Jump to content
The Official Site of the Vancouver Canucks
Canucks Community

Okay I gotta know... Why is Pronger still on LTIR when he's retired?


Recommended Posts

(I posted this on HF, but i expect it to be locked because it questions things. Can't have that.)

He is by all accounts retired. But because he's not saying it, the Flyers can put him on LTIR for the duration of the 35+ contract that he signed in 2009.

http://www.broadstreethockey.com/2013/3/7/4076326/chris-pronger-retirement-press-conference-flyers

There was a huge elephant in the room at Flyers Skate Zone in Voorhees today as Chris Pronger spoke to the media, but nobody could address it directly. It just stood there, big and grey and overwhelming, without making a sound.

Everybody knew this was Chris Pronger's retirement press conference, but the Flyers defenseman and future Hall of Famer just won't say it.

At least eight questions today touched on the topic, even the direct "Is this your retirement press conference?" question. But because of the rules of the collective bargaining agreement, Pronger can't (or won't) officially retire. If he does, he'd be sticking the Flyers with a $4.9 million salary cap hit each season until July 2017 thanks to the 35-plus contract Paul Holmgren signed him to in the fall of 2009.

So he'll sit there, still technically on the Flyers roster for the next five years and on (very) long-term injured reserve, years after his final game as an NHL player. How can we be so certain that Pronger will never play again? Well, just read some of these quotes :

"My eye is still troubling. It's not working properly. I don't have peripheral vision. I don't have a lot of the things I have that have worked well for me in the past. My eyesight is-- I keep having to get stronger and stronger glasses. I just got another new prescription. You work on getting healthy."

"I have some vulnerability that [doctors] are worried about. That may or may not go away. No matter how long it takes, I have to get healthy that's my main focus and goal."

"At times, I can be disoriented, I can lose my train of thought. My cognitive skills are a little suspect at times. It comes and goes on certain days. I can be sitting here and you might say 'what's wrong with him?' and I'll figure out what I was saying and start going again."

"I have glasses and I can drive, yes, but I can't run. Anything where I have to move my body fast. If I ride a bike where my heart rate gets up to high, I get symptoms. Pretty much anything where there's a lot going on. ... I've been on the ice with my kids but I can't say I'm really doing a lot. Pushing pucks around. I've been on the ice and I've gotten symptoms and tried to do some things. It didn't go very well."

He can't ride a bike or run or do anything more on the ice than push pucks around with his kids. He's lost most or all of his peripheral vision. He gets stronger glasses all the time and the doctors are worried that his symptoms won't improve. He forgets what he's saying when he's talking.

He also can't say that he's retired from hockey, because it will screw over his team for the next half a decade. But even though he inserts the hope into some of the things he says -- "I'm focused on getting better and from there we'll see what happens" -- just look at his condition objectively here. Chris Pronger is retired from hockey.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Philly has done this with numerous players.

- Pronger

- Laperriere*

- Hatcher

- Rathje

*Won the Bill Masterson Trophy in 2011 even though his career was over from the season before (puck to the face) and he was just LTIR'd.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Uh, because he's not officially retired? I mean, we know he's extremely unlikely to ever play again, same with Marc Savard, but until he announces it or the NHL puts a cap on the amount of time a player can spend on LTI over multiple seasons, he's not retired.

This way Philly doesn't get screwed on the cap and Pronger still gets paid through players insurance. Of course their circumventing the spirit of the cap, but it's not illegal if there's no rule against it and the NHL doesn't step in to make a decision.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

After seeing the Pronger interview with Dan Murphy last year, I have a hard time feeling bad for Pronger. Hockey Karma eventually caught up with him for the way he played the game and for the fact he isn't the least bit remorseful over the intentionally injurious plays he made during his career.

I know it sucks that he can't play anymore, but the if the NHL is so hell bent on ending cap circumvention via back diving contracts, they should alos cap the amount of consecutive games a player can be on LTIR so that teams can't circumvent the cap by burying players on LTIR for multiple seasons (also Savaard in Boston). Then again the NHLPA would never stand for it so it's probably a non-starter.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Because the insurance company is paying his salary. If he retires he doesn't get paid, but it costs his team nothing to let him stay on LTIR.

He's not the only one. There's also Marc Savard. He's unlikely to ever play again. (Who in their right mind would suffer for years of post-concussion syndrome and then come back after it finally went away if it ever did?!) But, he's still not officially retired and will likely continue to get paid for the length of his contract by the insurance company.

Interestingly, both had 7-year back-diving contracts the NHL didn't like. However, due to the fact that they remain on LTIR rather than simply retiring, neither Philly nor the Bruins will ever have a cap recapture penalty from them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Uh, because he's not officially retired? I mean, we know he's extremely unlikely to ever play again, same with Marc Savard, but until he announces it or the NHL puts a cap on the amount of time a player can spend on LTI over multiple seasons, he's not retired.

This way Philly doesn't get screwed on the cap and Pronger still gets paid through players insurance. Of course their circumventing the spirit of the cap, but it's not illegal if there's no rule against it and the NHL doesn't step in to make a decision.

I don't disagree. But the same could be said for those long term, back diving contracts that the league put a rule in after the fact to punish teams that used them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Uh, because he's not officially retired? I mean, we know he's extremely unlikely to ever play again, same with Marc Savard, but until he announces it or the NHL puts a cap on the amount of time a player can spend on LTI over multiple seasons, he's not retired.

This way Philly doesn't get screwed on the cap and Pronger still gets paid through players insurance. Of course their circumventing the spirit of the cap, but it's not illegal if there's no rule against it and the NHL doesn't step in to make a decision.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think in Prongers case its dubious, but in Savards case he was only 30 years old and probably has two small kids and a young wife to support.

The league tends to get a blind eye to guys like Savard and let them 'rehab' for 5 years.

Edit:

Isnt Mattias Ohlund going through the same thing? Not retired but hasnt played for years?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think in Prongers case its dubious, but in Savards case he was only 30 years old and probably has two small kids and a young wife to support.

The league tends to get a blind eye to guys like Savard and let them 'rehab' for 5 years.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well if he is still having symptoms then he's still injured.

Let's say you work at a mill and have a contract to work at that mill and insurance to cover you if you're injured. Now you lose your leg and cannot go back to work. Should your contract be tossed because you're not "officially" retired yet you'll never work again?

What a dumb argument we have here...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...