Pronger’s Concussion-like Symptoms Dampen Flyers’ Potential: Fan Reaction

The Philadelphia Flyers announcement that captain Chris Pronger is suffering from concussion-like symptoms lays a heavy hit on the team’s current progress.

Prior to this season Pronger had back issues, surgery and a broken hand. This season, he was hit in the eye by an errant Toronto Maple Leafs‘ stick and recently had modest knee surgery.

Each of those situations was a result of age, or circumstance. Concussion problems create an entirely new dilemma and may seriously affect the future of the Flyers dominant defenseman.

Towering presence

Eric Desjardins previously held the title of the franchises best all-around D-man until Pronger was acquired from the Anaheim Ducks in the summer of 2009.

As soon Pronger stepped onto the ice that fall it was easy to see that he was instantly the team’s best blueliner since Mark Howe.

I had a chance to congratulate Howe recently when I was covering a Flyers game. He stands at under six feet tall and appears to weigh the same 185 pounds that he did during his playing days.

The experience of interviewing Pronger, while at the Flyers training camp in September, allowed me realize once again what a towering presence he actually is. ‘Prongs’ is 6 feet 6 inches tall and weighs 220 pounds.

While the captain’s playful demeanor was in full force that day, the same is never visible when he’s on the ice.

2 times 20

When Howe’s soon-to-be retired uniform number 2 is multiplied by ten, 20 results. That equation matches the number on Pronger’s sweater and the corresponding physical evidence that he appears to be ten times bigger than Howe.

Number 2′s career efforts from the early 1970s through the early 1990s allowed him to recently gain induction into hockey’s Hall of Fame.

Number 20′s efforts since the early 1990s seem to have been leading him toward that same destination.