Chris Pronger Quotes

You have to close quickly, you have to eliminate time and space and you have to try to deny them the puck. When you're playing with it, it forces them out of their rhythm and forces them to play defense, which they obviously don't want to do.

I was still very invested in the team, very invested in how we were doing. I realized I needed to take a step back and start focusing on myself, my head and my eye, try to get my health back.

You get a pretty good read by watching the play, and knowing what you would have done - having done most of the things that these guys are accused of doing. I put myself in their shoes: Would I have been wanting to send a message? Is it a hockey play that went a little sideways?

Mistakes happen. Not every one of my suspensions was purposeful or intentional. A lot of that stuff happens spur of the moment in the middle of a game. I think I can bring that to the table. Sometimes emotions get the best of you. Things happen.

I just didn't feel very good. One day I woke up and I was like: "All right. I'm going to start eating right. I'm going to start working out." I figured it might help me feel a little bit better - even if I was still sick, it might help me move forward with my struggles. I just kind of turned a corner.

[In management] you're getting an opportunity to meet and speak with the GMs, assistant GMs, owners, governors - all the way up the line. It's a great opportunity to understand the league a little better and the challenges it faces.

I think playing the way I played, and knowing the game the way I know it, I think I'm going to have a better idea as to what the mindset of each player was.

I used to have very good sixth sense - knowing exactly where someone was without seeing them.

I was sitting at a friend's place in Michigan on vacation, having a beer on the patio. I was a little hefty. I said to myself: "Okay, I'm going to finish this weekend off strong, then after that I'm going to shut her down. I'm going to start taking better care of myself."

My doctors say the more I continue to push, the more I can continue to raise that bar, the better I can get.

I've got to live my life. Bad things happen. I can't be sitting here worrying about it.

I have played in the West for 14 years. I played against Dustin Byfuglien a lot. So it's not like I've been out East for my whole career and never played against the guy. That may have been blown out of proportion, I think.

You do what you can to help your team win, whether it's playing that many minutes or 24 or whatever is asked of you, you do. You prepare yourself to play as much as you're asked to play.

Every day, I'll get sent clips via email. I watch them and see if there's something of substance or significance.Some nights are super busy; some nights are quiet.

It's not like you can start pounding drinks when you're wheeling your kids all over. They gave me something to shoot for, a goal to get back to.

When I got hit I went from having 37-year-old eyes to having 65-year-old eyes. That's why I've got the glasses on - so my eye isn't constantly trying to focus and giving me headaches. But they also help me see better: my right eye is blurry.

Whether the guys are nervous or just had mental breakdowns, it happens. The game is a game of mistakes. And how you deal with them and correct them and all the things like that is what makes this game great and makes hockey the sport it is.

I don't like having noise swirling around me. Loud noises bother me, so I try to stick to the outside of a room.

I wanted to stay in the game. I wanted to learn more about the league, what goes on behind the scenes. As a player, you don't really think about that, nor do you really care: you're worried about your job.

I wouldn't change anything that happened.That's the way the game was played when I was coming up. The game is different now. It's just a by-product of the era.

As you've progress further in the Playoffs, the ice usually gets a little softer. It's tough to keep it that cold. We could make it hard, but it would be about 4 degrees in the building. I'm sure the fans wouldn't appreciate that very much, wearing parkas in June.

I'm not involved in any Philadelphia-related game or situation. When people claim I'm going to have a "vendetta" against every other Eastern Conference team I don't understand the logic: I'm not the one doling out the punishment.

In the '90s, when I started, it was still a rough-and-tumble, physical league. You take the hook and holding and a little bit of the physicality out of the game, and the speed ratcheted up two-fold. Now you have a split second to make a hit, or decide to pull up. When there's indecision, you're going to make a mistake.

I don't want to get into a 'he said, she said' with the refs...I'm the he.