"I've been fortunate enough to receive a lot of awards, but when you played a better part of my career in one city, and we weren't able to do what they did last year (win the Stanley Cup), but I had a number of great years here in St. Louis," Pronger said. "You'd like to think that you left a positive mark and you accomplished some big things."
He will be the eighth player to have his number retired by the Blues, joining Bob Gassoff (3), Barclay Plager (8), Brian Sutter (11), Bernie Federko (24), Al MacInnis (2), Brett Hull (16) and Bob Plager (5).
"Having my number retired up there with the Blues greats is something special," Pronger said. "It's still very new and it's hard to put into words because you look at the guys that are up there, Hullie and Bobby Plager, Barclay Plager, Sutter, Federko and Al. You look at the St. Louis landscape from '67 all the way through to now, you realize what you meant to a city and an organization. It certainly gives you a warm feeling inside."
Pronger, a defenseman who was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2015, had 356 points (84 goals, 272 assists) and a plus-140 rating in 598 games and nine seasons for the Blues. Selected by the Hartford Whalers with the No. 2 pick of the 1993 NHL Draft, he played 1,167 games in 18 seasons for the Whalers, Blues, Edmonton Oilers, Anaheim Ducks and Philadelphia Flyers.
