Stoll played his early minor hockey in Saskatchewan. He started in the small town of Neudorf, shortly thereafter moving on to minor hockey in Melville, and then to Yorkton, Saskatchewan. In 1997, Stoll helped the Yorkton Bantam AAA Terriers to a Western Canadian Championship. While in Yorkton, Stoll attended St. Paul’s Elementary School and Sacred Heart High School. He has an older brother, Kelly, who played for the Yorkton Terriers of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL), and a younger sister Ashley, who played for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s hockey team.

While playing in Kootenay, Stoll went through the NHL draft process twice. In his initial year of eligibility, he was selected by the Calgary Flames 46th overall in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft, but was unable to come to terms with the team. The Flames arranged a trade to the Toronto Maple Leafs, who thought they had made arrangements to have a contract signed by the appropriate deadline, but their fax to NHL headquarters did not make it in time. Stoll ended up re-entering the 2002 NHL Entry Draft, where he was selected by the Edmonton Oilers 36th overall.

Also during his junior career, Stoll twice represented his country at the World Junior Hockey Championships, in 2001 and 2002, winning bronze and silver medals respectively. In 2002, Stoll was named captain for Team Canada.

During the 2005–06 season, he played with the Oilers. During a game against the Vancouver Canucks on February 4, 2006, Stoll set an Oilers record by winning 21 of 22 faceoffs (95.45%) taken. The 2005–06 season marked Stoll’s first Stanley Cup playoffs appearance, highlighted by his game-winning goal in overtime of Game 3 of the Western Conference Quarter-finals against the Detroit Red Wings. Entering the 2007–08 season, Stoll was named one of the Oilers alternate captains for the team’s road games.

From 2006 to 2011, Stoll hosted his annual charity golf tournament in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, which benefits the Jarret Stoll Comfort Fund.

On June 29, 2008, Stoll was traded to the Los Angeles Kings (along with Matt Greene) in exchange for Ľubomír Višňovský. On September 5, the Kings signed Stoll to a four-year contract worth $14.4 million. In 2008–09, Stoll scored 18 goals with 23 assists for 41 points. On April 22, 2012, he scored the series-winning goal in overtime to eliminate the Vancouver Canucks—the winners of the Presidents’ Trophy—in Game 5 of the Western Conference Quarter-finals.

Stoll was engaged to model and actress Rachel Hunter, and they planned to marry in August 2009, but the wedding was called off. He began a relationship with sportscaster Erin Andrews in 2012. On December 9, 2016, it was announced he and Andrews were engaged. They were married on June 24, 2017.

Stoll’s Los Angeles home was featured on MTV Cribs in 2011.

On June 11, 2012, Stoll won his first Stanley Cup with the Los Angeles Kings, their first championship in history of the franchise, against the New Jersey Devils. Subsequently, he signed a three-year, $9.75 million contract on June 25 to remain with the Kings. On June 13, 2014, Stoll won his second Stanley Cup with the Kings, in Game 5 against the New York Rangers.

On August 10, 2015, Stoll signed as a free agent to a one-year contract with the New York Rangers. Stoll made his debut with the Rangers as the team’s fourth line centre on opening night of the 2015–16 season in a 3–2 victory over the defending Stanley Cup champions, the Chicago Blackhawks, on October 7, 2015. After 29 games with the Rangers and contributing with just one goal and three points, Stoll was waived by the Rangers. On December 15, 2015, he was claimed off waivers by the Minnesota Wild.

In the summer of 2015, Stoll was arrested for possession of cocaine and ecstasy at a hotel in Las Vegas. He pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors in the case in June 2015.

As a free agent from the Wild at the conclusion of the season, Stoll was unable to sign an NHL contract, opting to sign a professional try-out contract (“PTO”) to attend the Columbus Blue Jackets’ training camp on August 30, 2016. However, he was released from his PTO on October 5, 2016. Although Stoll never officially announced his retirement, he signaled an end to his playing career by accepting a job as a talent scout for the Los Angeles Kings on December 15, 2016.