Pronger to be dealt

Thursday, July 28, 2005 | Feedback | Print Entry

If you're a Blues fan and you were pumped to hear the club made its $7.22 million qualifying offer to star defenseman Chris Pronger Wednesday, you might want to hold off the celebration because the club made the offer to protect themselves. If they failed to make the qualifying offer by Sunday, Pronger could've walked as an unrestricted free agent. You just don't lose an asset like Pronger without getting anything in return. In simple terms, the Blues tendered the offer so they can trade Pronger.

The only way the club could afford to keep Pronger under the new system would be to buy out Keith Tkachuk's contract, which would cost the soon-to-be outgoing owner Bill Laurie approximately $8 million. Team president Mark Sauer ruled out the buyout possibility earlier in the week.

So, Pronger will be dealt. The next question is: Where will he go?  
 

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  • E.J. Hradek E.J. Hradek

    E.J. Hradek is a senior writer at ESPN The Magazine, joining the staff prior to its launch in 1998. He began covering hockey as a writer/editor for Hockey Illustrated in 1989. The following year, he beat the Stars to Dallas (by three years), taking over as the editor of Beckett Hockey Monthly. When the Stars finally did arrive in Big D, he hosted a weekly hockey radio show and tried (unsuccessfully) to convert ESPN's Skip Bayless to the greatest game on ice.

    In 1996, Hradek left Dallas, but not the Stars. Relocating back to the New York area, he became a part-time pro scout for the club, seeing more than 100 NHL/AHL games for each of the next two seasons. The scouting gig was a great learning experience, offering a different view of the game.

    Hradek grew up in Tuckahoe, N.Y., about a 40-minute train ride from New York City. Despite the proximity to the Rangers, Hradek embraced the Islanders when the expansion franchise debuted in 1972. Eight years later, he was part of the sellout crowd at the Nassau Coliseum that witnessed the Islanders' first Stanley Cup championship.


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