HOCKEY TONIGHT: PRONGS' RETURN

It's long past the point of arguing whether or not Edmonton Oilers should boo their former friend Chris Pronger tonight when his new team, the Anaheim Ducks, visit Edmonton for the first time since his infamous trade demand made just days after Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final... they should. Long and loud.

Sure as the first thing you notice when you drive into Pronger's hometown of Dryden, Ont., is that huge smokestack, the big defenceman is going to be taunted and booed until northern Alberta's collective throat is sore. He's a big boy. He'll live.

Oilers fans, who started warming up their lungs with "Pronger sucks!" chants during the team's last home game against Chicago, have every right to still be mad. No one -- not Pronger, the Oilers organization, and as mc79hockey argues, not a "totally toothless" media, has explained why a guy signs a big free-agent contract one summer, leads a team to within one win of the Stanley Cup, then turns around and asks for a one-way ticket on the first thing smokin' and headin' some place that doesn't get snow.

Watergate and Abu Ghraib got out, but the real story of why Chris Pronger is no longer an Edmonton Oiler has to be guarded like a state secret. Granted, hockey is really important in Canada...

Really, it seems as if Pronger and his advisers were just naive about the days-of-the-locusts life of a hockey player on a Canadian team in a Canadian city. A couple days ago, Battle of Alberta also linked to an Allan Maki article in the Globe & Mail that points out after Game 7, Pronger's agent "began making cryptic comments about his client wanting out 'for personal reasons.' Instead of standing up and explaining himself, Pronger skipped town and went on vacation. It was the wrong call."

Doesn't that sound like Pronger didn't anticipate the fallout the trade rumours would cause? Mike Comrie, anyone? He was 13 when Gretzky was traded, so wasn't he playing attention then? Up until '05-06, Pronger had played in the States, in sleepy burgs such as Hartford and St. Louis, where the fans are mostly polite and hockey is not this all-consuming 24/7 obsession (although how much of that is a media-inculcated myth is a discussion for another time).

It illustrates the problems of athletes realizing putting up walls and thinking it's just a job. Pronger and whoever was giving him advice didn't realize in the fans' mind, a bond had formed. They felt like they deserved an explanation (which is different from actually deserving one, albeit) and no one, least of all Pronger, nutted up and just gave one. No one forced him to give one. In cases like this, the public is always inclined to believe the worst, because they have no evidence to the contrary.

That said, you'd be a fool to try to defend a guy who makes $6.25 million per year for being naive. Pronger's entitled to hide behind a cloak of "personal reasons," and Edmonton fans are fully entitled to boo him tonight.

Oh, and there were two games last night:

Red Wings 2 Stars 1: Talk about your all-time kicks in the pants... the Red Wings scored both their goals in the third period, both short-handed.

Kings 3 Devils 2 (shootout): New Jersey's lack of offensive punch comes back to haunt them in SoCal.

Tonight's better games: Senators-Hurricanes, 7 p.m.; Bruins-Leafs, 7:30 p.m.; Avs-Flames, 9 p.m.; Ducks-Oilers, 9 p.m.

(Apologies for the late update -- Internet was down late last night/early this morning.)