A huge misconception that casual fans make: if a defenseman scores a lot of points, he must be bad defensively.

Orr is the best all-around defenseman and its not even close. Bourque and Lidstrom are certainly better than Pronger also. After that you could make various arguments about who's next, in which you could include Pronger, but there are many others in the discussion.

Comparing Pronger to Orr is an apples to oranges comparison. But the folks ranking Keith as anywhere near as good as Pronger are high lol.

There are several names that could go up there with best ever consideration. Lidstrom, Borque, Stevens to name a few.

I'd put Pronger in a top 6 among guys I've seen play and that does go back to Orr. Orr's passing was the great strength of his game. You have to watch full games and not highlight reels to see that. Pronger could really control a game though. He did lots of little things you only appreciate seeing him game in/game out.

You are either clueless or just trying to stir the poop when you say that Orr didn’t play in his own end. Pronger isn’t even one of the top 10 D to ever play the game, let alone #1

All of these guys were better and these are only post 1967 players:
Orr
Denis Potvin
Larry Robinson
Ray Bourque
Nick Lidstrom
Scott Niedermayer
Mark Howe
Al McInnis
Victor Hedman

And, pre 67
Eddie Shore
King Clancy
Doug Harvey
Pierre Pilote
Red Kelly

And this only off the top of my head

Pronger wasn't't even the bast defensemen in his era. As a Devil fan, I'd say Scott Stevens but in reality Lidstrom was probably better than both. But if you want to include "scare factor" it is Stevens who was in the mind of his opponents every time they crossed the blue line, made it to four Stanley Cups (won 3 of then), was a great offensive defensemen and an unbelievable defensive defensemen.

What is next Brian Boucher is the greatest goalie of all time?

I think it's safe to say Chris Pronger is one of the best defensemen ever.

I think it's safe to say he was the scariest/most intimidating of the best defensemen.

I see some names being tossed around that imo are not as good as Pronger but that is just personal preference.

I watched a lot of Lidstrom for example, and a lot of Pronger, and while I would agree Lidstrom may have been better Pronger seemed to impact the game more. Lidstrom was on a stacked Team where often Pronger was not. Pronger on his own blue line was imo THE hardest to gain entry against. His reach combined with his skating and positioning just was uncanny how easily he shutdown entries. I would put him one on one against any great forward of all time and give Pronger the advantage.

definitely put Larry Robinson, Denis Potvin and Ray Bourque over him

Just off the top of my head in no order:

Orr
Robinson
Bourque
Coffey
Lidstrom
MaciNNis
Chelios
Potvin
Chara
Niedermayer
Leetch

Grew up watching Bobby Orr play! Watched him in the '76 Canada Cup. Nobody on the planet could compete at the time.

Lidstrom and Orr. Apparently Doug Harvey was pretty good too. Pronger probably gets into the top 10 though. Great player.

I loved Pronger and agree to a point. However, I have always believed, and still believe, that Ray Bourque was the best all around defenseman in history. His points scored were obviously other-worldly but I don’t think he every got enough credit for his physicality, consistency, and durability for such an extended time. He basically played at the same level for all but maybe his last 1-2 seasons.

How could anybody possibly assert that a player who had a +124 one season and several other over +80 did not play defense in his own end. I mean, even admitting that +/- is no longer en vogue as an accurate indicator, it still seems pretty laughable. And I'm not trying to bring back the plus -minus but back then it was really the only way to measure 2-way effectiveness

LOL.

Lidstrom started his NHL career a year earlier than Pronger, retired the same year, and won 7 Norris Trophies to Pronger's 1.

Nothing against Pronger. He's an all-timer. But he's nowhere near the GOAT conversation for the position. Guys I would easily take ahead of him without much of a second thought:

Orr
Lidstrom
Bourque
Harvey
Potvin
Robinson
Shore

After that I think you have a much bigger pool of guys in the conversation to round out the top 10-15 (Pronger, Niedermayer, Chelios, Coffey, Kelly, Pilote, Leetch, Park, Fetisov, Chara, and I'm sure others I'm forgetting).

I think it's safe to say Chris Pronger is one of the best defensemen ever.

I think it's safe to say he was the scariest/most intimidating of the best defensemen.

I see some names being tossed around that imo are not as good as Pronger but that is just personal preference.

I watched a lot of Lidstrom for example, and a lot of Pronger, and while I would agree Lidstrom may have been better Pronger seemed to impact the game more. Lidstrom was on a stacked Team where often Pronger was not. Pronger on his own blue line was imo THE hardest to gain entry against. His reach combined with his skating and positioning just was uncanny how easily he shutdown entries. I would put him one on one against any great forward of all time and give Pronger the advantage.
- Aerchon

Hard to believe you don't even mention Bourque - the D-man who holds almost every defenseman record.

And Lidstrom was better than Pronger.

Stealing pucks made him a leader? I always thought it just made him a (bigger) douchebag.

Ek, didn't your parents teach you that drugs are bad?

eh, I'm going Bourque

Nicky Lidstrom made one mistake per week.....

LOL Ek are you day drinking again? What is a word for something much greater than "clickbait"? SmH

Big guy that played mean hockey. Pronger was the kind of player you add to put you over the top. I don't think he's top 10 in the position all time, though.

Umm no

Man, so many of you are gullible. He's click baiting again..

As a St Louis Blues fan that was one of the darkest days in the history of the franchise when they basically gave Chris away because the dumb ass owner wanted to sell the team and thought getting this contract off the books would help sell the team, Dave Checketts, who came in then bought the team stated at the time he would have paid more if need to keep Pronger, but the deal already had been made.

LOL Ek are you day drinking again? What is a word for something much greater than "clickbait"? SmH
- DanielEtvs

Bigger than clickbait?Grande Clickbait