NHL's Biggest Steals: Chris Pronger

Me, Walshie, and Latrappe are going to be starting a new piece together called NHL's biggest steals. We are going to pick what we think were the biggest steals, UFA or trade wise, over the past two seasons. Hope you enjoy.

Edmonton Oilers acquiring Chris Pronger for Eric Brewer, Jeff Woywitka and Doug Lynch. Then signing him to a 5 yr/31.25 million dollar deal. At the time, it was big money to shell out 6.25 million a season. The Oilers got a great deal in this one. Brewer was nothing better than a number 3, maybe number 2 defenseman, the equivalent to Nick Boynton before he went to Phoenix. Woywitka and Lynch were prospects, but have yet to show anything in the NHL. Pronger ended up leading the Oilers to the Stanley Cup Finals, where they lost to Carolina. Pronger was later traded to Anaheim following the season after requesting a trade.

Defenseman with similar contracts.
-Nicklas Lidstrom (7,600,000)
-Zdeno Chara (7,500,000)
-Scott Niedermayer (6,750,000)
-Ed Jovanovski (6,500,000)
-Wade Redden (6,500,000)
-Rob Blake (6,000,000)
-Bryan McCabe (5,750,000)
-Pavel Kubina (5,000,000)
-Sergei Gonchar (5,000,000)

So, Pronger gets paid less than Jovanovski and Redden, and Pronger is clearly better. He gets paid 250,000 more than veteren Rob Blake. Would you rather take Kubina at 5 or Pronger at 6.25? When looking into the context of high priced defenseman, Pronger no doubt is a bargain. If he were to hit the open market today, he could land upwards of 7.5 million.