The defenseman, who was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2015, played 18 seasons in the NHL, nine for the Blues, and was named one of the 100 Greatest NHL Players in 2017. Pronger won the Stanley Cup with the Anaheim Ducks in 2007 and a gold medal playing for Canada at the 2002 Salt Lake City and 2010 Vancouver Olympics. He scored 698 points (157 goals, 541 assists) in 1,167 regular-season games for the Hartford Whalers, Blues, Edmonton Oilers, Ducks and Philadelphia Flyers.
Pronger was captain of the Blues, Ducks and Flyers. He won the Hart Trophy with St. Louis in 1999-00, the first defenseman to be voted as NHL most valuable player since Bobby Orr in 1971-72.
Selected by the Whalers with the No. 2 pick in the 1993 NHL Draft, he was traded to the Blues for Brendan Shanahan on July 27, 1995. Pronger helped the Blues win the 1999-00 Presidents' Trophy, given to the team with the best regular-season record (51-19-11, 114 points), by scoring an NHL-career high 62 points (14 goals, 48 assists), leading the League with a personal-best plus-52 rating, and also winning the Norris Trophy voted as best defenseman.
"I have to admit, the first couple of years [in St. Louis] were tough," Pronger said. "Sometimes I think maybe it's good to go through a little adversity like that. It makes you a better player and a better person."
Pronger was traded by the Blues to the Oilers on Aug. 2, 2005. He went on to play in the Stanley Cup Final with the Oilers (2006), Ducks (2007) and Flyers (2010), helping Anaheim winning its first NHL championship by scoring 15 points (three goals, 12 assists) and tying for the League lead with a plus-10 rating in 19 games.
"With the edge that he had and the way he competed and how hard he was, you always had to know when he was on the ice," former Detroit Red Wings center Kris Draper said. "He was a guy that could impact the game."
Pronger is a member of the Triple Gold Club, which consists of players who have won the Stanley Cup, an Olympic gold medal and the IIHF World Championship (1997).
He will be the eighth player to have his number retired by the Blues, joining Al MacInnis (2), Bob Gassoff (3), Bob Plager (5), Barclay Plager (8), Brian Sutter (11), Brett Hull (16) and Bernie Federko (24).
