MONTREAL -- Andre Pronovost probably wondered what the big deal was about winning the Stanley Cup.
Pronovost, who died Tuesday at age 90, was a member of four Montreal Canadiens championship teams during his first four seasons in the NHL, from 1956-57 through 1959-60.
He was the sixth-oldest Canadiens alumnus at the time of his death.
A native of Shawinigan, Quebec, born July 8, 1936, Pronovost played 557 regular-season NHL games. He skated at forward for the Canadiens from 1956-57 through part of the 1960-61 season.
He was then traded to the Boston Bruins, where he played through part of 1962-63, before moving to the Detroit Red Wings, with whom he played through 1963-64. His NHL career ended with nine games for the expansion Minnesota North Stars in 1967-68.
Pronovost recorded 198 points (94 goals, 104 assists) in the regular season and appeared in 70 playoff games, totaling 22 points (11 goals, 11 assists).
The grandfather of New Jersey Devils forward Anthony Mantha, Pronovost had an NHL career-high 31 points (12 goals, 19 assists) in 69 games with Montreal in 1959-60. His best playoff performance came in 1963-64, when he had seven points (four goals, three assists) in 14 games with Detroit.
Pronovost's timing was impeccable. He graduated to the Canadiens from Montreal's junior team in 1956.
A smooth-skating left wing, he joined the NHL club one season into its unprecedented run of five consecutive Stanley Cup championships, the greatest dynasty in NHL history.
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His trade to Boston on Nov. 27, 1960, in exchange for Jean-Guy Gendron came as a shock, even though the writing may have been on the wall following numerous salary disputes with Canadiens general manager Frank Selke Sr.
"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," Pronovost told Journal de Montreal hockey writer 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.
I remember one day when, within five minutes, Phil Goyette, Don Marshall and I had signed our Canadiens contracts one after the other in Selke's office. The negotiations didn't take long.
They would hand us a piece of paper to sign, and we would leave the general manager's office grumbling.
Michael Burns Sr./Hockey Hall of Fame
Pronovost's first NHL contract paid him $7,000. By his fifth season, he was earning $9,500 when he was traded to the last-place Bruins.
Boston proved to be a more generous destination, paying him $14,500 in his first season wearing black and gold.
Upon learning he was headed to Boston, Pronovost asked Selke, in front of Bruins general manager Lynn Patrick, whether he had any idea what salary he should ask for. Apparently, Selke wasn't amused.
The Bruins traded Pronovost to the Red Wings for Forbes Kennedy on Dec. 3, 1962.
Detroit largely assigned him to the minor leagues before leaving him unprotected in the 1967 NHL Expansion Draft. He was claimed by the North Stars, who shipped him back to Montreal on June 10, 1968, in a complicated transaction.
He never again played in the NHL, finishing his hockey career in the minor leagues.
Pronovost later coached the major-junior team in his hometown of Shawinigan during the 1973-74 season. He then retired from hockey and embarked on a second career in the restaurant industry, owning several fast-food restaurants.
