CALGARY — It was a metaphor for everything that has gone on here in Calgary, that the only people shedding any tears on Thursday were those who weren’t heading to Pittsburgh to play with Sidney Crosby.
A crack could be heard in the iconic radio voice of Flames play-by-play man Peter Maher, who didn’t have a “Yeah, baby!” in him on this day. And around a jam packed press conference room, people misted up as they watched Calgary’s one internationally relevant skater say his goodbyes.
As for Iginla, he was — as always — respectful, humble and ever-smiling on Thursday.
How could you cry, when the plane is gassed up, sitting on the tarmac, and ready to take you Pittsburgh?
“I sure do want to have a crack at winning a Stanley Cup,” said Iginla, who has won everything else that matters in the game. “Now, I’m playing with the two best players in the world. Crosby and (Evgeni) Malkin.”
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A personal story, if I may: Circumstance introduced me to Jarome Iginla when he was about six years old, as I knew his grandfather. As such, years later Jarome made sure to get up from his stall and extend a hand most every time I visited the Flames dressing room.
That’s not a story about me. It’s a story about a young man who showed respect to the reporter because that reporter was a friend of his grandfather’s, and that’s how Iginla was raised. He is unfailingly polite, and somehow, after 16 seasons and 1,219 games, Iginla still has a reservoir of “Aw shucks,” moments, as if he just came on the scene yesterday.
“I remember my first game, a playoff game,” he said of his debut in the spring of 1996. “The night before I was a fan — literally. I was watching the highlights on TV. The next night, I’m on a line with Theo Fleury.”
From that day on, this was Jarome Iginla’s town.
He had come in trade in December of 1995 for then-Flames captain Joe Nieuwendyk, the ultimate recycling project by Calgary GM Al Coates. And with that, the Flames had — over the course of the next 16 years — the best and most consistent power forward in the game.
The Eric Lindros’ and Peter Forsbergs came and went, but year after year Jarome Iginla was there, becoming one of seven players in NHL history to score 30 goals in 11 consecutive seasons. Check these stats:
- Iginla has scored more goals since the 1996-97 season (525) than any other NHL player.
- Since 1995-96, he has logged the most time on ice of any NHL forward, the most shots on goal, and is third in points behind only Jaromir Jagr and Joe Thornton.
- He is Calgary’s franchise leader in goals (525), points (1,095), powerplay goals (161), and undoubtedly, in fights by a franchise player.
Yet alas, the Flames never found a centreman for Iginla.
So he found his own, directing this trade from the comfort of home on Wednesday night, with his wife and kids on a Spring break vacation in Hawaii. Iginla and agent Don Meehan steered this deal away from the Boston Bruins and one other suitor (believed to be the Los Angeles Kings), and to a Penguins team that doesn’t just have one world class centre to work with. It has two.
No wonder he couldn’t bring himself to cry.
“I understand why (the trade) was done. It makes sense for everyone,” the 35-year-old said. “I don’t know the guys in the deal (NCAA forwards Kenneth Agostino and Ben Hanowski, plus a first-round draft pick in 2013), but I hope they come here and light it up.”
He recalled showing up in Calgary, as a kid “with a funny name that no one could pronounce. ‘Who IS this guy?’”
Iginla also apologized for not having more success here. In the end, the Flames won playoff rounds in just one of his seasons in Calgary, that magical Stanley Cup run in 2004 that fell short in Game 7 against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
“I’ve seen so many guys move on over the years,” he mused Thursday. “Now it’s my turn. I’m thankful I’ve got to play here for so long.”
No Jarome. It is the Flames that are thankful.
And by the way, they’re sorry they never furnished you with better teammates.
Iginla gave Calgary the centerpiece. The organization failed to deliver on the rest of the roster for most of two decades.
So Jarome found the roster himself. In Pittsburgh.