[Beninho]

Originally Posted by Flames Draft Watcher

Pronger is arguably the best defenseman I've watched play in my 20+ years of following the game. I love Gio, Hamilton and Brodie but none of them come close to the overall impact Pronger brought. Pronger was a powerplay QB, could rush the puck, pass the puck, skate it out, play nasty, destroy people, hurt people, shut down forwards, toss down small forwards like they were children. There isn't a defenseman in the game right now that has the overall impact Pronger had in his prime IMO. Pronger was a combination of a dominating shutdown d-man with tremendous size/strength but who also had the puck skills and shot of an offensive d-man. Chara was not too far below Pronger in his prime in terms of overall impact. Both those guys are in a completely different tier than guys like Gonchar, Zubov, Leetch, Ozolinsh and Blake. Pronger dragged several teams to the cup finals playing half the game, dominating in all zones.

Will we see another Pronger? I don't think Dougie is mean enough and physical enough to be a Pronger. I think Ristolainen has a chance to develop into that calibre of dman but we'll see.

Ya I don't see the Risto comparison, his defensive play is more than suspect. I'd take Hamilton over him every day of the week. My biased opinion