What I remember of him is that you could count on him to take a penalty that hurt his team pretty much every time it mattered. For a guy who doesn’t fight, it’s not great to be up over 100 PIM every year.
Just as an example to quantify — his rookie year in Hartford, he had 113 PIM. We can deduct 17 from one game against Boston, but the other 96 were ALL minor and double minor penalties. In just one game against Pittsburgh, he had TEN non-offsetting PIM (which has to be close to a record, right?) including slashing, interference, hooking, and a high-sticking double-minor. The Pens scored the GWG on the double-minor, added another PPG for insurance and won 6-4. As I skim through his game logs that year, his lack of discipline comes up over and over as he takes penalties leading to game-altering goals or killing any attempt at a comeback.
That’s the Pronger I remember from his early days. Not a goon, just very reckless and undisciplined, trying to be a bull in a China shop when the league was full of smarter bulls.
Nobody said he was a Pronger level player nor should that be taken seriously.