Pronger won the Hart Memorial Trophy as the NHL's most valuable player for the 1999–2000 season, becoming the first defenceman to win the award since Bobby Orr in 1971–72.

After two stand-out seasons with Peterborough, and because of being highly regarded for his rare combination of imposing size, speed, offensive skill (particularly on the power play) and physicality, Pronger was selected second overall by the Hartford Whalers in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft, behind Alexandre Daigle, who made the infamous statement, "I'm glad I got drafted first, because no one remembers number two.

However, he was one of multiple Whalers that season with off-ice issues, being one of six players arrested for a barroom brawl in Buffalo in late March (the brawl also involved a Whalers assistant coach), and then being arrested for drunk driving in Ohio three days after his rookie season ended, leading some to consider Pronger impatient and immature.

Of course that team wasn't exactly overloaded with players who knew how to win" (the Whalers finished second-last in the Eastern Conference that season).

[9] After a second season in Hartford, on July 27, 1995, he was traded to the St. Louis Blues in exchange for star forward Brendan Shanahan.

In the early years of his St. Louis career, Pronger played under coach and general manager Mike Keenan, who insisted he improve his conditioning and reduce his mistakes.

That year during the 1998 Stanley Cup playoffs, he had a cardiac arrest caused by commotio cordis when he was hit in the chest with a puck in a game against the Detroit Red Wings.

Pronger beat Art Ross winner Jaromír Jágr by just one point in Hart Trophy voting, which was, at the time, the smallest margin of victory in the history of the award.

In February 2002, he won a gold medal with the Team Canada at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

During the Conference Finals, Pronger was suspended for one game for a check on Detroit Red Wings winger Tomas Holmström.

On September 28, 2007, Pronger was named captain of the Ducks, replacing Scott Niedermayer, who sat out the beginning of the 2007–08 season.

However, upon new video evidence which provided a better angle, the NHL again reviewed the incident and issued Pronger an eight-game suspension.

On June 27, 2009, Pronger along with forward Ryan Dingle was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for Joffrey Lupul (earlier traded to Edmonton for Pronger in 2006), defenceman Luca Sbisa, two first-round draft picks and a conditional third-round draft pick.

A playoff run marked by an upset of the New Jersey Devils, a historic comeback against the Boston Bruins from down three games to none in the series and a five-game win over the Montreal Canadiens culminated in the Flyers playing the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2010 Stanley Cup Finals.

Although the Flyers lost the series four games to two, Pronger had a strong playoff performance and led a team that traded for him to the Finals for the third time in a row.

On September 16, 2011, Pronger was named the 18th captain in Flyers history, replacing Mike Richards (who was traded to the Los Angeles Kings just prior to the 2011 NHL Entry Draft).

On Oct. 24, 2011, Maple Leafs center Mikhail Grabovski caught Pronger's right eye with his stick while following through on a shot.

[30] With a resumption of his playing career looking unlikely, Pronger stepped down as team captain and was succeeded by Claude Giroux on January 15, 2013.

[30] On June 27, 2015, the Philadelphia Flyers traded Pronger's playing rights (alongside Nicklas Grossmann) to the Arizona Coyotes in exchange for Sam Gagner and a conditional draft pick.

Three days later, on June 30, 2015, he was named to the Hockey Hall of Fame; because the Hall only counts games played as its criteria for the minimum waiting period, Pronger was eligible for induction even though he was still technically an active player, as he had not played a game in three full seasons at the time of his induction.

[33] After his contract expired following the 2017 NHL Entry Draft, on June 22, Pronger was able to officially retire and he signed with the Florida Panthers to become the organization's senior advisor of hockey operations.

resides in Chesterfield, Missouri[citation needed] where he runs a luxury travel agency alongside his wife.