Blues to retire Pronger's #44

Send it to the rafters!

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 2 years ago
Blues to retire Pronger's #44
Zuma Press

The St. Louis Blues have announced that they'll be retiring Chris Pronger's #44 on January 17th, 2022 when the Blues take on the Nashville Predators.

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"You look at the names that are up there, the Blues greats - from Bobby (Plager and Gassoff) to Bernie (Federko) to Brian Sutter to (Brett Hull) to Al (MacInnis) - you look at the names up there and they are synonymous with the St. Louis Blues. To be up there is very special," Pronger told stlouisblues.com.

Pronger will become the eighth player in franchise history to have his number retired by the Blues, joining MacInnis (No. 2), Bob Gassoff (No. 3), Bob Plager (No. 5), Barclay Plager (No. 8), Brian Sutter (No. 11), Brett Hull (No. 16) and Bernie Federko (No. 24).

Pronger was originally acquired by the Blues in a controversial trade that sent fan-favorite Brendan Shanahan to the Hartford Whalers on July 27, 1995. During his nine seasons with the Blues, Pronger played in 598 regular-season games and tallied 356 points (84 goals, 272 assists) and 931 penalty minutes. Pronger was a four-time All-Star as a Blue, finished in the Top 5 of the Norris Trophy voting five times and in 2017, was named one of the "100 Greatest Players" by the NHL.

In the 1999-2000 season, Pronger helped the Blues to their best regular-season record in team history (51-19-11, 114 points) en route to capturing the Presidents' Trophy. In that season, Pronger recorded 62 points (14 goals, 48 assists) and a plus-52 rating and became just the second player in NHL history (Bobby Orr) to earn the Norris Trophy (NHL's best defenseman) and the Hart Trophy (NHL's Most Valuable Player) in the same season.

Pronger ranks among the leaders in Blues history in multiple categories: 14th in games played (598), ninth in assists (272), 13th in points (356), sixth in penalty minutes (931) and first in plus/minus (+140).

Originally drafted No. 2 overall by the Hartford Whalers in 1993, Pronger's career lasted 18 seasons, which included stints with Hartford, St. Louis, Edmonton, Anaheim and Philadelphia. He appeared in 1,167 career regular-season games, recording 698 points (157 goals, 541 assists) and 1,590 penalty minutes. He also played in 173 career postseason games and captured a Stanley Cup championship in 2007 while playing for the Ducks.