipeg Jets goalie) Connor Hellebuyck’s story about how he didn’t play Triple-A, I think people would be shocked and surprised that I, too, didn’t play Triple-A. I played high-school hockey for two years and people are always: ‘What?’ Especially in Canada, who plays high-school hockey? I was 14, 15 years old playing high-school hockey and able to play against guys who were 18, 19, 20. So when you think about a 14-year-old playing against sometimes grown men with beards and whatnot — and I certainly played with those guys on my team. I may have been tall and I may have looked kind of the part, but certainly skinny and underdeveloped physically and things of that nature.
“So I had to learn leverage. A lot of the things that I did later I had to learn at an early time. Where you see the story of Eric Lindros, where he just bulldozed people and whatnot (as a kid), I had to learn leverage, I had to learn how to protect myself and how to utilize my attributes that I could later lean on when I became physically myself and a man.”
What was the most difficult chapter to write?
“I’m pretty comfortable in my own skin now. I certainly wasn’t back in those early days and early years of getting booed on home ice and all the rest of that. I kind of speak to that, but I think any time you have to take a long, hard look in the mirror when you’re 48 years old and your kids ask you to stop drinking because they don’t like how you act and things like that, that can be a hard conversation to have. Certainly hard from their extent in that they’re having to have that conversation.
“I think for me it was probably smart in the long run just from the sense that a lot of the guys that I played with or a lot of guys that I know who had concussion problems have had to quit drinking because of what it has done to their heads. I think as I got older, I don’t know if it was a problem in that regard that I woke up and I needed (alcohol), but when I drank it affected me immediately. It went straight to my head and I could feel it. I would go out after golf and have a couple of drinks and I’d wake up and I had blacked out after two drinks. So it just started affecting me differently and then at that stage you’re like: ‘OK, why am I doing this? What am I proving and why do I need to do this?’ And so, with the support of my wife and my kids and everybody, it was pretty easy and seamless to be able to quit.
“People drink around me all the time. It doesn’t bother me in that regard. My wife still drinks a little bit. It’s not something that when I’m out or I’m at a bar it’s tempting. To me, it’s a conscious decision to not do it for various reasons for my personal journey. I think that’s the other thing that I touch on in the book is that everybody has their own unique journey. Everybody has their own path and to look at what I did vs. somebody else … everybody has their own way.”
As for the title of the book, what was the biggest cost of greatness for him?
“I think the toll it takes on your body. I’ve had 16 surgeries, I’ve had a knee replacement. Because you have such high standards and because I was the whipping boy early in my career, I didn’t understand managers’ jobs, coach’s jobs, teammates’ jobs, trainers’ jobs are on the line every time you play. That’s just the business of sports.
“It took a while for me to understand that side of the game. Quickly learned when I got traded (from Hartford to St. Louis in exchange for Brendan Shanahan two years after getting drafted) and quickly learned when I was negotiating my contract and all the rest of that stuff. But you set high standards and expectations and you hold yourself above everybody else. But then you push your teammates and you push people. We have a short window here to take advantage of our careers and take advantage of the teams we have. I want to win. I want to win championships and you’re pushing people and it rubs people the wrong way sometimes. They don’t understand. They’re just happy to be in the league. Meanwhile, the pressure’s on you. When you’re the star, you got to win.
Editor’s Picks
“It’s so funny. During COVID I was watching The Last Dance with Michael Jordan. Not to the level of him, but I was like: ‘I used to do that and I used to do that and I used to do that.’ You have high standards and you have the expectation that you can win every game and you can win a championship every single year and you push people to their limits and you push people as hard as you possibly can. Some people are OK with it and some people push back against it and some people don’t care and don’t want to. They have a different outlook for their careers — and that’s fine. But then don’t play on my team (chuckles).”
On playing high-school hockey as a kid
“I played high-school hockey because I wanted to stay home. I wanted to play with my friends. I wanted to enjoy the game. It was just about having fun. I think at times we’ve kind of lost that with youth sports and hockey. It’s supposed to be fun for kids. It’s all about the enjoyment of the game. It’s not about getting to the next level. That’s for later. That’s when we’re older … when we’re 15, 16 and you’ve actually gone through puberty and you have a clue as to how good you might be. When you’re seven, eight, nine years old we don’t know how good a kid’s going to be — and anyone who tells you that is lying.
“I still have moments that I think back on where I’m like: ‘Oh, my God! That was so much fun.’ And that’s not to say I didn’t enjoy my NHL career, but a lot of pressure. There’s a lot of expectations, which I struggled with early on in Hartford and early in St. Louis. Those are the moments that give you the grit and the resilience to help shape your character. But the early days of playing youth hockey, it’s all about the fond memories of playing road hockey in front of my house with all my buddies, and playing down in the basement with my brother, playing on the outdoor rink and all the rest of that. Those are the moments that I remember with a smile and remember fondly.”
What is he most proud about his career?
“I think my ability to leave it all out on the ice. Once I got over the hump my third year pro — my first in St. Louis — and really understood who I was and how I needed to play and kind of just blocked out the noise and didn’t worry what people were saying, what the media was saying, what the opposition and coaches were saying. I got to a point where I’m like: ‘I can’t worry about that stuff. I really don’t care.’
“My ability to have longevity — played through a lot of different injuries and played the game hard — had some moments thinking of maybe retiring with my wrist and knee injury and all the rest of that. Fought through and battled through it. I thought I had to retire with my wrist injury and I played another 10 years. There’s moments of adversity that we face and how are we doing to get out of that? I think just my ability to keep finding myself and remaking myself.
“I was allegedly going to be a dinosaur in ’05 coming out of the lockout. ‘Oh, my God! How is he ever going to play with no hooking and holding?’ I would argue that I played better. Personally, I think I played better with the new rules.”
Does he have any regrets looking back on his career?
“I live my life on there’s no ‘What if?’ We don’t have rear-view mirrors attached to the sides of our heads. We don’t look back, we look forward for a reason. All of the mistakes — and I made plenty of mistakes, I talk about them in the book — all the mistakes we make are part of our path and part of our journey. They’re there to help us correct and help us learn and grow and evolve. I’m sure there’s some I’d like a do-over on.
“You have to really digest and dive into what you’re doing on a day-to-day basis and know that you’re only as good as your last day. You got to try to get one per cent better every single day. I think after that early part of my career and once I set standards for myself and once I figured out you get one career and you get one opportunity to make your mark, I dove in every single day. This is my day to get better, continue to push for that next opportunity and make sure you’re prepared for that opportunity. You might only get one and you have to be ready and prepared for it.”
After doing some TV work on Hockey Night in Canada this season, does he see a future for himself in the media?
“I’ve been digging into that a little more the last couple of years and we’ll see how that plays out. I know they’ve got the new TV deal and Amazon Prime and TSN and Sportsnet are all kind of talking, trying to figure out the landscape. I enjoy it. I enjoy trying to showcase the game for how I see it and through my lens. The nuance of it and the little idiosyncrasies that I know and if I see a play I can give my two cents on what I think happened and I think people appreciate that. I try to dumb it down in a way that everybody can understand without all the hockey verbiage and nuance, etc., so that the lay person at home sitting on the couch gets the sense of: ‘OK, I see the angles and I see this and that and it all makes sense to me.'”
His name has also come up recently as a possible member of a new management team with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Would that type of position interest him?
“Yeah. I’d never say never. I’ve been down that path. Worked in the league office for three years (in the Department of Player Safety) and learned the business side of the game and the league. And then worked as a senior adviser to the GM with Dale Tallon in Florida for three years. Got a good insight into that operation and how that all works. So I never say never.
“I think if the right opportunity presented itself I’d have to consider it. But I’m enjoying doing broadcasting and enjoying doing the public speaking and making an impact in that regard. I’m certainly open to having a conversation, but not actively out there trying to find a job in hockey. If it happens, great. If not, that’s great, too. I’m enjoying what I’m doing.”
The post Hall of Famer Chris Pronger details how hockey greatness comes with a price appeared first on Montreal Gazette.