Flyers sign Pronger to 7 year contract extension

Get used to that image of seeing Chris Pronger in a Flyers uniform, because he is here to stay. According to several sources, the Flyers have extended Pronger's contract, which would have ended after next season, seven more years in a deal believed to be worth 5 million per season. Pronger is 34, so this contract will have him playing out the rest of his career as a Flyer.

The details of the contract have yet to be released, but if the Flyers actually got him signed at 5 million per season, that's excellent value. Pronger is still an elite defenseman, and he will be for the next two or three years, so they are getting a great deal now on a star player. A few years down the road this deal might not look as good, especially if Pronger is turning 40 and starting to break down, but the Flyers likely had to get him to agree to a few extra years to get him a 5 million a year. This makes the trade for Pronger, where the Flyers severely mortgaged their future, look that much better. Having Pronger patrolling the back end in Philly for the next several years is going to be fun to watch.

Update: It looks like the contract is 7 years, just under 35 million. We now have the details of the contract, via ESPN.com. The contract starts out huge and then tapers down to practically nothing at the end. The NHL salary cap system works out such that the cap hit each year is just the average of the total deal, so Pronger will be about a 5 million dollar cap hit for the life of the contract.

Previous contract:
2009/2010: 6.25 million
Extension:
2010/2011: 7.6 million
2011/2012: 7.6 million
2012/2013: 7.2 million
2013/2014: 7 million
2014/2015: 4 million
2015/2016: 525,000
2016/2017: 525,000