With injuries and age catching up to Pronger, he knows the window to win is closing.
It’s all about the Cup.
Chris Pronger’s season has not exactly gone according to script, what with a knee injury that prevented him from starting the season on time and then a broken foot that caused him to miss another six weeks, but it doesn’t matter.
All that matters to the big Philadelphia Flyers defenceman is winning.
He is consumed with it.
"When you win, there is no greater feeling in the world," Pronger said. "It’s what you have dreamed about all your life…it’s what you have worked hard to achieve."
Pronger has sipped champagne from the Stanley Cup, so he knows the elation of winning it all. He was a major contributor when the Anaheim Ducks won the championship in 2006-07. He knows the sacrifices you make are worth it when you experience the elation of winning the Cup.
"Ask any guy who has ever won multiple championships; after he won the first one, all they could think about was winning it again," he said. "You don’t win once and then relax. You want to experience that feeling again."
At 36, he also knows time is running out on what has surely been a Hall of Fame career and his chances of winning again diminish with each passing year.
Deep down, that has always been the motivation.
Hey, the money is nice too, make no mistake about it. But Pronger is as driven an athlete as you’ll ever meet, when the season concludes he takes a few weeks off and then it’s back to the gym. He trains relentlessly in the summer and continues to train even harder during the season.
It has to be that way when you are a player who regularly ranks among the NHL’s ice time leaders.
Throughout his career Pronger has generally thrown himself over the boards and into the action every second shift. That has changed substantially this season as his minutes per game, usually in the 27-29 minute range, are down around the 22-24 minute zone this year.
"There’s a number of reasons for that," he said. "For starters, I’m 36. I’m not a kid anymore. Also, with my knee surgery, I didn’t have a training camp. I had to play myself into game shape and then I broke my foot. The biggest thing though, is the fact we have more depth on defence now, so we don’t have to roll just four D-men."
Along with Pronger, the Flyers also have Kimmo Timonen, Matt Carle, Andrej Meszaros, Sean O’Donnell and Braydon Coburn on defence – arguably the deepest blueline in the NHL.
"Because our depth we’re not as worried about trying to get specific line match-ups," Pronger said. "That may change in the playoffs, but for now we basically roll six."
He said it took a little getting used to not playing as much, but it has an upside.
"I get to train even harder now because I’m a lot fresher after games," Pronger said. "I have ramped up my off-ice workouts. There are times when you are playing 30 minutes a game that you go to the gym, but honestly you don’t work as hard as you can because you are exhausted. The other thing that has made a huge difference is the travel in the Eastern Conference compared to the West. Most of our trips are so much shorter than when I played in Anaheim and Edmonton."
Not playing as much has resulted in Pronger not producing as many points as he has in the past, but he doesn’t care.
"I don’t care about points," he said. "I care about keeping the puck out of our goal."
We all know the soap opera that was the Flyers last season. Here was internal strife that threatened to divide the team permanently, but coach Peter Laviolette managed to get everyone on the same page just in the nick of time.
The Flyers qualified for the playoffs on the last day of the regular season by winning a shootout against the New York Rangers. Then, despite not having championship caliber goaltending, they made it to the Stanley Cup final, only to lose to the Chicago Blackhawks.
This season has been a calm one for the Flyers who are in a dogfight with the Vancouver Canucks for first place overall. Pronger said the experience of making it to the final has the players convinced they must do whatever it takes to complete the task.
"You know the system works," he said. "You know what you have to do to be successful. There’s no more mystery to it. When you get that close you know the sacrifice it takes to win."
Anything short of winning it al this season will be failure for Pronger and his Flyers.
