- Andre Pronovost won four straight Stanley Cups with the Canadiens from 1957 through 1960
- The left winger finished with 198 points in 557 NHL games across four franchises
- Read below for the raise fight that got him traded and his tie to a current NHL forward
Andre Pronovost spent his first four NHL seasons winning the Stanley Cup. He never won another one after that.
The Canadiens announced Wednesday that Pronovost died on Sept. 8 at the age of 90. He was the sixth-oldest living member of the Habs alumni.
Pronovost came up from Montreal’s junior team in 1956 and walked straight into the best dynasty the league has ever produced. The Habs won five consecutive Cups from 1956 through 1960, and the smooth-skating left winger was there for the last four.
His career ran 10 years and 557 games across Montreal, Boston, Detroit and the expansion Minnesota North Stars. He finished with 94 goals and 104 assists, plus 22 points in 70 playoff games.
Five of those seasons came in Montreal, where he put up 109 points in 290 games wearing No. 23.
Money is what got him out of Montreal. Pronovost told Journal de Montreal writer Pierre Durocher in 2018, in an account revisited by Dave Stubbs of NHL.com, that he walked into general manager Frank Selke Sr.’s office after his second season and asked for better than the $500 raise on the table.
“He looked at me funny and said, ‘Who do you think you are? There are 10 players waiting in line for your spot.’ That’s how things worked back then. We didn’t have a say in anything.”
Selke shipped him to Boston on Nov. 27, 1960, in exchange for Jean-Guy Gendron. Pronovost’s first NHL contract had paid him $7,000. The Bruins handed him $14,500 in his first year in black and gold.
Connor McDavid was talking about NHL salaries earlier this week. The distance between the two eras is hard to even measure.
Detroit picked Pronovost up in December 1962 and mostly kept him in the minors. Minnesota claimed him in the 1967 expansion draft, and his NHL run ended there in 1967-68.
He later coached the junior team in his hometown of Shawinigan during the 1973-74 season, then left hockey behind and opened several fast-food restaurants.
Devils forward Anthony Mantha is Pronovost’s grandson. He starts his 11th NHL season this fall.
Take a look at the NHL’s archival footage of the 1960 clincher in Toronto, the last Cup Pronovost won:
We at Gino Hard send our condolences to Pronovost’s family, friends, and former teammates.
