What's up with Pronger?

[charlio lemieux]

I really thought Pronger would have loved the new NHL. The guy looks so smooth when he skates. And he just towers over most of the opposition. He has a great shot, and the ability to score almost a point a game. I have even read an article 2-3 years ago that talked about Pronger as the defenseman most likely to ever again score 100pts.

So where is it?
What is destroying his numbers?
He is frustrating the heck out of me on more than one pool team. When I watched him play earlier this year he still had great mobility and everything. There was nothing that was obvious that wrong with his game. But something isn't working.
I noticed he isn't shooting as much. He used to take over 200 shots a year and has under 40 so far.
Is he getting better?
Is he getting worse?
Is he injured?
What's the scoop?

[PDO]

Defensively.. he's still the best in the league. Bar none.

Offensively.. two things are hurting his numbers:

#1) He doesn't have Demitra, Fatchuk, MacInnis and Weight on his PP any more.
#2) He's playing with MAB - and making him look amazing. How? He's not rushing with the puck like he's capable of, because he won't leave MAB to be the last man back.

[Canadian26]

PDOs got it right... Hes not playing with the same type of offense anymore. And 2ndly, when hes paired with MAB, he cant excatlly rush the puck. MAB plays really well with pronger, because pronger just lets him rush with the puck. I would love to see pronger take the puck up the ice, but I think hes experincing kinda of a role shift with the Oilers. They dont need him scoring alot, I think they prefer his presence in general, and his relability on the blue line.

[charlio lemieux]

Maybe a pairing with Smith would improve the number of rushes he takes. The guy is one of the smoothest skaters in the league and should be encouraged to lead the rush any chance he gets.
As for more offense up front, is there anything blowing in the tradewinds out there?
Even with the players that are there, isn't the PP trying to feed him for a point shot like Toronto feeds McCabe. McCabe must get 10 to 20 touches per PP.
Maybe MacT should rework the PP so Pronger is the focus. Edmonton has one of the leagues best players in Pronger, and it sounds like half of his skill isn't even being used. Not that he isn't trying, but from what you've said the Oil aren't pushing him to provide offense. Too bad. He has a scary shot and it's a shame he doesn't get to use it as much any more.

[PDO]

A pairing with Smith is possible - but only if we were to acquire another defender, as a second pairing of Staios - MAB is simply unacceptably bad.

As for trade winds, there are rumors, but most of them wouldn't big a big impact.. your Viktor Kozlov's and Petr Sykora's.

The PP does focus on Pronger, he QB's the PP. He doesn't shoot a lot, usually he's baiting the shot while setting up Stoll.

[Yoata]

Looks to me like Pronger is coasting on his big fat long term contract.

[Max Power]

Looks to me like Pronger is coasting on his big fat long term contract.

Man that made me laugh after reading the rest of the posts
I don?t agree but still funny

[charlio lemieux]

A pairing with Smith is possible - but only if we were to acquire another defender, as a second pairing of Staios - MAB is simply unacceptably bad.

As for trade winds, there are rumors, but most of them wouldn't big a big impact.. your Viktor Kozlov's and Petr Sykora's.

The PP does focus on Pronger, he QB's the PP. He doesn't shoot a lot, usually he's baiting the shot while setting up Stoll.



Sykora is a waste in Anaheim. The Oil could get him cheap.
If you guys are going to take on Kozlov's salary, it should come with Colin White.
Stoll has a rocket too. Why aren't Stoll's blasts opening up Pronger more?

[Canadian26]

Pronger is generally feeding Stoll when hes on the PP. I think its becaus we have so many options on the blue line. Like even staios has an okay one timer. Pronger could just get a little more selfish with the puck, and start shooting himself more.

[slapshot™]

I don't see where Pronger is an offensive liability. So far (Dec29th - 37 games into the season), he has 4 goals and 16 assists for 20 points. That makes him on pace for 45 points this season.

Those numbers are typical for Pronger -> Pronger's stats at hockeydb.com (http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php3?pid%5B%5D=4397)

What's with this fascination of comparing Pronger with McCabe? If it wasn't for the whiney Tee-Oh media McCabe wouldn't even have been named to the taxi squad.

[charlio lemieux]

No one said he was an offensive liability. I am saying his offensive skills are being wasted on the oilers PP.
Typical stats under the Old NHL rules. There are a lot more powerplays now then there was. The game is more open, which has improved a lot of other players offensive stats.
So why are Pronger's numbers worse than last season?
His teammates are scoring more this season then the teammates he had, did last season, and yet his scoring is down almost 20%, by your projection.

[slapshot™]

Pronger is such a bum. I wish the Oil had someone like McCabe on the team. Damn, that would be nice....the parade route could be planned by now.

[charlio lemieux]

Pronger is such a bum. I wish the Oil had someone like McCabe on the team. Damn, that would be nice....the parade route could be planned by now.
That's nice. I don't about you Slappy. But if you want I would gladly trade you McCabe for Pronger, and then you could see how to properly use such a gifted player.

[Canadian26]

No one said he was an offensive liability. I am saying his offensive skills are being wasted on the oilers PP.
Typical stats under the Old NHL rules. There are a lot more powerplays now then there was. The game is more open, which has improved a lot of other players offensive stats.
So why are Pronger's numbers worse than last season?
His teammates are scoring more this season then the teammates he had, did last season, and yet his scoring is down almost 20%, by your projection.

I still dont understand why this is an issue... If there was lack of scoring on our PP, or if the oilers really needed Pronger to score on the PP his numbers would be higher but they DONT. So obviously his numbers are going to lower, when we have all the other players scoring like Hemsky, and Stoll. When players come to a different team, they often have a role shift, prongers role on the Oilers isnt to score but rather its to be solid defensively and to add alot of experince to the Oilers. Players are brought into teams for various reasons, sometimes its to perform the same at the same level they where before, but sometimes its for different reasons.

I maybe would be more concerned with peca not scoring as much, because thats what Lowe brought him into to do rather than your obession with pronger.

[charlio lemieux]

Interesting point, but why would any coach settle for a 12th overall(for today anyway) powerplay when he has a player capable of making it a top 5 squad? Unless he is incapable or unwilling to center his Powerplay on a player who has been, for most of the last decade, the best d-man in the league.
Pronger has 16pp points, McCabe has 30. With the proper Powerplay strategy Pronger could have close to 40pp points.
I don't know how anybody can even argue that, in a league where scoring is way up, Pronger's offensive performance to this point in the season has been anything but disapointing. While many players in the league are setting carreer highs, Pronger can't even match his output from when the league was a lot harder to score in. I know he's not the only one, but he's the only one I am interested in right now.

As for Peca not scoring. No surprise here.

As for why Lowe brought Pronger to Edmonton. If it was only for defense he would never play Pronger on the powerplay. There is no logical argument in saying Edmonton did not expect Pronger to drastically improve their powerplay. The Oilers are averaging 1 more goal for every 20 chances this year over the last season. (That is counting the absolutely terrible 8.0% success rate on the road the last season. If you ignore that obvious anomoly, the Oilers are only scoring 1 more goal per roughly 100 chances on the powerplay.) One goal per 20 chances could be anything from the natural development of players like Stoll and Hemsky, or to simply getting more 5-on-3's and 4-on-3's than where assessed during the last season. Or simply the fact that there are more powerplays has allowed players to get lucky more often. The fact that Pronger is in on barely 1/3 of Edmonton's powerplay goals tells me right away he is being wasted. He was in on 1/2 of St. Louis' powerplay goals in 03-04.
Further more, if you have read my posts I have no issue with Pronger's defensive play. But if, as you want to say, it is his defensive play that was the reason for getting him. His +3 rating is pretty pathetic for a 6million dollar a year defensive specialist. Especially when you look at Staios at +10 and Smith at +5. Both defensemen and both way cheaper.
But as I say, I am interested in his offense, or lack there of.

[charlio lemieux]

Pronger had 4, count them 4 Powerplay assists tonight against Calgary.
NOW THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!!!!
Hopefully, he will keep it up. WTG :thumb: :thumb: :thumb:

[Canadian26]

Ive seen prongers offense turing around as of late to. You also have to keep in mind that he is still adjusting to an new team, hes been playing with st.louis for a while. Hes been on the offensive board alot more lately, which may be indicating more offense by him in the future. For that reason I dont think you can compare him to McCabe, give him maybe two more weeks and I think his numbers will start to improve (although i still dont mind where they're at right now).