Getting Pronger shows how many young, highly thought of prospects Brian Burke inherited when he got to Anaheim.
He gives up Joffrey Lupul and Ladislav Smid and a draft pick for Pronger.
Not many team could give up two top notch prospects and STILL have Bobby Ryan, Ryan Getzlaf, Dustin Penner and Corey Perry in the system.
GREAT move by Burke. I heard he wanted to add another top D-man (all their forwards are young and cheap). By the time guys like Perry, Getzlaf, Ryan and Penner are in a position to start making real money Pronger and Neids contracts will beoff the books and he can balance the teams payroll.
The Ducks are in a great position to be very very good for quite awhile.
This deal does help the Oilers. Kevin Lowe was never going to get "full market" value for Pronger. What he did get was a damn good young forward and a six-foot-three, 209-pound defenceman who, according to everything I've read, had a very good season in the AHL last year as a rookie.
It gives the Oilers a ton of salary cap flexibilty for the coming years.