Kevin Lowe was not pleased with the way former Edmonton Oilers defenseman Chris Pronger framed his exit from the team in his new book, "Earned."

Pronger, who was rumored to have demanded a trade out of Edmonton at the of the 2006 Stanley Cup playoff run, said recently that rumors of he and his wife not liking the city or other speculative reports were false. Instead, Pronger claims he messed up in his marriage by not communicating with his wife while he signed a five-year extension instead of the one-year "try it" deal they had both agreed to. 

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Pronger claims he had been drinking too much when his agent and the Oilers called late at night to try and prolong the one-year deal that was on the table with the trade that brought Pronger in from St. Louis. Before he knew it, he had agreed to a five-year deal, and his wife woke up to the shock and disappointment, feeling they hadn't talked it through. 

He said he left the Oilers to save his marriage because he'd violated her trust. Many fans didn't buy it. Kevin Lowe didn't seem to either. 

In a recent LinkedIn response post, Lowe shared his thoughts on Pronger's explanation:

"You may have read Chris Pronger’s recent piece in ‘The Athletic’, and I can’t overstate how disappointed I was after reading it in full.

https://lnkd.in/e3MkXKuE

To his credit, he takes responsibility for making a personal decision in the middle of the night that impacted his family. That part is fair. We’ve all made mistakes, and owning them matters. But where I take issue is how casually Edmonton is folded into that story as though it were merely an inconvenience tied to what he now describes as a “drunken decision.”

That’s more than disappointing; it feels like a convenient rewrite."

Lowe goes on to say that as he tried to negotiate that deal as general manager, "I handled that situation the way I always tried to: professionally, responsibly, and in good faith. Looking back, hearing how he frames it today, I find myself wishing I had handled it differently."

Lowe then criticizes himself for being flexible. "Quite frankly, I wish I had said no and let him sit out rather than accommodate a decision he now seems so quick to diminish."

Lowe then explains that Pronger's retelling omits some very important exposition. 

"What makes this even harder to reconcile is what followed immediately after. The day after the agreement, I received a personal note from his wife expressing how excited they both were about coming to Edmonton. That sentiment doesn’t align with the version of events being portrayed now."

He adds, "Perhaps at the time he was trying to reset the narrative or distance himself from circulating rumours but it stands in stark contrast to what’s being shared today."

Lowe said that the Prongers feelings about Edmonton aren't shared by many former Oilers. He noted that Doug Weight, Bill Guerin, and others have all spoken glowingly about the city of Edmonton, how pivotal it was to their careers, and how meaningful it was to their family lives. "That has been the experience for the vast majority of players who have come through here."

He ended with, "Edmonton is a first-class city with passionate fans and a proud hockey tradition. It is not a punchline, and it is not something to be explained away years later. It deserves better than that and so do the people who supported him while he was here."

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