Looming Large

Pronger's drinking had sidetracked him during the summer, interfering with his conditioning program. "Certainly my lack of conditioning slowed my development," Pronger says. "Some guys stay after practice, but me, after taking a few shots, I felt like I had to get off and take a nap."

Hockey had come so naturally to him that he had never been in shape—in his first NHL training camp he finished last in the Whalers' two-mile run. When his parents, Jim and Eila, visited from Dryden, Ont., during Pronger's first season in St. Louis, Keenan invited them into his office and told them he thought their son had a drinking problem. "I guess they already knew I wasn't a model citizen," Pronger says. In a game against the Philadelphia Flyers on Feb. 3, 1996, Pronger played like Lot's wife, making three errors that led directly to goals. St. Louis fans had seen enough and began booing Pronger each time he touched the puck until Keenan mercifully anchored him to the bench.

There aren't many places to hide when you're 6'5", but later that month Pronger took refuge in the impossibly long shadow of Wayne Gretzky, whom the Blues had traded for on Feb. 27. The acquisition of Gretzky and the conditioning benefits of Keenan's killer practices, allowed Pronger to go about his business efficiently and, for the first time in his career, relatively anonymously. In a stirring seven-game Western Conference semifinals that spring against Detroit, Pronger was magnificent.

"Chris was really under a microscope," MacInnis says. "Every mistake he made was scrutinized. It could have gone either way with him. It could have crushed him or it could have gone the way it has. He's developed into a strong defenseman the last two years, especially in the playoffs. You always gain more confidence in the playoffs than in the regular season if you play well, because of the importance of the games."

Nonchalance has turned into grace. The loping strides aren't lazy but fluid. The game now unfolds at his pace, the blur of hockey coming into sharp relief. The proof has been on the ice, not in the bottle. Through Sunday, St. Louis ranked fourth in the league with 2.32 goals allowed per game. Pronger is also making his mark in the dressing room. He and goaltender Grant Fuhr raged at some Blues forwards for "cheating" on their defensive responsibilities after a 4-1 loss to the Edmonton Oilers on Dec. 13. Pronger was asserting his leadership on a team whose prominent players—Hull, MacInnis, center Pierre Turgeon—all have at least 10 seasons in the NHL.

"He wants to dominate," Quenneville says. "He wants to dominate every night."

Pronger has a chance. He already has stopped the toughest three-on-one imaginable.