The Chris Pronger saga refuses to die for fans of the Edmonton Oilers.

A day after the Hall of Fame defenceman revealed his version of events regarding why he left Edmonton after the 2006 Stanley Cup run, Kevin Lowe has chimed in. Lowe was GM of the Oilers for both the acquisition of Pronger in 2005 and his subsequent trade to Anaheim in 2006.

Pronger said he initially signed a  with the Oilers while drunk in the middle of the night without consulting his wife, Lauren. This led to tension in his marriage, he said, adding that it ultimately became the reason why he asked to be traded away from Edmonton.

Lowe didn’t seem happy with this explanation, taking to LinkedIn to rip into Pronger on Tuesday afternoon.

“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,” Lowe said.

“As general manager at the time, 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.

“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.”

Pronger signed a five-year contract worth $31.25 million with the Oilers on Aug. 3, 2005.

“The day after the agreement, I received a personal note from his wife expressing how excited they both were about coming to Edmonton,” Lowe wrote. “That sentiment doesn’t align with the version of events being portrayed now. 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.”

Sticking up for Edmonton, Lowe brought up that he had sat down with ex-Oilers players Doug Weight and Bill Guerin back in 2023, and they had nothing but good things to say about the Alberta capital.

“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,’” Lowe said. “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.”