Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum - Chris Pronger

Episode Date: December 10, 2019

Chris Pronger (Hockey Hall of Fame, NHL Stanley Cup Winner) joins us to talk about his iconic career as a hockey player in the NHL and the tragic ending that came early due to ongoing health scares. Even if you’re not into hockey, I guarantee you’ll enjoy this one… Chris shares some legendary stories on and off the ice involving fighting, partying, and walking the line between life and death. We talk about what it was like going from a smalltown in the middle of nowhere to stardom, how his health scares in hockey have affected his wife and children, and how Chris has an insanely strong competitive drive to win at all costs. We are in the midst of a legend this week… hope you enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Hey, listen, I don't care if you like hockey or in sports. This is a really great story. It's from a friend, dude. This is a story about, you know, we were, me and this guy, Chris Pronger, NHL Hall of Famer, who had to retire from many concussions and injuries, known as a tough guy, was the league's most valuable player. He's going to hate me for this. Probably 99, I think it was.

It was in 1999-2000 season? 2000. Yeah. But just look it up. He won the Norris trophies, one of the Stanley Cup with the Anaheim Ducks. An amazing career and an amazing story. And, you know, he never gets too personal. And I think he answered a lot of the questions I've always wondered.

And I think a lot of people have wondered. So we're going to get inside a hockey player today. I want to thank you all for listening as usual. The show is, I'm loving it. I'm loving. We've got a great guest coming up. And always tweet me, Instagram me, get people to keep. subscribe and folks you know it helps and uh that's why we love doing this for free for you

right we don't know we don't charge them do we don't no we don't charge anybody a damn dime i know so all i ask is hey if you like it get more people to listen to it and subscribe how hard is it to say hey uh mom can you give me your phone for a second why what do you want with my phone oh nothing boom subscribe there you go nothing you're saying is mom southern i just threw that out there yeah i guess it could have been i'll also be at some conventions i don't know this is going to air, but I'll be in New Orleans, I think, in January, and then more to come. So check that out. And make sure you listen to In Love with Michael Rosemond and Chris Sullivan.

We've got a lot of great guests coming up on that. And let's get inside of the legendary NHL Hall of Famer, my friend Bubba, Chris Pronger. It's my point of you. You're listening to Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum. Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum was not recorded in front of a live studio audience. It was Mark Messier's Queen Charlotte Island. It was a charity fishing event. Do you remember who was there?

As in... Celebrities, players. Hockey players. It was like all the oilers. Messier was there. Yeah, he brought a bunch of... It was when he had left and was in Vancouver playing. Mike Keenan.

Mike Kino was there. He brought a lot of the Ranger guys that had won cup. He brought a bunch of New York business guys with him. I remember being on a boat, and I got, what's it called when you're out? Seesick. That's the word. Is that what that is? Yep.

And I look to my left. What's the words? The words are seasick, and Isaiah Thomas is sitting in their boat, and he is, he's puking. I'm puking. Just a bunch. And I just remember, and the rest of you guys are hammered out to sea, deep sea fishing. That was a great trip, though. I was a great trip.

I remember a lot of great times. We were both young. You were... You were a little bit. I was a little bit younger. I'm two years older than you. You're 45? Yeah.

Yeah. I remember... Is that your Hollywood age or is that... No, that's my age. Do you notice that girls, guys, they always do that. You ever... Well, you're married. To a beautiful Lauren.

I was at the wedding. Didn't I play a song for you guys? You did. On the guitar? Was it appropriate? Everything's appropriate with you. Everything's appropriate with me, yeah. You made a nice.

nice toast at the reception. Yeah. And your dad, your mom and dad, Elya, Eila. Ayla, I always fucked that up. Big Jim. You do always fuck that up. Why is that? Because it's a weird name.

As someone who speaks for a living, you'd think you'd fucking figure it out. Memorizes for a living. I don't memorize anything. I just always loved your parents, too. Where do we meet, though? Do you remember where we met? We met in St. Louis. Remember, you and Tom Arroll were doing that show, and you came in and dropped the puck.

That's right. I don't think I was the one that dropped the puck. I think Tom did. I was never. You were just along for the ride. I was along for the ride. But I met you. He didn't really know much about hockey.

No. But I was like, holy shit, dude. And that's when he was smoking cigars, if you recall. He smoked about 20 cigars one night. And Tom, I love him, but he always needed a vice. Every time he saw him, it was something else. Hey, buddy. I said, I quit smoking the fucking cigars.

Now he's drinking 27 Diet Coke on a fucking plane, a 40-minute flight to Seattle for a charity. Very charitable guy, but always has his things. God has to do. Hey, buddy. I'm like, God, how many pieces of nicorette gum have you swallowed in the last hour? I think he might as well smoke. How much? Because isn't a nicoretic gun, is it giving you the nicotine?

Yeah, that's the idea. That's his one word. That is the idea. You see how Ryan just jumps in there with that? That's the idea. Yeah. But, you know, we met at the, in St. Louis, and you were young, dude. That was, and that was, I wasn't playing.

We sat up in the box. Yeah. Because it was a, I think it was a pre-season game. it was it was i think it was that's why i wasn't playing yeah well you always you never rarely or maybe i was suspended actually i might have been suspended i think you are suspended i want to say you were suspended i think i was i think i was then a beautiful friendship spawned yes you know and that's i met you and i met uh that night i remember me cordonel jacques cordon and i remember meeting uh you know there was twister and there was jama Myers and there was elvis uh jamie rivers and there were

Who else was there? That was the St. Louis team, man. Yeah. Were you on the blues more than any other team? Yeah, 10 years. 10 years. Was it the best of times for you there? Yeah, it was a lot of fun.

We had a blast. There was a lot of good times. A lot of late nights. I remember one night. Me and your boy noodles. Jamie McClennon. Jamie McClennan. We're coming back from our favorite local hotspot across the river in western Illinois.

uh called pops still there open 24 seven still open i haven't been there and god i don't know how long uh but we were in rush hour traffic going the other way going home at seven in the morning i open the door to walk out and i look i'm like oh my god it's light out my god and for the players they just love the players they keep you guys there as long as you wanted right they weren't kicking you out no well actually no i think the bar is open 24 seven so what bars open 24 seven that one was Geez, go to Illinois, folks. But I met you, and we hit it off. We started laughing.

I remember doing impressions, and you were doing stuff, and we just got a kick. I think we were both just young, immature guys, looking to have fun, where kids, I remember doing urban legend. You flew up to Toronto. And everybody, like Josh Jackson, the actor, you know, Josh, he was just starstruck.

It's funny because when you meet other actors. Of Mighty Ducks fame. Yes, of Mighty Ducks fame. And then he went on to do other things like Dawson's Creek. And what's some other stuff, Ryan? Fringe. Fringe, you like the fringe. I didn't watch Fringe, did you?

I don't know the French. No, I don't know. Apparently it was a big show. Yeah. But I remember him being, like, normally, you know, if I met Jack Nicholson, I'd be like, but with hockey players, Josh was just enamored. He's like, pronger? I'm like, yeah.

And when we became friends, you weren't like a big star, you weren't like a huge name in hockey. I mean, you were the number two draft pick, right? Correct. And I'm trying to remember. But you weren't like, you hadn't taken on. No, no. I think that was the year that I was up for the Norris.

I think that was 97, 96 or 97. Yeah, because we were about to film, we were filming the Tom show, which was ranked the worst TV show in history. It really was. It was ranked 133. In fact, I thought after you saw it, you wouldn't be returning my calls.

Like, I picked the wrong actor to hang out with. Luckily for me, I didn't watch it. You really didn't. Why would I? You didn't watch much. I like what I like, and I don't think that was in my wheelhouse. And that's why we became friends. It was doing Forrest Gump Impressions.

It was talking slap shot or I was talking stupid movies, Farley. That's the kind of mentality we were dealing with there. It was like, Mama, I got a farm, Bubba. And I got you to come to Vegas to play in the Jerry Brookheimer tournament. We had Bubba Jersey's which. Look at this. I'll post this. Oh, yeah.

Baba Jr. Love it. Love it. Signed by, this is 99. It's signed by you, Baba Senior, and I believe that might be Bubba Jr. Is that Wolfie? It could be. Let's see.

Scott Wolf. I don't know. But anyway, look at that. Isn't that crazy? And then I found all these other photos. Uh-oh. And this is me. Guston these off?

Well, look at this. This is me, you and me holding the cup in Anaheim. Yes, yeah. I'll post that. Yeah, that's a good one. That's, you know, I snuck on the ice. I was with a bunch of the guys, and we had press passes to the locker room, but that was it. And I went up to the guy at the ice, and some people went in, and I looked at the guy,

I go, this is my brother. Are you really going to stop me here? And he looked at me for a long time. And I'm starting to get red, sweating. I'm like, dude, Ilya, Jim. You fucked it up again. Jesus Christ.

I'm kidding. That was the joke. Sean, he's my other brother. And the guy let me on the ice. And I just started taking, you know, pictures with you guys. And yeah, we'll get to Anaheim. We'll get to Anaheim. In Anaheim.

In Anatime? But, man, we had so much fun. I remember just in, and we're going to get to the, to you. The nuts and bolts. I've known you so long, and I've watched your career take off. You've seen mine take off. You've seen mine plummet. You know.

You know, I'm doing a podcast now. I mean. Laura goes, what is he doing now? I go, I don't know. But you know what's funny is I will say this. I love this more than I think I've loved anything. And the reason why, and I think you sort of became a fan of this show. You're, well, I don't know if you listen to it, but you were like, I want to be on there.

Yeah. Which means something. And I had hurt feelings that you didn't invite me. Well, you're in St. Louis and it was hard, but you're always invited. Open door. Open door policy. Open door policy. All right.

But listen, for this show, I've talked about it before, but for me, the letters I get, the response for people like, I suffer for mental health or I have anxiety, or depression, or I had this in my life. But hearing actors who always think, everybody thinks they have the perfect life or sports guys, you've been through ups and downs man you went you know you were this kid you suspended injuries i mean concussions jail jail i mean you've been around and so it's like you know i was like you know now is the perfect time actually for you to come on because i think whether you're you know it doesn't matter if you're an athlete or an actor you work you know a regular nine to five job doctor

or something less important yes you know a podcaster somebody who speaks on a microphone and a you know an of a podcast. I mean, we can go down the hill here. I love Ryan. He's going to be a huge success. And the reason I'm, you know,

working with him, because I know he's going to bring me along somewhere with him, you know? Huh? I mean, if you pay me. I have to pay you to bring me on.

You've got to start at some point. Oh, yeah. This has been fun. He gets paid. Don't, not much, but he gets paid. All right.

So you're drafted number two. You're a guy that, like, first of all, go back to Dryden, Ontario. Yes. Take it back to Dryden. You get an older brother,

Sean, playing he's he's getting popular in the area from playing hockey you're like there's there's two of you two of you just you too yeah and i mean did you your parents seem like they were good folks right yeah did they kind of let you get away with murder that's what i'm guessing pretty much yeah my nickname growing up was chaos that's it that's it um every every day we either played road hockey played hockey in the basement, played out on the outdoor rink, or we're practicing or playing down at the local rink.

What else is there to do? Pretty much every day. What else is there to do? On the summertime, then we would go swim and golf. Golfed a lot. Just kind of fucked around. Like stupid kids. And did you always...

You know what? We were allowed to be kids back then. That's the beauty of it. They just said, you don't have, you know... I'd leave my house at eight, and I'd come home at five, and God knows what I was doing. And your parents never worried.

He's going to take care of himself. His brother's watching him. Where are you going to go? It's a little Dryden. Where are you going to go? What are you going to do? That's true. You might fall in an ice fishing hole or something.

There was ice fishing there, right? Oh, yeah. Great ice fishing. You still go ice fishing there? No. Why not? It's too cold. You got too cold for Dryden?

You got all soft in your older days? Because you used to want to do that. Yeah, I love it. I love it. I go snow machining, do all that fun stuff. It's great. But I'm too soft now. Too soft.

Your parents, so they let you go. Now, Jim was a drinker, right? Not really, no. He wasn't, because I always remember one story about your dad. The story of the olive oil. That was his buddy. That was Don. That wasn't him?

No, that was Don. Remember we were at dinner? Go ahead. All right, we're at dinner. Local Italian joint and Clayton, where I lived. And me and you were at dinner with my dinner. dad and his friend Don. And Don's crushed from this after a game.

Don's crushed. And he keeps trying to grab his drink, but really it's the bottle of olive oil for the bread. And I keep pushing it away, go, Don, no. And he keeps grabbing it and I push it away. Go, Don, no. Finally, I move it over a different part of the table. And then me and you start talking and I kind of forget about him.

And sure enough, I look over and he's chugging this olive oil. I'm like, oh, my God. what the fuck are you doing i never forgot i obviously did forget i thought it was your dad and by the way that night he got up at like four in the morning to take a shit and broke the toilet and somehow figured out a way to turn the water off in his he broke the toilet for me well that makes sense i don't know if he like dropped down on it or leaned back too hard the toilet back and broke and he had the wits about him to turn the water off at the bottom did you you and your dad ever get into any kind of altercations because I noticed like you're a hockey

player Sean's a hockey player dad's a big guy he's like you know did you ever get into things where you're like you hey because I know you I know you have you're a hothead sometimes and you like things done your way whether you're playing or whether you're a control freak like me at times you like things your way did it ever occur to you like you you're like yeah fuck that I'm not fucking doing that dad I know that happened I want you to tell me a story that you recall where you and Jimbo got into it he only got mad at me twice like where he was pissed where I was like oh fuck I'm dead how old were you uh I was 14 maybe what happened how tall are you at 14 uh I was six one maybe six two so you thought I'm cool no I just no I was I did so I can't

remember what I did but he was pissed and he came firing home and was like fucking sat me down I was like, I don't ever want to fucking see you do that. First time he ever swore at me, too. Really? He was so mad. Were you scared? I was just like, holy shit, I'm fucking dead here. I got up and I stood around behind the couch so I could get out of the way.

I was like, holy shit, he's pissed. But never like a smack or a crab. No, my mom was usually the disciplinarian. She'd spank you. She would spank me, and then she used to hit me with the wooden spoon. But when I was eight, I clinched the old butt cheek, and the spoon broke. And I turned around and started laughing. matter, and that was the end of that.

I'm doing squats, bitch. I ain't going to work no more with your feck and spoon. No, I mean, but you're already like a strong kid. I mean, you grew so fast. Did you know you're going to do something? Did you know? No, you know what? I always tell people, they don't, you know, I'm super small town,

middle of, middle of nowhere, no internet, no friggin' nothing. You don't even know. Like, I used to get the hockey digest and the hockey news once a week. that's the only hockey information I had. We only got hockey night in Canada one night a week on Saturdays. There was no other hockey games on TV, so that's it. That's why we're outside.

We're outside every day. So that's why Canadians, more Canadians, make it to the NHL than any other country. Well, but that's changing. I think Canada is like 45% in the league now. What is the Slovakia or some shit? No. The U.S. is, I think, 25%. It's shifting.

It's shifting. The tides are shifting. The tides. So really, all you could do was go outside and play and play hockey and do whatever. I mean, but do you think about it? I mean, we're outside. You're being a kid. You're outside. You're screwing around with your friends.

I think we had a close-knit group of friends whom you've met that we all lived, you know, well, you're not like you're living too far anywhere in town, but we all live fairly close. We all congregated. Your parents knew where you were. They knew who you were with, you know, and they were friends with their parents. Right. So, you know, it was all, it was easy.

Yeah, do you still, easy growing up, easy. Yeah. But I never had any information on anybody that my age that played down in Toronto or played out in Vancouver or Calgary or any of the big, Montreal, any of the big cities in Canada. I didn't know who they were. Right. I didn't know anybody. And then I went to a camp, uh, down in, I think it was Guelph, where it was Guelph, uh, that's in Ontario. It's about an hour and a half from Toronto.

And really just started to see these kids. I didn't know how good I was. I didn't know. You don't really know. You play in the local tournaments. You know, we'd go as Winnipeg. You play against some kids, but you don't really know. But did anybody go that pronger kid, you know, the giant?

I was always, my age group, I was always a better kid, best kid on the team. You know, I played up a little bit. You know, I was one of the better kids. I think being tall, you have that allure. or that aura of oh he's big I was skinning bones but I was tall Were you tough? Were you always tough? I was mean

I liked altercation No I mean I fought a little bit But I didn't I fought when I needed to But I didn't fight all the time I didn't You know I was playing so much that it's tiring

And nobody wants Rassling around like that That's tiring Did anybody did like when you were younger Did people even pick fights with you They'd go I'm gonna take the big guy down Yeah sometimes Did you ever get taken down?

You got to pick your battles. I didn't... You know that a smart player will always pick his battles. One of the things that I know the best, I know who's on the ice at all times. I know who's coming on the ice. I know who's leaving the ice. I know matchups.

I know who's behind you, who's around you. I know everything. I know everything that's going on. Is that something that was just natural to you? or did you really have to learn that? Because that's multitasking in many different ways, right? I mean, it's sense, it's awareness, you know, some of its hockey sense, some of its awareness

and knowing what's going on around you, street smarts, all that shit plays into it, I think. But I think just always knowing and understanding your role, understanding your matchup, understanding what you have to do to be successful, what you got to do to win. I just wanted to win.

Right. You know, and there's some hurt feelings at times. But I just want to win. Were you a cryer when you were a kid? It seems to me like you were, like there's those kids that are so full of anger and so full of emotion that if something didn't happen, you go, fuck, and you start crying. Not at a young age. I would fly off the handle. I would, I don't know if I cried a ton.

You break your stick, you throw shit. Oh, yeah. I got, oh, fuck. Yeah. Well, I remember playing hockey with you. I think it was you and Jack, your little Jack. Yeah. We have the same birthday.

You and him, Al McGinnis and myself. Yeah. Al McGinnis, one of the best slap shots ever in hockey if you want to look him up. Google him. But I remember we were just taking some soft shots on goal. He was playing goalie, and if you let a fucking goal, and he go, ah, fuck you look at me and go,

don't fucking score on him. Yeah. Don't score on him, or that's what's going to happen. That's what's going to happen. I mean, and he's a big one now, too, huh? Yeah, he's six, seven. He's six foot seven, Jack? Yeah.

And he's obviously, where was he playing? He's playing basketball. He just said, No to hockey. He was playing and then... He was good. He was all right. And then he just, you know what?

He kept growing and, you know, it's awkward. And he's playing high school hockey? Nope. He's not playing hockey at all. None of them. I'm sorry, basketball. Yeah, he's playing high school basketball. So was George.

And George, George is six two now. George was a little turd. He's six two. And what's Ella doing? He might... Who, Lila? Lila. Fuck.

You're fucking up every name, aren't you? It's hard with all these names. Yeah. She's probably five feet. doing her art and tennis and she's the easiest of the bunch she's an old soul it's nice to get to we're going to get to all the dirt and stuff because you know you talk about growing up shit there's so much dirt now dirt when i say dirt it's just like you know people like i wrote some shit down like i know you so to speak you know i don't know exactly how to pronounce your mom's fucking name

so we're tight so we're well you know it's been yours because we really hung out a long time a lot and then you and then you got famous no no no no no well smallville hit that's not true but i was in vancouver 10 months a year for seven years well but then you got married obviously and you had a family and you started playing and things you started changing the teams you were playing for you're playing from the i wasn't necessarily the blues to the oilers to the anaheim ducks to the flyers some would say to the coyotes but you really didn't i mean that was that's sort of true um i mean you look we both went our separate ways but i was always like, man, I do miss those times of the prongs.

I do miss those, you know, times with, you know, McClennon was the coach, Joel McClennon. Oh, Joel Quenville. Quenville, what did I say? Jamie McClennan, you are having a tough goal right now. We'll edit that out, huh? Hang on, let's start again. Joel Quenville, right?

Quenville is your coach. Yeah. You know, here's the thing. Most people that are listening to this, look, if they're not a hockey band, they're probably like, oh, McLennon is. he's a great coach he's a great coach and i love quenville i remember quenville seeing me come to your some of your games on the road or whatever and he'd see me show up to the like you know we go back

to the hotel because we're going to go out he look at me and go hey this is on you like don't you're in charge him don't take the big guy down i'm like nobody's in charge of him i remember going in in in toronto when you came up for urban legend we went to a bar and some guy was just trying to be a hothead some guy was just trying to go oh there's chris pronger NHL star he's a tough guy who's like yeah fuck you and you're like yeah bud come on let's not do this you were trying to do the right thing but then you had another you know a couple couple of drinks and you're like eh you know what fuck you fuck you let's go outside and I'm like no no no we're not going to do this that was you know you got to remember that was 20 26 years old no I was like 23

oh yeah you're younger than me so you're you're a kid what I'm saying is you're a kid at the time but this guy started with you did you have a lot of that where guys would just start shit not you know what not a ton i think as we age you figure out life you figure things out i think a lot of times early on like once i turn pro 18 19 20 21 it was a little awkward where people they want to say something it always comes out bad and and i don't like people staring at me so they're staring at you they don't know what to say so then you're like what the fuck's your problem you know like they're they're kind of i don't know starstruck whatever you don't even know that they're just star you don't know but they're staring at you like kind of awkwardly and you're like

what the fuck is your problem when you're young you don't realize you're and you did a lot of that yeah and and it didn't end well no i never got in any fights you never got in fights oh did you always hang around other guys that would fight no i never i'd never been the only the only and it wasn't even a fight the only time anything like that ever happened the alleged brawl in buffalo so it wasn't a brawl because you got suspended no i didn't get suspended you didn't they couldn't because we were it was like mid to late march boston and buffalo were fighting it out for a playoff spot there was nine of us in the bar and they who was it twister no no this is when i was in hartford but there was nine of you yeah we yeah we spent the night in jail and you didn't hit one person

No, nobody on our side touched a soul. I was actually being the peacemaker. What? Well, there was freaking six bouncers coming at us and we're like, hey, relax. Well, they're coming at you. They didn't swing punch, they throw punches? They step, they're stepping forward. We'd step back.

They step forward. We step back. We're like, hey, we'll leave. They just wanted to fight you. Yeah. Were you scared? No. A little?

No, because then the guy kept pushing, kept pushing. I'm like, all right, listen. stop please stop we'll leave and then he started chirping more and you're like all right finally you're like okay fuck it let's go then and then the cops came busting in so they had called the cops cops come busting in we didn't there was no punches thrown on our side we were getting maced we're getting our you know they maced you yeah the cops the cops you got maced my i couldn't figure out i was trying to figure out i'm like man why is my ear so sore because they started and i burns i turned and my whole ear was raw and i was like what the hell is wrong with my

ear and then i remember i'm like oh shit i got maced one another player got they he got cuffed and then they maced them like it was a total disgrace and this was in buffalo yeah did you hate buffalo to this day for that uh i do i do just got a bad taste in your every time i'm there i break out in hives that's a fucking lie but no i I just, it, I just, you don't like it? I'm in and out. I'm in and out. If I got to be there, I'm there in my room. I'm not going out. I'm not, I'm just, I'm done. You know what would be fun? Why don't you and I take a trip to that bar back in Buffalo and step in, see what's happened after all these years. Hey, is that that motherfucker? You know what? You know what? The funniest, well, it's funny now, but then we're in the bar. The bar is right across the street from the police station.

they put us in police cars and fucking drove us around the fucking city laughing and chirping us i mean it was i go wow i didn't even know the cop shop was across the street i went back there and later i'm like holy what the f well didn't they get reprimanded didn't anyone ever write an article about the police in buffalo no no no but that's pretty fucked up they just wanted to get a rise out of you guys yeah and they wanted to be we didn't we didn't take we didn't take debate but you still got maced you still got a raced you still got a arrested. Does it still piss you up to this day? Yeah, it does. It does. Yeah. And then, so one of the bouncers kicked a guy and broke his toe. So who do you think got sued?

And you had to pay it? No, fuck no. And it was like two or three years later. All of a sudden, you get served with a lawsuit. I'm like, lawsuit for what? Pain and suffering. Guy broke his toe cheap shotting a guy when he was on the ground. And we're going to give him money. No. Did you have to pay for your drinks? No. Oh, good. Fuck him. I mean, I know you probably had a lot. So then you were traded from Hartford. Obviously, everybody knows the story for Shanahan, right? Yeah.

You get traded to the blues. And that's when the real, and I remember reading articles along the way, like Keenham was like, oh, he's impatient, he's immature. I mean, you're young. You're 24, 25. No, I was 20. 20. I got, when I got traded there, I was 20. I mean, I don't know how you do it.

If you look back, it's just like, yeah, of course. Well, you know, the funny part and the stupid part as kids and then growing up and adult and understanding a lot more you just wish what you know now you could have known then but why then then you don't have those memories a lot of stupid memories a lot of stupid memories if you don't make those mistakes you know they always say you know i saw it makes you michael what it's what makes you it's what makes you ryan mold you yeah you don't look you do much stupid shit in your life no you kind of like i keep a good yeah you have a good head on your shoulders yeah it's it's screwed up pretty tight yeah it looks like it he is he is he is he

He's mature. Let me tell you, it hurts. It does. I could see that. Spielberg said, I've quoted this, he's the most immature person there is. Believe it or not, Stephen Spielberg says he's the most image, but he's incredibly responsible. And those two things, it's okay if you're responsible.

If you're immature and irresponsible, you're fucked. You are fucked. Right? It's all right. Because Sean had a successful career. He went to the NHL. He wrote a book. Great guy, smart guy, good hockey player.

Was there any brother, George. jealousy issues ever growing up, whatever, like he was a big brother, and then all of a sudden you became the MVP Norris trophy winner? No, I think when you look at, and you ask me about growing up and dried, he left. When I got to high school, he left to go play junior hockey in Thunder Bay. So we didn't even go to high school together. Were you bummed? A little bit, I think, you know, where you want to have that experience, but, you know, there was the friendly brotherly rivalry right you know where you're competing you're i'm as a younger brother you're always trying to you know i i truly believe that was a big part of my success was

always playing against bigger stronger kids always right you know you got to keep up that's seen in young blood where uh he goes out there and the older brother teaches him how to fight yeah did that ever happen with you and uh show no no is that you think that there's any truth to that scene Stupid! Stupid question. Remember Farley? Right? I mean, was there ever a moment where you're like,

I got to learn how to fight? Did someone teach you to fight? Did you take boxing lessons? No. You just knew how to throw a punch. Well, I think you... You knew to tuck your thumb around the fist. I'm a very visual learner.

You'll learn real quick how to play defense, or at least I did. I don't know too many guys that like getting punched in the face. No. So there are some that do, but... Do you? at all like getting punch in the face do you like punching people in the face it felt pretty good back in the day yeah yeah what what's one fight that you remember just in the n hl that you punch

someone boy did that feel fucking i i fought todd simpson in calgary one night this is 96 it might have been my big year i'm trying to think where he was cock cocking off and what was he saying i don't know just acting tough and we were in a big scrum and i don't i don't necessarily think he thought I was going to fight. So there was two fights going on. I was one of them. There was another one going on. And I was like, all right, well, then let's go.

He was sacked and tough. And I'm like, okay, let's go then. Boom, gloves came off. I'm like, I'm not going to wait for him. So then I dropped my gloves. He's like, oh, my God, you suckered me. I go, I did not. I go, you wanted a fight.

I said, let's go then. Is it one punch? No, no, no, no. No, it was a good fight. I hit him with a good left that kind of buckled him. I think it kind of surprised him. Because he tried to switch, and then I switch and hit him first with my left. And he's like, oh, railroad.

Do you think that, you know, a lot of times players in the NHL especially, people don't understand this, be like, I hate hockey, the fight, it's so stupid. I'm like, you don't understand. You have to be a part of it. It's imagine being as intense and competitive as you possibly can and the hits and this and that. And something happens, and you can change the outcome of a game. by getting the crowd into it, getting it, and

you get into this fight, and then afterwards, even though it seems like these two people hate each other, isn't it true that hockey players can go to a bar and go, hey, what's up? You know, I think when fighting is about emotion and the mental and physical aggression that

trying to win at all costs and, you know, your anger gets better of you. You're like, all right, fuck it, let's go. You know, those are the ones where you just can see the passion between the two guys You're like, okay, I get it. The stage fighting, I was never a big fan of. You know, it didn't really serve too much of a purpose.

You know, and then there, obviously, you get the guys that need to come out and be like, hey, settle down. The big boys come on and go, settle down. And you're like, okay, and you can just feel the temperature, just, okay. Things are calming down just a tintsy bit. But, you know, you two guys battling in front of the net or in the corner and, you know, obviously. sudden you hit the guy to either too hard or you punch it with the back of the head or you know whatever you stick them in the groin uh slashing behind the knee you got to wear the double cup of prongers whatever whatever something happens and you know and it's you know it's all

about the emotion and and aggression of that particular moment well some people would say hey pronger's one of the dirtiest players that ever lived i listen i wanted to win that's it so if people have a problem with it. My teammates didn't have a problem with it. Of course they didn't. So, you know, it's, again, you're one of those guys where people love to hate you, but they want you on their team. Yeah. So I'm good with it. Chippy. Yay, chippy, yes. Did your coaches ever say, prongs, I need you in this game. Keep this stick down. Well, and that goes back to fighting and some of the, you know, stuff. I'm like, yes, the coaches would be like, hey, we need you on the Nice, you know, starts get chipping like, hey, don't get into a fight or don't do this.

There are moments where they try to curtail your aggression, you know, depending upon the game and situations, et cetera. But for the most part, no, they, you play how you play. And you just got to kind of live with it. Yeah. Did you ever feel like I lost the game for us tonight? I got that penalty. No. Three minutes left, we had the chance.

I got the penalty. No, because you ever, were you ever harder yourself? you know what you're gonna you're gonna there are gonna be moments where you take those but if we're winning the game or a tie like that i'm not necessarily looking for something like that you know trying to catch a guy coming across the middle or i'm not trying to take a guy out in the corner too hard if you do something it's an accident trying to save somebody from yeah yeah i mean you're gonna do what you got to do sometimes but i never i never i would leave a game if i didn't if i thought i didn't play good i'd be pissed off at myself and you know i

I think as I aged, I learned to leave the game and that game at the rink. But early on in my career, man, there'd be games. It would last a week where I'm like, fuck, I didn't play very good. And I've already played three more games since then. What that is, is that's a little anxiety. You had anxiety. Oh, 100%. I mean, how did you deal?

Did you, I guess, drinking, right? I guess you'd go after a game and you want to get a drink? You know what? I really didn't drink a ton during a season. you know you'd get you'd get the three days in between games and obviously there's a flashing green light after that last game you got three days off so you're going to have time to recover you're going to go have a good time right um but i really i picked my my spots and uh i really didn't drink a ton during the season did you did you uh or were you intimidated of any there was was there one player or a couple players in the league when you play them you're like fuck like intimidated and a sense that they're too good or they're too good or they're going to get they're going to get around me every once or or no no i didn't i think you you go into those situations with the awareness of how good they are and with the uh idea of pre-scouting you know back again

this is before the ridiculous amount of video that these guys do now you were just watching tape i'm watching yeah i'm watching tape or i'm watching highlights and seeing the different moves that they have so that hey okay oh i just saw him make this so when he cuts this way he's going to try this move. You're just banking all this stuff up in the old Rolodex up top. And, you know, should you get into that situation, you have an idea of the different moves

that they can make or try on you. And usually you're going to be able to stop them. But there was moments where you're like, holy fuck, this guy's pretty good. Who was players that you just thought, wow, these guys are great. These are great. They're hard to play against.

I don't look forward to playing against them. Or maybe you did. Yeah. Yeah, I like playing against, I mean, that's where you kind of test yourself. That's, I like playing with the bigger guys back when you're younger, right? You want to test yourself. You want to, you're only going to get better playing against the best players. But who are they to you?

Who are the players that you thought were the best? No, they were at the time. You know, you look at the Russian 5. I'm actually in. I'm in that, I think it's the Red Army or the Russian, one of those movies that they just made. Yeah, for, yeah, yeah. I'm in, I think it's the Red Army one. I'm in there just getting worked over.

Really? Tick, tick, tack, tick, to. I'm like, fuck. Why do you pick that clip? Yeah. Still thinking about the game. Can you? Yeah, exactly.

I'm like, fuck, I remember that. That was brutal. I mean, so those guys, especially I remember when the Blues could never get past Detroit. Yeah. I remember going to those games. I remember with no time left, McGinnis for the Blues fires that slap shot, I think, from half ice. And it goes in and ties the game. And you guys just got so close with those fucking Red Wings, but you couldn't get them, right?

How frustrating was that? Uh, it was a thorn in my side. It was, it, it, those, those losses, especially when you see them to go on and win, it grinds on you, you're always, and you're always getting the questions. What's wrong with you guys? Why can't you beat them? Why can't you do this? Why can't you know, everybody's always second guessing?

Everybody's a fucking armchair quarterback. Fuck. Oh my God. It's because it's so fucking easy. It's so easy to win. It's so easy to win. Why don't you just do that? Oh, really.

Why don't you learn how to fucking skate? I'm doing what you do on skates, on a thin blade, on ice at speeds of over 40 miles an hour. You fuck! It's an incredibly hard sport and intense, and you're playing at high speeds, the best athletes in the world, and you're going down to the wire. And what sucks probably for you is, like, you knew that if the Blues would have won those games or won that series, they probably would have won the Stanley Cup or had a good chance. Yep, absolutely. And that's what hurts the most. Yeah, and we had some really good teams.

It's just, yeah, the losses eat me up more than the wins. Oh, of course. I mean, there's nothing better than winning. I just hate losing more than I love winning. It hurts more to lose than it does feeling great to win. Yeah. That's my mindset.

And other people, you know, they can slough off the losses. It's easy for them. And just for me, it was never easy. Inside of you is brought to you by Rocket Money. If you want to save money, then listen to me because I use this. Ryan uses as so many people use Rocket Money. It's a personal finance app that helps find and cancel your unwanted subscriptions. Crazy, right?

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How grateful are you? Are you able to be grateful? Has it taken time to take a step back? I once read something. There was an article in Sports Illustrated or something about you a couple years ago or whatever. And how you went through such a hard time. because you know you had the concussions and you had the eye injury you went through

fucking hell with the eye thing i mean hell i know how bad you wanted to get back i know how you know how hard you fought to get back but you know you had limitation yeah there's something that you know just was this is life yeah and when how hard was it to finally accept that did you have to go through therapy did you have to like when you say hey i'm fucking like i remember you're hurting your family inadvertently where you have pain in the ass to be around were you miserable the first year when I first got hurt I remember like three or four days into being hurt I was sat in my room in the dark for nine days and you know I'd try to get up take a leak in the middle of the night and falling into walls I'm all over the place well why just like my head I couldn't concussion yeah I just couldn't catch my bearings how scary is that well at the time you're not you're probably a little bit out of it but you're you're also just trying to get back so you're I'm I just always used to push, you know, my niece are, well, you just don't worry about it. You know, oh, my head's around.

Just don't worry about it. You know, you just try to push this stuff aside. Ice down at the game, it'll be fine. Yeah, throw a little ice on it, whatever. Rub some ointment on it. It'll be fine. It'll be good. You're fine.

You know, I just always had that old school mindset of mind over matter. Just fucking don't worry about it. It's not, it'll go away or, you know, it always has gone away before. It'll go away. You know, I get my bell rung a few times. always went away you know it just this one just kind of stuck there and hung around and hung around and what year was this uh 2011 2011 yeah it just wouldn't go away well i just i was getting nauseous and driving my i had to drive my car at night with shades on because the lights coming

at me bothered to live in hell out of me so i'm driving around my car my shades so you can't even think of playing in a fucking arena and i used to go over the bridge over to the game rink and you know do do do do I used to get so freaking nauseous just the you can remember it now I could see you feeling awful oh yeah just starting get sick to your stomach and then your head gets all fucked up and like oh and then you're showing up at the rink you're like I'm going on fuck this you know like ultimately when I when I told you know when I went to see the doctor and you're like yeah you're done he said that yeah he's like what was like how the fuck are you playing because I I was playing so I came back

and I played five games and then I was off well I mean I just wasn't myself and I was nauseous on the nice a little nauseous on the bench you know my eyes were the bright lights were bothering me I had a headache you know all of all the symptoms but again I was just like fuck it it'll go away and I was actually getting worse not better and it was bothering me more and more finally I told the train I go something's wrong I can't fucking see the doctor So the doctor I see the doctor and she's like Wow we get to send you to

Pittsburgh and go see the concussion guy And I get there and I see him And he's looking at my file and you know You fill out the forms How many concussions have you had? I'm like, I don't fucking know 100 When you think about it When you're a kid

You're banging your head on the wall Well that's you know When you're seeing stars You start trying to understand What is a concussion? What is the medical term And what is the medical diagnosis of what is a concussion there's so many different i'm seeing star you know think about back to when you're

blacked out i blacked out i'm seeing stars i got a stinger i got a you know you know i got hit one night in la here friggin's two bright lights right you would never know it was an innocuous hit just hit me in the jaw kind of coming across really quick it was quick we both fell and then you were fine i was i was right beside our bench i'm like oh fuck i'm like oh my god as soon as i opened my eyes fucking two bright lights coming out and thank God I was right beside our bench

I just stepped on to the bench sat down I called the chair and I go oh dude I got two bright lights you know

this is like mid 90s then he's like okay well you can you play and I'm like yeah I'm good I can just

I sat back in the rocking chair and just kind of used my peripheral vision and look kind of lifted my head up so the bright lights weren't straight ahead where everybody was

I just kind of lifted my head up Jesus and you weren't scared at all something like that But you don't know any fucking better. Yeah, that's what you do. And it's, I play hockey. It's what I do.

And, you know, you're, you know, I think it was in the playoffs. So you're just playing. You're not really paying attention a lot of that stuff. I mean, that's terrifying. Like, I'm hearing this. And like, but when you went to that doctor for the first time, or not the first time. Oh, yeah. So to get back to that, he, he looks at my file and he looks at kind of looking at me, checking

me out. And he comes back, he's like, how are you playing? You, you were just, you just played? I go, yeah, I played five games. He's like, what the hell were you doing? You should not be playing. I go, huh, okay. I mean, ever.

I'm like, what? He's like, you can't play anymore. You're done. Just like that. Well, because you looked at my. Well, you're kind of like, well, you know, we'll see. You know, you're like, ah, we'll see. Was there a party that goes, my God, I think he's right.

with if he is well when you never really go through your whole file you're not going through all your at this point i've had 13 surgeries on your eye no no 13 surgeries oh your knee my body my my back my knee my wrist my hand all the different things my foot all the different stuff and you're like okay you're looking at that you fucking files like the stick and you're like mm yeah maybe this time i don't know do i really can my body really take this pounding can it really and do you want to well now your head's all fucked up and you're like my eye was fucked up my head was fucked up where is it going to end you know and now lauren's like what are you thinking about here i'm like i don't know and then the doctor it's almost like he did me a favor it's like you're done

and then and then you know what and then ed snider the owner of the flyers you know his uh his son-in-law is a doctor so he shows him the file and the son-in-law's like how's this guy playing he's like this guy can't play he had the same diagnosis he's like Oh, my God. This guy can't play anymore. And Ed, the owner is probably thinking. No, he was awesome. Awesome.

He wasn't saying, shit, he's got four more years. No, he was awesome. He was the best. Health is wealth, my friend. He was the best. He was like, then you're done. You're done. Did you get emotional?

Do you think you ever, have you still yet? Has it hit you even? Like, look, I know you. You're the kind of guy that, look, I don't cry in front of people. I mean, maybe a little bit. Only at your movie premiere. yes well afterwards wait oh my god fuck i'm so sorry you had to go through that why did you have to deal with it but let me ask you something i know you prongs you're a tough guy and i got a little

surprise a surprise for you here in a second but uh the guys that know you the guys that have seen you you're tough as nails you're giving i remember just going to the um the all star the NHLster game with you afterwards you got jerseys for everybody signed by everybody you got me the team Canada jersey sign you threw it to me you threw it to your dad you threw it to your friends you got them all signed you went in there you're the you're a giving guy you're always there you're fucking

you're funny you're impatient as fuck but stubborn but I yeah stubborn as fuck yeah the most stubborn but I've just never seen you you know and maybe you do this behind closed doors I just can't even with Lauren it's probably hard you're just a tough you've grown up to be

tough you're six foot six you're a fucking you're like you know when Quint is talking about the shark and jaws he's an eating machine he's a fucking you know his eyes roll over black he's that lifeless eyes like a doll's eyes

you know that's what I'm fucking thinking and I'm looking at is there ever a moment where the superhuman prongs just goes I don't know for me it's like watching a rocky scene for the movie Rocky in my basement alone and just like the tears start coming and I get the emotions out

or is there ever an emotional moment where You cried to Lauren, or you cried and said, I just, I need to let this out. Yeah, no, I, you know what, I never felt sorry for myself. I had a long career. I did everything that I could, you know, at the same, Sidney Crosby was going through the same thing at the same time. And you try to compare. And at the time, you're like, he was 24 or whatever he was.

And you're like, at that age, you're like, that's a lot to be given up. You know, because people were talking about, well, maybe you should retire. Maybe I'm like, I don't know, that's. time's up. Just like that. It is, you know, there are moments where you're sitting at home and you're watching the game and you're like, fuck, if I was there, that, if I was there, that wouldn't happen. Or if I was there, we would have won that game or, you know. You ever look back, though, and like, you'll watch a clip from Anaheim when you're holding the cup up and brings tears of joy to your eyes?

You know what? More relief. Relief that you're finally able to win it, you know, because every player, like, think about Ray Bork at 40. Every player. That's what they want to win. It's a holy grail. But the whole world gauges, well, how many cups does he want? Well, not everybody has the chance to play with the Red Wings in the 90s

or play with the frigging Blackhawks. It's rare. It's rare. So you get guys, oh, my God, he's a five-time. Or play with the Oilers in the 80s. Like, holy fuck. How many of they win six? Five.

Five. Five. I should have won six. Remember that one? Yeah. Yeah. For me, it was more a sense of relief that, oh, that's one I can knock off the list where you're like, because it's so fucking hard to win.

So much has to go right. You've got it. There's a little bit of luck, you know, the injury bug and all the different things that kind of play into it. Your goalie's got to be hot. You got to get timely scum. There's just so many pieces to the puzzle. Our goalie's really crazy.

Would you see every goalie you play with? They got to be a little crazy, right? Well, you have to be. Grant Fure was crazy. Yeah. What fuck wants to stand in front of it? I, you know, it's so funny. You're like, I would never want to be a goalie.

But yet, I'll stand in front of a hundred mile an hour slap shot to block it. But I'm not putting on those fucking. pads and that's right it's just i find it amusingly odd that i'm okay with that but i don't want to go in there with all that shit on well let's go to that you uh was i at that game no i don't think i was at that game i was at one of those games in that series it was with detroit where the heart stopped you got hit in the chest with a puck yeah i don't know if anybody and by the way my listeners most of them they're not i wouldn't say hockey fans are they doctors they might be doctors okay do you know what it's called the medical term for what happened to me is

called commotio cordis. Comotio cordis. Comotio cordis. It happens a lot to little league baseball players where the guy's standing at third or the pitcher and they get hit with a line driving and hits them right in the heart. And what happens is their heart stops.

My heart, so I blocked a slap shot, it hit me right on the heart. My heart skipped one beat. One. One. And I, that's all it took. He just collapsed. That's how much oxygen and how much shit.

happens in your body with one heartbeat in a split second i got hit down i got hit and i'm like fuck that hurt and i'm and i'm thinking in my head you know i go down cover the puck and i'm like do not let these fucking people see you on the ground so in my head i'm like get the fuck up and get to the bench and i kind of stumble up and black out and i and the video you can see me stand up and i start going towards the bench and then boom thank god i had my hands in front of of me, or I would have did the Kevin Stevens and face plan and broke my face, but I kind of crumbled down on the side and hit my ear a little bit, another ear one where I woke up and I'm like, fuck, my ear's sore.

Somebody based me while I was on the fucking ice? Is that Todd Simpson? What the fuck? And then I remember waking up and I'm looking up and I'm like, holy fuck, I'm in the middle of the rink. I'm looking up at all these Red Wings banners and I'm like, this is a playoff game? Yeah. What game is this?

This is a game two. and then I look down and my jersey's cut open my shoulder pads are ripped apart and I'm like what the fuck and I look over in our bench I'm looking at Holly's crying on the bench and everybody's like the whole bread hall yeah the whole place is like

silent you can hear a pin drop and I'm just like what the hell and then I'm not married at the time my parents are at the game oh would uh mrs pronger would chris's wife please come down to the to the Zamboni entrance, because they had this ambulance there for me.

And I'm listening. I'm like, huh? I'm not married. It's my parents. Hold on. How old of this? Am I? I got married already?

I mean, I was at that wedding. It was soon after. I mean, you could have died like that, right? So most kids, when they get hit, they die. Because their heart's not formed enough. They're not strong enough. They die. I just happened to, I don't know.

You got a lot of, yeah, a lot of people. But again, to go back to, you know, talking about playing hurt, whatever, I'm fucking dumb. I'm 22 or 23 at the time. I'm dumb. I don't know anything. I go into the hospital. They put a heart monitor on me. They watch my heart for 24 hours.

They watch my heart for 24 hours. I fly home. I'm in my freaking suit and my dress shoes. Get on a treadmill with the heart specialist in St. Louis. I get on this treadmill and I start walking. And she's monitoring my heart. And she goes, yeah, okay, you're good. So I played that night.

The next night, it was two nights later. No, yeah, well, I was in the hospital, skipped one day, and then played that next night. And here is Chris Pronger, just two nights ago, a stunned audience here in Detroit as a 97-mile-an-hour slap shot, hit him in the chest, and he collapsed to the ground. His heart skipped a beat. And folks, when that happens, it's called commotion cordis. And boy. that a frightening moment? Dude, so you've been through hell

and with the eye thing, the concussions because the eye thing's a separate thing. I remember going to see you after a game. I remember, I'm not going to say this guy because he's an owner of one of the he's now the GM of, don't say his name, GM of one of the NHL teams. But he was like the Joker in one of the

locker rooms and one of the teams you played. And he used to take, in the showers, he'd take a bar of soap and he'd swipe one of the guy's butt cheeks and go, oh my ATM's not working the ATM card I'm like get the fuck off me I remember being in there

it was just chaos people laughing and joking it just it seems like today people players are more serious because I'm friends with some of the guys I don't really go to a ton of hockey games but I remember

for instance the blues going in a locker room after like yeah but come fucking down no one gives a shit come down there and it's like Rudy Pochek and it's fucking the old guys and Pavitra Dimitra God bless

a man uh that was a fucking horrible story he he was a tremendous player he's from was it russia slovakia slovakia one of the best players in the blues right he was a scorer yeah and he just he was playing in uh overseas in his plane crash and he died like what five years ago just a travesty but back nine years ago oh man but i yeah i just remember the locker room just filled with joy and fun and life and you know i guess that that's probably hard you're there are there are yeah but you're always like had ice all over your body i'm not kidding it was so uncomfortable you had like ryan i'm not talking just like an ice pack like us pussies like wear on our neck oh my neck you know i've had some surgeries these guys were like they had these they have these cold things

what are they called the cold uh uh dips the oh the tubs cold tubs they just sit in there for like 15 20 minutes of on ice they have ice wrapped around each body part every game every game Did you hate that? You get used to it. It was routine. It's maintenance, yeah. And you had to do it. I put ice bags on both my knees every day.

Even when you're not playing? No, well, practice every day. I heat him up every day and I cool him down every day. Did you ever, you like Quenville, right? Yeah. He was great. Yeah. Great coach.

Went on to win with the Black Hawks. Yep. By the way, how happy were you? Of course, I remember talking to you. But when the blues finally won it. I mean, I know you wish you were on the ice. then but you it's great for the city 52 years

52 years 52 years yeah it that was an emotional day huh yeah it was uh it was just great to see a lot of a lot of long time fans a lot of great people well you love there still yeah a lot of great people come through the organization oh that

that are still a part of it and and uh you know i think just to see the it's a baseball city it's you know obviously the rams left just the emotion and and you know what to see the city show as well as it did after winning nobody burned anything nobody fucking trashed anything everybody just got drunk that's it they just had a great time right hey uh we played in this uh the alum you just got inducted to the hall of fame a couple years ago three years ago uh four years ago four years ago

you're inducted into the hall of fame congrats my friend thank you fucking brilliant we played in the it was an all-star game it was a all-star game it was me you and a bunch I was so honored to be able to play. And this is like Dennis and hard. Oh, that was the top 100. Top 100 Hall of Famers that you were, yes. And I got to play in that. Yes. And, uh, you were not, you were okay. You were okay. Yeah, it was all right. But, you know, um, you know, it's funny as Bieber was in the locker room with me. And he's like, hey, man, you're in Smallville? I'm like, yeah. He's like, yeah, yeah. How is that girl? Kristen Crook? Yeah, Lana. Yeah, she was really pretty. And I was like, yeah, she was. I got to kiss her. He's like, oh, yeah.

cool man yeah so let me ask you this is the I want the right real answer okay before you played were you like fucking Justin Bieber the fucking little twerp I don't like this fucking kid or were you like indifferent I didn't care and then afterwards I had a little more respect for him what was it uh no I didn't really care one way or the other I was just having fun and he was out there trying to score goals so we were like fuck that he's not scoring here he really wanted to score badly he and by the way the fucker never passed no because he wanted to score so bad so pissed all the guys on the on the on the on the on the bench i was playing with like the best what's his name from the oilers uh mac david's like jesus and he's the nicest guy

he doesn't say a fucking word he's like man i haven't seen that guy pass a puck once but it was great gretsky was coaching us lemieux's coaching your team i mean it was a treat that was were you do you that's the last time i had a pair of skates on was it painful for you no did you have any kind of pain or no it was fun because i you know what the only reason I played was three weeks before that I played the alumni winter classic in St. Louis. But now you're done?

Done what? Playing? Are you done playing? For fun? I haven't put my shit on since. Would you do this? Be honest. If I booked the ice next time you come in town, just me and you and maybe a goalie, just go out there and pass around and shoot. Not a fucking chance. Why? Because I don't skate. It hurts my knees. Like bad? Yeah. They're bone on bone and the angle with the skates

that's... Can you fix that? Yeah, I can get new knees. Why don't you get new knees, and then we'll play. Then I'll be able to skate with you. Let me go endure that so I can skate with you. Listen, I got a little surprise for you. I asked a couple of guys. It was last minute, but I had a couple of guys call.

Hey, Rosie, it's Jammer here. Jammer here. Jammer's here calling about prongs. I hear you're going to interview the big bitch on your podcast. I do have a couple things you should bring out. I'll go quickly. one is I was his roommate for five years and he was always at the head of the curve of stuff

so he started drinking these protein shakes and just had the worst ass in the world would absolutely destroy the room clearly his body was not processing the protein well and I was the unfortunate person that had to sit in that room next thing is

ask him about his special MVP season. Not only did he with the league MVP, the Hart Trophy, but he won the Norris. Not sure if anyone's ever done that. Maybe Bobby Orr, with a special year. He controlled games from the back end. I hate giving him a compliment, but he was

unbelievable that year. Ask him about when I showed him about his Amex points. He had no idea that you could buy things with Amex point. I was so proud I had $120,000 Amex points, which is a dollar

per point. He looked up his account. We made him an account, and he had 1.8 million points. Could have bought himself a house with amex points. I was a little jealous, so it was pretty funny. And then I also thought it was pretty funny that Fongs was, as you know, really mean on the ice. And I always found it funny on the ice with him when he would make grown-ass tough hockey players show fear and apologize to him. and he would respond with the fact that he is not afraid to take his suspension.

He loved that line. He would tell guys all the time, I'll take a suspension on you. But he's a fun guy to be around. A lot of people realize, you know, think that he's so serious all the time, but he liked to joke around, and very few guys love the game as much as him. So I learned a lot about being a leader from him. But, yeah, you can rip on to him about those couple things. Hope you all, buddy.

Have a good talk. Later. I mean, obviously, these guys have a lot of love and respect for you. You probably don't talk to a lot of these guys much anymore. Yeah, I see them once in a while. I catch up, you know, you know what it is? When you got friends, it's like me and you. You pick up where you left off.

Is it true? You don't, you don't, if you're really good friends with somebody, you don't have to talk to them every day. You catch up when you can catch up, and you pick up right. You pick up right where you left up. It's the people who get really like, you know, have some family members or some friends who are just like oh you don't call me back oh you don't do this and it gets like it's like hey you know it's not because i don't love you yeah yeah people get

sensitive yeah so i only felt bad so to jammers's point i only felt bad for half a second once we were playing la remember big steve mckenna oh yeah it's like six nine or whatever good guy yeah and he was trying to run around and be an idiot he was more of a fighter right yeah and he's trying and run me, and I'm like, get the fuck out of here. And to his point, I'm like, stop fucking coming near me or I will fucking stick you right in the eye. And he looked at me. I go, I'm not fucking kidding.

And so the play goes on, you know, we change and he's kind of looking at me. All of a sudden, he's back. I don't know why he was on the ice when I was out there, but whatever. He was on the ice. And I went, the puck went near him, I don't know how. And I went to lift a stick. And I missed. And I fucking hit him right on the eyebrow, almost took his eye out.

And for like a half a second, I was like, oh. And then I was like, I fucking told you. I fucking told you I was going to get you. What did he do? He was like, holy fuck. This guy's fucking mad. For like half a second, I caught myself. I was almost like, oh, sorry.

And then I was like, yeah, no, fuck you. Hey, look, I could talk to you for fucking ever. This is already awesome. But I want to finish with this. You're a family guy now. You're a dad of three. Yes, sir. You've been a husband for, I'm going to say 21 years.

It is almost 19. 19 years. Okay, you married in 2001. Oh, one. I thought it was earlier. What do you do? How do you do things differently than your parents did where they let you just kind of, it's a different world.

It's a different country. And it's a different, it's a different world, different country, different everything. Right. So what do you do? How hard is it to be a dad? How lean you on them? do you make sure they understand how to be grateful to you i mean do you ever talk to me we talk we talk about that stuff being grateful and appreciative for what we have

for what we're able to provide them um you know i think for us we're pretty we're very hands-on parents we're you know while i might be out here right now but we're we're you we're around a lot we're around a lot do you honestly do you say jack i love you buddy i love you yeah do you say i love you to your kids yeah is it easier to say to the girl because you're a tough guy so a daddy's girl no hey no i tell all them you do i love you yeah you say hey i love you a little fuck do you have to add something to it you just say i love you know every night you know when i put him you put him in bed say to laura love you do you give her kiss good night yeah sometimes when she's not you're the kind of guy that when you get any kind of affection i think like me i'm i'm i'm not the

most affectionate guy in the world yeah me neither but it's hard it's because it's hard for me and I try, but I have to be really comfortable and I have to, I don't know, I just don't feel comfortable for some reason, maybe because I saw the dysfunction with my family, my own life. So I don't want to do this. So when it does happen, it's probably a really nice thing. You know, Lauren's probably like, oh, Chris said, did that, and he gave me a kiss on the cheek. I guess that's good for the next three years. Is that sort of how it is?

No, I think you try to, where I have a problem is when I'm told to do it. Yeah, nobody wants it. No. Well, then I'm like, when she tells me, you have to do this. I'm like, I don't have to do fucking anything. You can't tell me to do it. Now you ruined it. I was going to do it.

Were you going to do it? See, here's the thing. I was going to do it. That's the thing. If you were like putting it in the calendar, be nice to Lauren and the kids on April 4th. That's different. Because you never, she doesn't know if you're going to ever do it. She's like, hey, you know.

but you know note to self well it does go a long way i'll tell you what little things go a long way like i have a difficult time talking to my mother i love her but i don't like her um i don't she knows but you know sometimes i called her on her birthday and i talked to her for a good 20 minutes and i and i gave her undivided attention i didn't i didn't veer off and and look at the tv and sports and i said you know what i'm going to talk to my mother on her birthday and i'm going to ask her how it was and let her talk and no matter how annoyed i get i'm going to stay with it yeah at the end i said all right well mom i got a couple meetings and i i really enjoy talking to you and i want you to know i want you to have a happy birthday and i love you and that was it and it was for her yeah and also felt

good yeah it felt good so i'm just saying i'm not telling you what to do but if you can just every once in a while it does help a little active kind of a little active gratitude yes those things fucking go a long way they do you ever say it to your parents you ever see once in a while yeah they're getting old now yeah when they can hear me are they both deaf now are they well they a deaf when I knew? My dad is pretty well, and my mom is deaf in one ear. Your dad's completely deaf? Pretty much. Does he know sign language?

No, he reads lips, and he can hear kind of, but he's going to get the cochlear ear implants. Does work? It's supposed to help. I don't know. We're going to find out. That'd be nice, huh? Yeah. So if that works, then he can hear again, but you make a joke, you got to

say it four fucking times. It's no longer funny and now you're annoyed. Yeah. You know, it's just think about it for him. I know, so every time, you know, me and my brother were talking. I'm like, just think how mad we get, how painful it is for him, knowing that you're getting pissed off that he can't fucking hear you. Yeah. And you know what?

This could be a job for the bartender. Yeah. For McClennon. Yeah. You have him come along with you. You tell a joke and then you have you leave. McClennon stays there with your dad. He gets some drinks and he tells him the joke for the next one minutes.

That's what he does. There you go. Fuck. I always have an open door policy in St. Louis. Right. I always come and stay with you. You still live in the same place? I got a room for you.

You still have that golf game in the basement? No, no, I get a new place. Is it nicer? It is. And you're working for the Florida Panthers. Yes, sir. And what you're scouting? Senior advisor to the GM.

So I kind of do everything. So if I ever want to go to a game, it's easy. Yeah, just call me. But you have to pay for away games, right? Hockey players have to, you have the weird thing. Yeah. Home games, you're all right. Yeah, I don't know.

People probably, and most people don't know that. They don't know that. But if you go to a game and you ask your friend for a ticket, people go, hey, you know, one quiz. It's not baseball where they get umpteen a million tickets. Because they can't fill the stadiums. Hockey arenas are tough.

So when you ask me, hey, can you get me tickets to this hockey? The players actually have to pay for the way games. Or you're paying for it. Or I'm COD. Always. And oh, by the way, I've done this. I've left tickets. Somebody said, hey, can you leave me tickets?

I go, yeah, they're going to be COD. They'll be left. When you don't pay for them, they're charging me. Yeah. They're setting them out of their allotment and taking them off the books. if you don't pick them up and pay for them, I'm getting charged for them. Do you hear this guys? Everybody out there, we just want you to know this.

This is really important. And I've been fucked by a couple people for thousands of dollars because they didn't want to pay for their fucking tickets. You know who you are, fuckers. You know who you are. This has been real. Did you learn a lot, Ryan? I did. Lots of swearing.

I apologize. You don't know. We can believe it. My tender ears, yeah. Yeah. You know, I don't know how these podcasts work. I didn't know how real you wanted me to be. dude this has been great uh like i think you're one of the best hockey players ever lived you're

you're a great friend even though i don't see a lot i always think about you when when do you think about me when you're on the throne up there well sometimes should i should i tell people that this being the first time i've been invited to your house uh i had to christen your toilet that's it that he walks in the house i gave him a hug five seconds i got a pinch a loaf he walks up to my bathroom, my master, it's gone. It's just destroyed. The porcelain has been... Just destroyed.

But you know what? I do think of me. Here's how I think of you. Right now, as I'm interviewing you, every day I look at Pronger. Your jersey's always in front of me. Here's to many more good years for the both of us. Your Bubba, Chris Pronger, 44.

That jersey was given to me in 98, probably. That's the MVP jersey, dude. That was 2000. And it's a real... Was it? Yeah, 2000. But that's a real jersey. That's like off your back.

There's markings of the stick on it. Yep. So, you know, that's a good one, man. I really appreciate that. So I do think of you. I think of you fondly. I know you and Lauren have a little business together too. We do.

Talk about that for a second. The company is called Well Inspired Travels. It is a luxury travel business. Something that I've been fortunate enough to do and we've been fortunate enough to do as a family is travel and go on these great trips. and now kids are a little bit older Lauren ultimately started it in the beginning and brought me on board

and I love the travel I love seeing new places I love how you feel when you're on vacation you know the happiness and joy that it can bring you and you know coming from the injuries in different places that I've been it kind of brings you back and re-energizes it revitalizes your mind

and your body and spirit well dude where can they find you on the Instagram I am at the Chris Pronger Just on Instagram now Yeah And at well inspired travels Is our company And Lauren can be found

On what Instagram That's hers Well that's ours That's yours We're together We're together Well check that out Listen

Howwellinspired travels com And at well inspired travels Yeah it's interesting stuff on Instagram So check that out man Chris Pronger I love you buddy Thanks for let me be inside of you

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