The whole Pronger debacle is a mix of sad and interesting. He was certainly a dirty player, but had heaps of success. It's probably very humbling for him to be so vunerable after being such a bully for so long.
I agree that Holmgren's comment don't change anything with respect to Pronger's retirement. If the NHL tried to force Pronger to retire the NHLPA lose its mind and fight tooth and nail to block such an action (remember if Pronger retires he doesn't get paid) the NHLPA would never allow such a precedent as it would be a very real shot to the status of guaranteed contracts.
I do wonder what the insurer paying out all these millions of dollars to Pronger year after year thinks. It obviously knows Pronger will never play again, depending on the terms of the insurance contract perhaps it could deny his claim going forward citing "no reasonable chance of returning to play" or other similar language.
12 team H-2-H 1 year league, daily roster changes, 3 goalie start minimum/week
2xC, 2xRW, 2xLW, 4xD, 3xUtil, 2xG, 5 Bench
G, A, P, PIM, PPP, SHP, GWG, SOG, Hits, W, SV%, GAA, SVs
C: C. Keller, C. Mittelstadt, B. Nelson, R. Strome,
LW: K. Connor, B. Tkachuk, J. Gaudreau, J. Marchessault, E. Rodrigues, A. Lafreniere
RW: K. Fiala, J. Bratt, T. Jeannot V. Arvidsson
D: R. Josi, J. Trouba, E. Gustafsson,
G: L. Thompson, F. Gustavsson, V. Vanecek
NO IR