The Evolution of ‘Earned’

‘Earned’ evolved as an offshoot of another of Pronger’s endeavors, as a corporate speaker.

“As I began to build out my speaking platform and realized that I needed to have a signature piece, a book, to go with a lot of my talking points, I really started to think about the framework that I wanted and the impact that I wanted people to get from my story and my life experiences,” he said. “The book is part memoir, part life lessons gleaned from my career. I really wanted to utilize that framework to push people to try to get to their next level, whatever that is. To be difference-makers in their own right.”

A Stanley Cup, Hart Trophy and two Olympic gold medals sit at the top of the long list of Pronger’s many achievements from his playing career. He was also one of the league’s most-feared physical presences, served as captain of the St. Louis Blues, Anaheim Ducks and Philadelphia Flyers and is sharp and articulate off the ice.

On NHL Management Openings: ‘I’ll Have A Conversation’

After his playing days ended due to injury at age 37, Pronger spent time working with the NHL’s department of player safety and then with the Florida Panthers’ front office. With his increased visibility of late, his name is popping up as a potential fit for one of the NHL’s open management positions.

“I learned a long time ago to not say the word never,” Pronger said candidly. “I'll have a conversation with people to hear them out, and I think it's no different on the other side. Why wouldn’t you want to hear what somebody else has to say about your organization? Maybe you can pick something up. Maybe you can learn something about your organization in a way that you maybe haven’t looked at it yet. If you’re searching for a new leader and a new face for your franchise, whether it be a president of hockey operations or GM, why wouldn't you want to talk to people who have been around the game that may have different ideas on how to do things?”

The Vancouver Canucks don’t have an opening right now, but Pronger posted a series of tweets last month which earned massive acclaim from the fanbase of the NHL’s last-place team.

Apparently, enough time has passed to forgive and forget the punishment that the 6-foot-6, 220-pound defenseman dished out at the Pacific Coliseum and General Motors Place/Rogers Arena during his 1,167-game career, while playing 13 of his 18 years for Western Conference rivals.

“I guess they must have forgot all of the bitter wars and all the moments of strife,” Pronger chuckled. “Social media is very emotional and fanbases are very emotional. They’re very in tune with their team, and the slightest comment one way or the other brings out a lot of emotion, good and bad.

“I got asked the question so I answered it in probably a very generic format of ‘What you need to do to rebuild a team and start over?’ It’s obviously much more nuanced. There’s a lot that goes into it, starting with ownership and what they’re willing to do and and then secondly, what the fan base is willing to take. There’s a lot of pain and suffering that goes into what we call a rebuild nowadays, especially in the cap world.”

Leaving Edmonton And Winning-Puck Controversy

Pronger’s career wasn’t without controversy, which he addresses head-on in ‘Earned.’

He explains the realities behind his family’s decision to ask for a trade out of Edmonton after just one season with the team, despite reaching Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final in 2006. And when he won the Cup with the Anaheim Ducks one year later, he was side-eyed for years for snapping up the winning puck, which he says he collected as a keepsake for Ducks GM Brian Burke, who also drafted him second overall to the Hartford Whalers back in 1993.

“What people may or may not remember is that I had separated my shoulder in that game,” he explained. “I was on the ice and I had the puck over in the corner as we win the game. I reach down and I’m like, ‘This would be a great keepsake for Burkie. I’ll give it to him in the locker room. So I tuck it in my pants and then I go over and I celebrate with my team. But I’m on the fringes. I don't want people banging on my shoulder and patting me on the back. It's going to be too painful.

“A couple days later, I started doing media and they started talking about this puck. People were kind of questioning my integrity and whatnot, but I'm like, ‘What are you talking about?’

“I figured it’d be a great piece for the book because we don’t know what is going on behind the scenes. We don’t know what’s going on in somebody’s head. We don’t know the mitigating factors. People want to comment on everything and they don't really know the backstory.”

Should More Defensemen Win The Hart Trophy?

With the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs set to begin on Apr. 18, voting for this year’s NHL Awards is now taking place. When Pronger won the Hart Trophy in 2000 as the league’s most valuable player, he became just the eighth defenseman in NHL history to earn the award. He remains the only blueliner to claim it since Bobby Orr in 1972.

Under coach Joel Quenneville, the Blues won the Presidents’ Trophy as the NHL’s best regular-season team with 114 points, still a franchise high.

That Blues team was built to win but was upset by the San Jose Sharks in a seven-game first-round playoff series. Goaltender Roman Turek won the William M. Jennings Trophy for fewest goals allowed, Pavol Demitra earned the Lady Byng Trophy for gentlemanly play, Quenneville won the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year and Michal Handzus was the runner-up for the Selke as the best defensive forward.

With 53 of 58 first-place votes, Pronger won the Norris Trophy as best defenseman by a wide margin, following up the win by his teammate Al MacInnis in 1999.

The Hart competition was much tighter.

“The year I won, I have to give the Pittsburgh writer credit,” he said. “Jaromir Jagr got hurt that year.”

Jagr, who had won the Hart one year earlier, finished the 1999-2000 season as the NHL’s leading scorer, capturing his third-straight Art Ross Trophy despite missing 19 games.

“The Pittsburgh writer said, ‘I can’t vote for this guy for first, because he didn’t play the whole year’ and voted for me No. 1,” said Pronger. “I believed him, too. I think I won by one point, so it was a very close race. I’m very proud of winning that award. I'm proud of that year we had as a team, although we had our struggles in the playoffs that year.”

It’s sometimes said that defensemen and goalies don’t deserve more MVP consideration because they have their own trophies for their positions. Connor Hellebuyck defied that thinking last year, becoming the third goalie to win the Hart since Pronger’s win in 2000.

Should defensemen be considered more strongly for the award?

“I think a lot of those awards have become about the stats,” Pronger said. “When you start comparing a defenseman to a forward, the stats aren’t going to be comparable. It is a hard award to vote for because a lot of it is sentimental. A lot of it is driven by who’s going to win a Presidents’ Trophy and who’s going to bring a team along. And a team has to make the playoffs. That’s always kind of been part of the criteria: if you’re going to win the MVP, your team needs to make playoffs.

“I think people don’t appreciate how hard defense is, how hard of a position it is to learn.”