On Saturday, February 9th, the St. Louis Blues announced that they will retire Chris Pronger, who wore number 44.
No. 44 will hang up there with the greats, and that’s right where it belongs. https://t.co/ThPXLEDMEE #stlblues pic.twitter.com/VEsyDdcv8P
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) February 9, 2020
Pronger and fellow Blues legend Al MacInnis were at a season ticket holder event on Saturday afternoon when MacInnis surprised Pronger with the news.
Chris Pronger Will Have Number Retired by Blues
In a press release Pronger said, “You look at the names that are up there, the Blues greats – from Bobby (Plager and Gassoff) to Bernie (Federko) to Brian Sutter to Hullie (Brett Hull) to Al – you look at the names up there and they are synonymous with the St. Louis Blues, and to be up there is very special.”
The Hockey Hall of Famer was drafted second overall by the Hartford Whalers in the 1993 NHL Draft. Two years later Pronger was traded to St. Louis in a blockbuster deal that had fellow Hall of Famer Brendan Shanahan going to Hartford.
Pronger played nine seasons with the Blues. He played 598 regular-season games and scored 84 goals, 272 assists, 356 points and 931 penalty minutes. He was a four-time All-Star as a Blue. In the 1999-2000 season, Pronger had 62 points on a President’s Trophy winning team. That year, hebecame the second defenceman in NHL history, along with Bobby Orr, to win the Norris and Hart Trophies in the same season. Pronger was traded from St. Louis to the Edmonton Oilers in the summer of 2005.
He will be the eighth player in franchise history to have his jersey retired. The other players are MacInnis (no.2), Bobby Gassoff (no. 3), Bob Plager (no.5) Barclay Plager (no. 8) Brian Sutter (no. 11), Brett Hull (no.16) and Bernie Federko (no. 24). The Blues have not announced the exact date they will retire Pronger.
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