Andre Pronovost, a former Montreal Canadiens left winger who won four consecutive Stanley Cups during one of the NHL’s most dominant stretches, has died. He was 90.
The Canadiens said they learned of Pronovost’s death on Tuesday, Sept. 8. The team did not release a cause of death.
“It is with great sadness that the Montreal Canadiens learned of the passing of André Pronovost on September 8,” the club said in a statement. “The family would like to thank the public for their wishes of sympathy.”
Pronovost was born July 9, 1936, in Shawinigan Falls, Quebec. He reached the NHL with Montreal in 1956-57 and immediately found himself on a championship roster.
The Canadiens won the Stanley Cup in each of his first four seasons, from 1957 through 1960. Those titles formed the core of Montreal’s five-straight championship run from 1956 to 1960, a dynasty still regarded as one of the greatest in league history.
Pronovost mostly filled a checking role as a fourth-line left wing. He was a smooth skater who could play in any situation. In his first four seasons he also appeared in the NHL All-Star Game each year.
With Montreal he recorded 109 points in 290 regular-season games and served 223 penalty minutes. Across his entire NHL career he finished with 198 points (94 goals, 104 assists) in 557 games and added 22 points in 70 playoff contests.
His most productive regular season came in 1959-60, when he posted 31 points (12 goals, 19 assists) in 69 games. His strongest playoff showing arrived later with Detroit, when he produced seven points in 14 games during the 1963-64 postseason.
Montreal traded Pronovost to the Boston Bruins on Nov. 27, 1960, in exchange for Jean-Guy Gendron. Two years later the Bruins sent him to the Detroit Red Wings for Forbes Kennedy.
Looking back on his time in Montreal, Pronovost once described the contract talks of that era.
“After scoring 16 goals in my second season in Montreal and helping the team win the Cup by scoring two goals in the playoffs, I went to Selke’s office to ask for a raise higher than the $500 he was offering me,” he told Pierre Durocher in 2018. “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.”
The expansion Minnesota North Stars selected Pronovost in the 1967 NHL Expansion Draft. He played nine regular-season games and eight playoff games for Minnesota in 1967-68, his final NHL season.
He continued in the minor leagues until 1972, later coached junior hockey in Shawinigan for one season and then owned several fast-food restaurants.
Pronovost was the grandfather of New Jersey Devils forward Anthony Mantha, who is entering his 11th NHL season. Mantha has often spoken about the stories his grandfather shared from playing with Jean Beliveau, Maurice Richard and Gordie Howe.
“He was my idol growing up,” Mantha said. “I’m just trying to follow his steps and accomplish as much as he did.”
Pronovost was in the stands at Joe Louis Arena when Mantha scored his first NHL goal for Detroit against Montreal on March 24, 2016. The moment brought the former player to tears.
In the months before his death, Pronovost had become the last living player from the four championship teams he won with Montreal. After several former teammates passed away, he remarked that he no longer had anyone left from that era with whom he could simply talk about those days.
Pronovost stood 5-foot-9 and weighed 185 pounds during his playing days. He was listed as the sixth-oldest member of the Canadiens alumni at the time of his death.
