I keep praying that Chelly will retire already. For crying out loud, the guy is like 140 years old, stop playing already!!! Go run your restaurant into the ground or something and leave the Wings to the younger players. Crikee.

Poor Chris Chelios. :(

Cheli's restaurants are doing quite well and are quite popular.

I like Chelios. He's pretty personable and has a pretty good sense of humor. He's solid enough in his own zone and has really cut back on bonehead plays. We used to "sponsor" our own "Chris Chelios Bad Pass Of The Game", but Andreas Lilja has taken over that title. Lilja is good for at least one complete inexplicable play per game that results in a fantastic scoring opportunity for the other team. It's like his brain simply ceases to function for like 2 seconds and he just throws the puck into the middle of the ice. It's terrifying.

Back to Chelios, he still plays with a bit of an edge, he's still a great competitor, and if the choice was between Chelios, Meech, Quincey, or Lilja in the line-up (which it currently would be), I'm going with Chelios every time. He also doesn't count much against the cap. There's very little downside to having him on the roster.

Well said.

Chelios can't retire until one of his coaches allows him to play an entire 60 minute game without a break.

As for Pronger, I like him, but a lot of that is simply because he's from Dryden. I'd love to have him on my team though... if I had a team.

To a point, I agree with you...we do have a very emotional fanbase here in Edmonton...for both the Oilers and the Eskimos. Good or bad, that's the way it is and it won't change anytime soon. So, when I first heard about this story yesterday I immediately tried to recall any "promos" done by one particular radio station, The Bear, who do have a rep for going above and beyond "tasteless" when it comes to publicity stunts. I couldn't remember a single incident in the city regarding Pronger's furniture nor could anybody else that I've spoken to since yesterday afternoon. So, either Pronger "heard stories" from a terribly inaccurate source or he flat out made it up because if a city as passionate about their teams can't recall something this crazy happening...then it never happened.

I can udnerstand if the stories he heard were overblown, but how can a burnt crib be a "story"? He will have seen that, don't you think?

According to his quote from the interview...he said he heard stories about it. After announcing he wanted out of town...via his agent...he reportedly was already sunning on the beach in Mexico or something and never set foot back in Edmonton until the following year...wearing a Ducks' jersey. So, if this indeed happened, he wasn't here to witness it unless he dropped by his old pad on game day last year.

Wouldn't someone in the Pronger family, though, have been there? I mean, if there was a crib there, his family was there, right? Even if Pronger doesn't see it himself, someone in the "Pronger camp" will have seen this, I would think.

So Canadians burn cribs and people in West Virginia burn couches...

Well, let's say that's the case, somebody from the Pronger family was still living in the house when all of this supposedly went down...wouldn't you think something like this would make the local news...national news...and even international news? Of course it would...and yet nobody has ever heard of such a thing happening until now...after Pronger says he "heard stories" about it.

Now, it's common practice for players to rent a house/apartment and all the fixings for the first little while and that's exactly what the Prongers were doing, AFAIK. So, my guess, is that once the trade was done the Prongers had no intentions of coming back here and just had their belongings packed up, if they already weren't, and sent on to where ever their permanent home is...probably St. Louis. So, there would be no reason for anybody in the Pronger Camp to be in Edmonton following his trade to Anaheim.

It doesn't have to be someone living in the house right then and there. Moving was already in the process. Someone could have come on the scene after said damage and seen it, someone in the Pronger camp.

I'm not an NHLer, so I can't say much about the logistics of moves like these, but I would think at one point someone with the Prongers would be on hand to supervise a move and to make sure stuff isn't damaged, stolen, etc. So the damage could have been done when no one was there, but surely someone related to the Prongers would have been along at some point.

Really, it gets back to that I don't see Pronger making this stuff up. Heck, it's sorta out there, enough that I think it has to be abit true, don't you think? I mean, who thinks "let's burn furniture" to get back at someone?

You are missing the point, regardless of whether he's making it up or not or whether he or somebody he knows witnessed it, it would have made the news one way or another especially in Edmonton and especially because of the circumstances surrounding who it involves and his situation in relation to the city of Edmonton at the time. That's why I find very hard to believe.

With that said....there are "over the top" fanatics in every walk of life and I wouldn't put it past a couple of fans who have a little extra cash to burn...pun intended...to do something this stupid. But, again, something like this would have definitely made the news.

Here's my guess as to what may have happened...maybe just prior to his return to Edmonton Pronger was talking to, I don't know...former teammates...local media guys that he may have had a decent rapport with...and they heard rumours of a local radio station buying some of his furniture (either through auction if the Prongers did indeed own the stuff or from the rental company...who knows) and were planning on burning it the day he made his return to Edmonton for the first time. The radio station who planned to do the burning may have backed off on the stunt without Pronger actually knowing it didn't go down but for all he knows, he thinks it did.

No, I get the point on the news angle. What I think you're missing is that Pronger wouldn't alert the media about this (he was already under seige as it was, and wanted to move on), and the perpetrators didn't want to be arrested. So who else knows?

I can see what you suggest happen as a possibility except Pronger mentions a crib. Rather specific for rumors from local reporters on a story that, as you say, didn't get reported, don't you think? That tells me he didn't get this from innuendo. He got it from someone much closer to the action, someone who actually saw the damage done (and someone he trusts more than local media guys).

A friend of mine is a cop in Edmonton. I am trying to see what he knows about any of this...

I'm a neutral in all of this, but I do know that Chris Pronger is a bit of an ass. If you were Chris (an ass) and you knew what kind of furniture you had in your rental home in Edmonton, and you were telling the story to Jim Rome, would you pick out something average, like say a sofa, or would you pick out something a little more inflammitory, like a crib? Like I said, I'm a neutral, but I do know what he is capable of.

I'm confused now. What do you think happened then?

Do you think somebody busted into the Pronger's home and burnt a bunch of furniture in their house? Did they break in, pile a bunch of furniture in the yard and burn it there? Do you think somebody hijacked the moving truck on the way out of town and burned the furniture on the side of the highway? Did they somehow get their hands on the furniture, bring to Rexall Place and burn it in front of a screaming mob of fans? If so, Pronger wouldn't have a choice about keeping something like that quiet.


Fair enough...so, a guy somehow gets a hold of Pronger's crib...burns it where nobody will be suspicious like outside of town on a farm or something...and only invites a close friend of Pronger to watch and swears him to secrecy...he can only tell Pronger about it...that's it. Could happen, I guess.

Cool...keep us posted.

the way I see this, he heard talk that people had burned his furniture, which hurt his feelings. then he realized that he had a crib in the house, and that mental image must have really hit him hard. Honestly, I can't really blame him for being upset if he thought it was true, even though chances are rather slim that this really happened.

The problem is that he really has no idea if it's true or not and so really has no business mentioning that story to anyone in the media. If anyone should know better than to toss careless rumors around, shouldn't it be Pronger? Good God, didn't that reporter he was boning in Edmonton teach him ANYTHING?

That's how I see this whole thing having been played out. He heard talk about the "Burn Chris Pronger Furniture Day", that hurt his feelings, he started thinking about it and the crib image came up.

I can just see the image of a saddened Chris Pronger walking aimlessly through the charred wreckage of his beloved furniture, eyes glazed over in disbelief muttering, "How? How could this have happened? Who... Who would have done such a... No," he spots the charred remains of something that looks like a crib.

He wanders closer, stepping over the charred remains of one of his baby's beloved teddy bears and half-melted photo from his wedding. "No..." Yes. There it is, the charred remains of his baby's crib. Pronger falls to his knees, grasping for the burnt and shattered remains of the very bed his babe once slept so peacefully on.

"Noooooooooo!!!!" He belows into the brutally cold, uncaringly clear Edmonton night sky...


Heh!

for fuck's sake...

Paul Stastny is out for 2 to 3 weeks after having his appendix out.

Fuck...he's on my fantasy team.

fuck you, he's on my REAL team!

:)

I'd feel for you, but well a)I'm an Edmonton fan and b) Pitkanen is hurt again :(

Heard them say that Pitkanen was hurt...what happened?

He was gone by the time I got home from work, but they said groin, so I'm assuming nothing really major happened in the game, hopefully just a tweak. They also said Greene had been sent down on a conditioning stint so hopefully that means Tarnstrom gets dealt as soon as Greene is ready to get back in the lineup, then can send Grebeshkov to the press box as soon as Pitkanen is good (though hopefully he only misses a game or two).

I'd get use to that if I were you...

I know you're referring to Pitkanen in particular, but as an Oilers fan, we're getting pretty used to injuries period at this point.

Saw that note about Greene earlier today...very good news, indeed.

About this game against the Caps...I've only seen the 3rd period...very entertaining game...a lot of end to end action.

OH MY...nice save by Rolly in OT on the breakaway!!

And Kolzig is up to the task as well...stops Stoll on a breakway!

Great game!!

First save over a difficulty of 6 he's made all night. Gave up one of his trademark goal line shots that caught him cheating off the post during a 4 goal second period by the Caps.

Great save for sure, but the Caps never should have seen OT.

That has to be the best OT period I've ever seen...wow!!! End to end action for five minutes highlighted by a couple of breakaways...Hemsky undressing two D-men with 10 seconds to go only to get stoned by Kolzig and Ovechkin get a shot from in tight with literally tenths of a second left. WOW.

Well, considering the way they've played in regulation I'm not surprised we let this game get away. But, good on them for battling back to pick up at least a point.

Nice to see Gagner stare at the pad before he slides it right along the ice.

I can't imagine there is any net to see behind Kolzig...that guy is friggin' HUGE!!

Somebody has to go high glove. First one to do it wins.

Holy stick side, BATMAN!!! Change it up, boys!!!

LOL

Classic Stoll deke (stick broke).

Can we each have 1.5 points?

Two posts...JEBUS!!!!!

Sucks not having Pitkanen around at this point, he'd be a nice option as the 12th shooter.

LOL!!! Friggin' Souray...what a buffoon.

Regardless...still one of the best 3rd periods, overtimes, and shootouts I've seen.

For such a great game and OT and to go to 12 shooters for both teams, I'm really surprised there weren't more quality chances in the shootout. A lot of fanned shots, missed nets, broken stick, falling over, etc. Even Moreau's off the post only looked half speed. Where's Malik when you need him.

2 in a row...BREAK UP THE LEAFS.

Peddy is phoning Cliff in Mexico and telling him to stay on vacation.

If you get a chance, check out Rick Nash's goal tonight against PHX. Phoenix scored on a 6 on 4 (on a penalty against Nash, no less) with 1:30 left in the 3rd to tie up the game. With about 30 seconds left in the game, Nash goes 1 on 2, undresses Morris, and beats Tellqvist to give the Jackets a 4-3 game.

This might be (because of the situation) one of the most amazing AND clutch goals all rolled into one that I've ever seen.

Well, curious, then, how do you figure it would have happened? I have been figuring all along someone knew where Pronger lived and broke in to burn stuff. How on Earth would they have gotten to the furniture? Obviously, anyone out there burning cribs and shit isn't right in the head anyway (on top of being a rabid Oilers fan), so trying to assess their actions rationally is kinda silly, don't you think?

So you go from figuring it's likely to have happened the way you say to assuming it is and ripping into him for it? Got it.

Naw, you know what? I ain't fighting this fight. I think you guys are ripping on a victim here (in this specific instance), like blaming the rape victim for wearing a tight dress.

But Pronger is indubitably an ass, and even as a Ducks fan, I know that. So screw it. No one's gonna think differently about him anytime soon (nor do I think he will deserve to be thought of differently).

But I stand by that you guys are too willing to claim he's lying, when there could be some seriously messed up Oiler fans at the heart of this (not representative of Oiler fans as a whole, of course).

Chief Rum, as soon as somebody finds some kind of proof of somebody burning his kid's crib I'll gladly eat crow.

Now, comparing him to a rape victim is certainly an interesting way to look at things...but I think I can see where you're coming from.

The Oilers bought him the most expensive tight dress they could find. They wined and dined him at the fanciest restaurant in town. And, they introduced him to all of their friends. He looks like he's having a great time and even tells several people that in fact our observations are, indeed, correct. But, even before the appetizers come he gets up to go to the washroom to freshen up and doesn't come back. Instead a waiter hands a note scribbled on a napkin to whoever is buying that says:

"Thanks for the dress, cya!!"

A year goes by without seeing the dress they spent so much money on when suddenly the owner of that dress files rape charges stating that after supper that night he was raped by the Oilers and their friends. Huh? Nobody remembers seeing the dress after dinner what the hell is going on?

Is this what you meant? :rolleyes:

I know...a little over the top...but, c'mon, a rape victim??


Well, let's go over his brief history as an Oiler. Gets traded to the Oilers and promptly signs a big, fat, long-term contract. Shows up with a big grin on his face and tells everybody how excited he is to be playing in Canada in front of a packed house every night. Leads the Oilers to the Cup Finals with a big grin from ear to ear. The week after the Cup Finals, while the Prongers were laying on some beach, the Oilers are the last ones to know that they aren't coming back. Sites family as his reason for pulling the Oilers' collective pants down and having his way with them...prison-style.

In the end, Pronger did what he thought was best for his family. I respect that. But, the lack of character he demonstrated during his finally days in Edmonton should speak volumes to you about what kind of person he is. So, is lying or exagerrating really that far fetched? Personally, I don't think so.