Chris Pronger: Born to Be a Philadelphia Flyer

The Flyers made a major move on Thursday night by acquiring Chris Pronger and Ryan Dingle from the Ducks for Joffrey Lupul (Hey, Gary Bettman, it’s Joffrey, not Jeffrey), Luca Sbisa, two first rounders and a third-round pick. I absolutely love the deal.

Pronger brings a dimension of size, skill, and nastiness to the Flyers’ blueline that they’ve been lacking for decades. He’s 34-years-old and has one year remaining on his deal.

One thing I’ve always loved about the Flyers is that they are never afraid to go for it. Remember the battles Derian Hatcher had with Sidney Crosby during the first two years of Sid’s career? Pronger will take that to a whole new level. Between Ray Emery and Prongs, I’m willing to bet Crosby won’t be scoring too many goals from inside the blue line this season.

I understand that some people are upset the Flyers gave up a lot for the big man. Honestly, the only piece I’m sorry to see go is Sbisa. Lupul is a nice player but very streaky.

The Flyers also had six 20-goal scorers last season, so he was expendable. Therefore, dumping his contract is also a plus ($4.25M for each of the next four seasons).

Sbisa will become a quality NHL player but I’d trade him for Pronger at any point in either ones career. The Flyers have traded away first-round picks for veterans before and not regretted it. Dainius Zubrus for Mark Recchi, Mike Ricci for Eric Lindros, Maxime Ouellet for Adam Oates to name a few. These are first-round picks I can live without, especially since they are somewhere in the 20's.

And who remembers what the Oilers or Ducks traded away in order to acquire Pronger? The only thing people remember is that he played like a beast and took his teams to new heights.

In fact, in his only season in Edmonton, he led the Oilers to Game Seven of the Stanley Cup Finals. In his first year in Anaheim, the Ducks won the Cup. With all of this on his resume, I can’t wait to see how his first year in Philly plays out.

Besides Mike Richards, there was one guy I always thought was meant to be a Flyer and that was Chris Pronger. Now he’s in orange and black.

 

Here’s a description of Dingle from Philadelphiaflyers.com

Philadelphia also acquired young forward and prospect Ryan Dingle in the deal. Dingle, 25, posted 18 points (11G,7A) in 70 regular season games with the Iowa Chops of the AHL in 2008-09. He has a total of 25 points (12G, 13A) in 93 regular season games in the AHL with the Portland Pirates (2006-07 to 2007-08) and Iowa (2008-09).

A native of Steamboat Springs, CO, Dingle was a member of the University of Denver Pioneers’ 2005 NCAA National Championship team with current Flyers defenseman Matt Carle.

“We had our choice of a couple different guys, and I like Ryan,” said Holmgren. “He’s a good young player. Certainly he’s not a throw-in per se, because he’s a guy that we do have some time for.”

“He’s a little spark plug,” said Pronger of Dingle. “He’s a skilled guy, very fast, competitive guy. In training camp last year he had a great camp with us and opened a lot of eyes.”

Notes

• Pronger was a teammate of John Stevens on the 1993-94 Hartford Whalers where his first pro head coach was Paul Holmgren.
• This is the second time Lupul and Pronger have been traded for each other.
• Matt Carle will switch from No. 25 to No. 20, and Pronger will get to wear No. 25.
• It will be interesting to see how the Flyers handle the salary cap (Danny Briere, Mike Knuble, Andrew Alberts, backup goalie, etc.) with future moves this summer.