I don't get the issue with showing Tryamkin videos of Pronger playing. I mean Pronger was one of the best big men in the history of the game. No one seemed outraged when it was reported that the Canucks asked Subban to watch video of Ryan Ellis.
Actually, I guess I do get it. People hear "Pronger video" and they think they're having Tryamkin watch Pronger stomp on Kesler's leg on a loop. Because Pronger wasn't any good at actually playing ice hockey and there's no way a young Groot could learn something from him.
The obvious difference is that Subban plays the game very similarly to Ryan Ellis and ALREADY emulates him, whereas Tryamkin doesn't play the game anything like Chris Pronger. "big men" aside, it's a stylistic mismatch.
While Pronger is incredible at hockey on top of being mean and nasty, being mean and nasty is such a relentless and integral part of his defensive game that it would be difficult to separate them and for that not to send a mixed message, if that wasn't what was intended. You would have a better argument if we were talking about Chara, who plays more of a smothering, reach-based positional game (somewhat similar to Tryamkin), with nastiness on the side.
Reports have suggested that Tryamkin was asked to "be like Pronger", which sounds like a request to emulate his overall game rather than just analyze some great plays he made. Being asked to "be like Pronger (but not necessarily the nastiness)" is like being asked to "be like McDavid (but not necessarily the edge work/acceleration)". There's obviously more to them than just that, but everything they do and how they approach the game is informed by that. I don't think you can make that request without the expectation of nastiness being implied.
The coaching staff also haven't exactly been shy about their desire for Tryamkin to play a more physical brand of hockey. There's also this quote "If he would have stepped up like he did against (Jamie) Benn (Thursday), if he would have stepped up like that against (Brad) Marchand, I think we win that Boston game,"
In addition to this, someone will have to dig it up, but there have been translated interviews from Tryamkin that hint at this type of physical expectation/intimidation/machismo being a part of his frustration (in addition to icetime, which was the primary frustration), although he didn't point fingers.
Many signs point to the likelihood of this, not just the fact that Tryamkin happened to be shown a video with Pronger in it as an example of a smart way to make a play (which would be innocent enough on its own). While you're correct that it's technically possible that this is all a big misunderstanding or that reports are misleading, I think it would be pretty naive to lean towards the likelihood of that.
The second bit is just childish straw man.
