Pronger is chasing the wrong title: hockey thug

By Helene Elliott

June 4, 2007 12 AM PT

OTTAWA —

Throughout his nearly two years as the Ducks’ general manager, Brian Burke has made it clear that his team will be big and tough and will back down from no one.

He added muscle and character to a formidable reserve of talent. He weeded out soft players and old players and those who played smaller than their size.

And in what was considered a potential Stanley Cup-winning coup last summer, he acquired defenseman Chris Pronger from Edmonton for two promising young players, two first-round draft picks and a second-round pick.

The price was high but worth it for the Ducks, who had run out of determination and scoring spark in losing the Western Conference finals to the Oilers last spring.

Pronger, 6 feet 6 and seemingly able to span the width of the rink, is the rare intimidating presence who can make opponents change their thoughts or direction. He has averaged 30 minutes 44 seconds per game during the playoffs and is the top-scoring defenseman in postseason play, with three goals and 14 points.

But the team that has lived and thrived on toughness might die by it now because Pronger allowed his temper to prevail over his prodigious talent again.

By giving in to impulse Saturday and wielding a vile forearm that briefly knocked out Ottawa forward Dean McAmmond, Pronger earned the wrath of the NHL and jeopardized the Ducks’ chances of winning the Cup. He won’t be allowed to play today in Game 4 of the finals, an absence the Senators will be eager to exploit as they try to win a second successive home game and assume control of the series.

That blow also cemented Pronger’s reputation as a cheap-shot artist, a shameful choice for someone who has the talent to be so much better.

Any discussion of Pronger’s career requires mention that he was the NHL’s most valuable player and its best defenseman in the 2000-01 season. That he was a three-time Canadian Olympian and five-time All-Star.

It also demands mention that the suspension levied on Sunday by Colin Campbell, the NHL’s chief disciplinarian, was the seventh of Pronger’s career and second in two playoff rounds. He previously sat out one game for striking Detroit’s Tomas Holmstrom in the head with his forearm in Game 3 of the Western Conference finals; that hit, like the blow to McAmmond, wasn’t punished during the game but was judged illegal after video review.

As a repeat offender, Pronger might have been punished more severely had he done this during the season or early in the playoffs. He got off lightly only because Campbell, a former NHL player and coach, considers the Cup finals sacred and a one-game suspension to be harsher now than at any other time.

“You do put some thought and lots of weight into that aspect,” Campbell said. “This one took a lot of thought.... It didn’t jump out right away at us. But there were some simple aspects to it.

“A blow to the head with the elbow that resulted in a concussion are some pretty simple criteria that we’ve gone by before in the past, often.”

Pronger acknowledged his hit on McAmmond was “a reaction play,” and said it wasn’t malicious or meant to inflict injury. Pronger said he didn’t know whom he had hit, only that he had to finish his check and prevent an opponent from getting to the puck.

Although he has shown that he can’t always stay on the right side of the dividing line between toughness and goonery, Pronger said that he can’t modify his style at this late date and still be effective.

“Obviously, it’s a fine line and it’s getting finer every year,” he said. “And we have to make subtle adjustments, but I don’t think I can make wholesale changes and still be the type of player I can be.”

Burke said he accepted the league’s decision. “Chris’ footwork wasn’t right. He was trying to stop a guy, finish his check. But at the end, he stuck his arm out and got him in the head and the player’s injured, and we’re sorry about that,” Burke said.

Burke seemed sorriest, though, that Campbell didn’t also sanction Ottawa’s Chris Neil for a crunching hit to the head of Ducks center Andy McDonald during the second period on Saturday.

Neil appeared to take several strides before elbowing McDonald, who has a history of concussions and missed the Ducks’ 2003 Cup run because of post-concussion syndrome. Burke said that was “the most dangerous play in the game ... not Chris Pronger’s hit on Dean McAmmond.”

Yet Burke, who spent five seasons in Campbell’s job, said he didn’t fault the on-ice officials. “It’s the hardest job officiating in all of pro sports,” he said.

With fresh memories of Pronger’s hit and the Ducks having compiled a postseason-high 347 penalty minutes, every hit they dish out will be scrutinized tonight. That’s only one of many concerns as they try to reconfigure a defense that couldn’t handle the Senators’ speed or puck-handling ability in Game 3.

“I don’t think one guy can take Chris Pronger’s place,” defenseman Sean O’Donnell said. “You take an extra couple of minutes by all the defense and you have some guys step up. It’s only one game. We’ll be OK.”

If not, the list of demerits on Pronger’s career ledger will be that much longer.

Helene Elliott can be reached at helene.elliott@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Elliott, go to latimes.com/elliott.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Have a seat

Career suspensions for defenseman Chris Pronger:

June 3, 2007 (with Ducks)

* One playoff game for hit to

the head of Ottawa’s

Dean McAmmond.

May 16, 2007 (Ducks)

* One playoff game for hit to

the head of Detroit’s