On Thursday in aftermath of the Jarome Iginla departure news conference, I was asked by a Calgary TV station to do an interview. Near the end I commented, “The Penguins now have a few thousand new fans in Calgary, unless they should play the Flames in the Stanley Cup final.”
The interviewer paused and replied, “that’s the ultimate in putting a positive spin on this day.”
The odds of the Flames making the playoffs are slim these days, let alone get to the Cup final, but mathematically it’s still a possibility.
Iginla, the man with the winning smile, try as he did, couldn’t win the Cup in Calgary. Now he tries to help the Penguins win their first title since 2009.
The shock subsiding, sadness sobering Flames fans on Good Friday while awaiting Game One AJI (After Jarome Iginla), all had the same feeling as the front page headline in The Calgary Sun “Go Win A Cup, Iggy!”
As the only person to have had the pleasure of seeing everyone of Iginla’s 1,219 games, 525 goals and 1,095 points — all Flames records — Wednesday and Thursday weren’t the greatest days. I admit my focus in Wednesday’s 4-3 Flames win over Colorado wandered from time-to-time in the hours leading up to the trade announcement with the captain being held out of the lineup. The only other times my concentration level was similar came when I broadcast Flame games after my Mother and Father had passed away.
What I do is a profession but it’s difficult not become attached to the person that is Jarome Iginla.
I’ve witnessed firsthand what he has done for others away from the ice. He’s supports various charities financially and with personal involvement. He may have made more visits to the Children’s Hospital than he scored goals and the general public knew nothing about most of them. He always has time for kids. Not just to sign an autograph but to inquire about their well-being: “How are you doing in school?” etc.
When on the road on game days he’d be out in front of the hotel 5-10 minutes before team bus left for the am skate or the game to sign autographs — always the kids first and the one item for each of those professionals looking for his signature to sell.
Iginla has never forgotten where he came from. The game has been very good to the 35-year-old, but he gives back in a manner that few others do.
When he plays his inaugural game with the Penguins it will be the first time since Theoren Fleury was traded by the Flames on Feb. 28, 1999 that he won’t be the guy being counted upon to carry the team in the NHL. It’ll be more like the three times he played for Canada at the Olympics in which he won gold twice.
In his 16th season, Iginla shouldn’t have been the Flames go-to guy but through drafts or trades, no player arrived for him to pass the torch to. He’s not the right winger he was in his prime but playing with Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Chris Kuntz, James Neal and company he’ll just be another top-six forward. That, combined with being invigorated mentally, will make him much better than he’s been this season with the Flames.
He leaves the Flames and their fans with tremendous memories.
When the Flames weren’t a very good team, missing the playoffs seven-straight seasons from 1997 to 2003, people paid just to see him play. When the magical run to Game 7 of the 2004 Cup final evolved, he scored the big goals, or assisted on them, fought when he had to in an effort to turn game momentum.
It was said he never had a top centreman to play with in Calgary yet he scored 525 goals. He scored them first in the old, free-wheeling NHL and he scored them in the present defence-first era.
Regardless of what’s ahead for No. 12 on the ice and when he enters the Hockey Hall of Fame, rest assured he’ll always be a Flame.