Jarome Iginla

[Hockeytown0001 7,652]

^^This.

He'd be a perfect fit for the St. Louis Blues, whose organizational philosophy has always been to "send a message" by gooning it up at the end of one of their (many) losing causes. I'm still trying to figure out exactly what the "message" is supposed to be, other than: "Since we're now into our sixth decade of never having achieved a damned thing, maybe sending the other team's players off the ice on stretchers will appease our fans for one more year."

[Guest micah]

^^This.

He'd be a perfect fit for the St. Louis Blues, whose organizational philosophy has always been to "send a message" by gooning it up at the end of one of their (many) losing causes. I'm still trying to figure out exactly what the "message" is supposed to be, other than: "Since we're now into our sixth decade of never having achieved a damned thing, maybe sending the other team's players off the ice on stretchers will appease our fans for one more year."

Is your memory so short that you don't remember the Yzerman-led Wings gooning it up post game after getting humiliated by teams like Boston? It's what you do when, depsite your best efforts, your team sucks.

[TheOctopusKid 19]

I've had a long standing respect for Jarome Iginla for a long time. He is a fantastic Right Wing and is one of only 10 Right Wings who is capable of generating his own scoring opportunity without the benefit of a top flight center. When you speak of elite Right Wings - the conversation typically includes Jarome Iginla regardless of your personal feelings toward him.

In addition to his consistent scoring and ability to generate his own opportunities (30+ goals since 2000-01 season), his physical size provides a gritty aspect to his game that many of the other forwards lack. Kane, Gaborik, Heatley are all phenomenal scoring with blistering shots and creative, intuitive sense of play, however all of them can be neutralized by a large body defenseman who physically press them outside towards the boards who provide enough traffic to minimize the impact of their speed and playmaking. What makes a player like Iginla so dangerous is that he does not disappear for long periods of time and utilizes him frame to create space. That, is an incredibly rare skill and one he shares with very few forwards, espeically Right Wings (Corey Perry, Rick Nash are the others who come to mind).

He is a pure "power" forward - one of the last of a dying archtype. That alone would be enough for my respect but the very fact that he is considered the unquestionable emotional leader of his team, wears the "C" of a hard-nosed and proud team, and has a propensity to drop the gloves - well that would be a player that I would be extremely excited to have in a Winged Wheel.

The parallels to Shanahan are unquestionable in my eyes. Besides their physical dimensions(6'1" to 6'3", 215lbs to 225lbs), their styles of their play are near identical. Both have very hard and heavy slapshot that has a deceptively quick release. They favor the one-time slap shot from cross ice passes. They are overtly physical, but play strong in traffic and the boards to push players off the puck and protect. Both are passionate - almost smoldering players that are often seen yelling at opponents or encouraging their teammates, and again - they both would drop them gloves.

With all of that being said, I have serious reservations that Iginla would ever play for the Red Wings. When, not if, Calgary decides to move him, they will do so for a package of young prospects and draft picks as the only incentive in trading the face of their franchise would be to secure long term potential and a core to build around. The philosophical approach that Calgary chooses to build their team around is hard-nosed, physical play with an almost brutish play in the corners to intimidate, and rough crash-the-net offensive mindset. Look at the style of player that the Calgary system has produced in the last decade and remember this is the system that covets players like Craig Conroy, Robyn Reghr, David Moss, Daymond Langkow, etc.

Not exactly what the Wings are known for. At best the Wings could offer them draft picks and a top flight prospect - even the best in our system Tomas Tatar the Flames would balk at as he is vastly undersized for the type of hockey they wish to play and breaks away from every characteristic that they typically covet.

And one additional note why he would not be a Red Wing, his salary is far too rich for Ken Holland and group. The team has made it clear that they are committed to being a financially responsible organization and seem to continue to bring is a flux of new and budding prospects to complement their core of players (Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Franzen, Filppula, Kronwall) and the addition of a $7M dollar winger who is set to decline over the next three years is not consistent with the trade trend of Holland and Co.

I know this might be absurd, but if Iginla does get moved - I believe it will be to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Financially, it makes some sense as the Pens have a slew of free agents coming off their books including Gonchar's $5.5M, Bill Guerin's $2M, and Fedotenko's $1.8M. It is apparent that the Pens are shifting towards Goligoski as their future PP1, and Gonchar will only be brough back if he can be secured at a reasonable price. I am sure the Pens would be more than happy to bring Ponikovarsky back at a price somewhere where he is making now ($3M). That leaves them with a little bit of flexability.

Leimeux has made interesting shift towards acquiring potential wings to play alongside the Crosby/Malkin pivot - this has been a rotating door of stop gap aging veterens and young prospects pressed into awkward service to find chemisty between his stars (DuPuis, Guerin, Satan, Fedotenko, Sykora, Kunitz, etc.). Finally, it looks as if they found a true scoring winger for Malkin (in Ponikovarsky), but have yet to find a legitimate Winger for Crosby.

Enter - Jarome Iginla.

Iginla brings an excellent set of complentary skills to Crosby. Crobsy is an elite playmaking center who elevates the play of his linemates and is a natural passing however he lacks the physical size to battle for pucks along the boards and the crease. Iginla still possess a blistering and accurate slapshot that is most effective off the one-timer and plays a rough and tumble style in traffic to produce second chance opportunities. Additionally, following the Olympics - it was extremely apparent that Crosby and Iginla have a natural chemistry with one another. So much so that Babcock put them with one another and Iginla was one of the best goalscoring threats on Team Canada and helped Crosby score the Gold Winning Goal.

Iginla solves the Pens need to have a clear cut number 1 scoring threat, a character leader in the locker room, is Canadian (which I'm sure Mario would love), and already has a proven chemistry with the star center and captain of the team.

Iginla gets his opportunity to play on a Cup contending team and with a center that extended the career of the corpse of Bill Guerin (a player in a similar mold) and would immediately bring a veteren presence to a young team as an alternate captain.

The Flames would get the chance to rebuild without sending their best player to a Western conference rival and would most likely ask for someone like Tyler Kennedy (young, gritty, energy center who could contribute right away) and Eric Tangradi, the Penguins top prospect and budding power forward. (Additional Note - Tangradi was the asking price for Ray Whitney which is ultimately what stopped the deal with Carolina, as the Pens are very high on him. For Jarome Iginla I believe they would make an exception).

All of this is by no means an endorsement of a rival securing a top flight scoring forward - but it makes sense on many different levels. From available assets, financial resources, play styles, philosphical plans for the teams involved and fair trade value for the players in question.

Just my thoughts.

[Nev 1,085]

Completely different. I wasn't aware of the injuries Bertuzzi has struggled with on and off over the last couple of years.

Iginla does not know how to play in the defensive zone, he has become really weak along the boards, turns over the puck almost every shift, and he can't skate anymore. The only thing he seems to have left is his ability to pass and his quick release (best in the NHL). Unfortunately his ability to pass usually leads to interceptions because he lacks the hockey sense he once had.

I still love the guy, but it just isn't the same Iginla. He is not a powerforward, he is a sniper that has no one to pass him the puck, and even if he did he would still turn the puck over.

Sounds awfully like Shanahan the last few seasons in Detroit, only he had Datsyuk dishing him the puck. As someone said at the time, he had the quietest 40 goal season in NHL history.

[Guest Crymson]

He's the face of the franchise, a local hero, and arguably the most well-loved and greatest player in the history of the organization. He's an excellent scorer, he plays physically, and he in general works hard every game.

The front office would be lynched by the fanbase were they to let him go. I can't see it ever happening. I predict he'll stay in Calgary until he retires; his jersey will be retired in short order after that.

[Drake_Marcus 890]

Is your memory so short that you don't remember the Yzerman-led Wings gooning it up post game after getting humiliated by teams like Boston? It's what you do when, depsite your best efforts, your team sucks.

How many times can you bring up that one incident out of his 1514 game career?

Pro Tip: (1/1514)*(100%)= 0.07%

Yzerman was gooned it up seven one-hundredths of a percent of the time.

edit: spelling

Edited March 29, 2010 by Drake_Marcus

[Drake_Marcus 890]

The Flames would get the chance to rebuild without sending their best player to a Western conference rival and would most likely ask for someone like Tyler Kennedy (young, gritty, energy center who could contribute right away) and Eric Tangradi, the Penguins top prospect and budding power forward. (Additional Note - Tangradi was the asking price for Ray Whitney which is ultimately what stopped the deal with Carolina, as the Pens are very high on him. For Jarome Iginla I believe they would make an exception).

All of this is by no means an endorsement of a rival securing a top flight scoring forward - but it makes sense on many different levels. From available assets, financial resources, play styles, philosphical plans for the teams involved and fair trade value for the players in question.

Just my thoughts.

Tyler Kennedy plus a top prospect? Seriously? That's an amazing low-ball. Sutter would laugh in their face.

[Carman 387]

Tyler Kennedy plus a top prospect? Seriously? That's an amazing low-ball. Sutter would laugh in their face.

Well, we ARE talking about Sutter after all...

[Drake_Marcus 890]

Well, we ARE talking about Sutter after all...

at least he isn't Millbery

[TheOctopusKid 19]

Yeah, the offer as it stands is a tad low - it would most likely include some of the additional Pu Pu plater of role players and salary heavy veterens, possibly a draft pick or two.

The key point of it was - those would be the principal pieces of the trade, the Flames would be inticed by a top flight power forward prospect and the Penguins would land an elite scoring winger with about - 3 years left of top quality play.

[Drake_Marcus 890]

Yeah, the offer as it stands is a tad low - it would most likely include some of the additional Pu Pu plater of role players and salary heavy veterens, possibly a draft pick or two.

The key point of it was - those would be the principal pieces of the trade, the Flames would be inticed by a top flight power forward prospect and the Penguins would land an elite scoring winger with about - 3 years left of top quality play.

Fair enough. I still don't want to see him in Pitts under any circumstances!

[Guest micah]

How many times can you bring up that one incident out of his 1514 game career?

Pro Tip: (1/1514)*(100%)= 0.07%

Yzerman was gooned it up seven one-hundredths of a percent of the time.

edit: spelling

How many times have I ever brought it up? I dodn't ever remember it being discussed here before. There are numerous examples of the Yzerman-led Wings gooning it up late in losing efforts, I'm just too lazy to list them. "Yzerman generally didn't take part, as unlike Iginla, he was too physically weak to do so and Detroit had others who were able to do that job.

[TheOctopusKid 19]

One additional Note -

This is the same GM who was so desperate to get younger and more financially stable, he traded away Dion Phaneuf and a young D prospect in Aulie for...Hagman, Stajan, and the expiring contracts of Ian White and Jamal Mayers.

At this point, I wouldn't put anything past this man to get younger and cheaper - including trading away 31 year old, Jarome Iginla's $7M contract for a top flight prospect and a young cheap center.

Hell, I bet this board could get the rights to Langkow if we promised to say nice things about Sutter, the Rights to Carman, and a Turkey Sandwich.

Edited March 29, 2010 by TheOctopusKid

[toby91_ca 620]

At this point, I wouldn't put anything past this man to get younger and cheaper - including trading away 31 year old, Jarome Iginla's $7M contract for a top flight prospect and a young cheap center.

He'll be 33 in a few months

[haroldsnepsts 4,826]

There's so many great things to like about Iggy. Watching the Wings play against him though, when the flames were losing I did get sick of him trying the crap you expect of guys like Perry. Like chasing Schneider down the ice crosschecking him in the back, trying to get him to fight.

I can't see him coming to Detroit, but I'd absolutely love to have him here. Something tells me once he got out of Calgary and away from coaches like the Sutters and Keenan, he'll feel less obligated to start that crap and instead be more of the player he is. One who can score, pass, hit, and drop the gloves. He's asked to do too much on the Flames. Or feels obligated to. Either way, it'd probably be good for his career to go somewhere else rather than trying to carry that team season after season.

[mmamolo 287]

Iginla has 3 years left on his contract and turns 33 on July 1 of this year. HIs current contract pays him $7M/yr over the remaining three years of his deal and that goes along with a $7M/yr cap hit. I'll admit that he is a great Right Winger and could definitely do a lot of damage but that price tag is huge and he only put up 35 goals last year and currently sits at 32 this season. Granted, that is in Calgary and he is playing with Stajan right now I believe. So you'd like to think that would obviously go up playing alongside Datsyuk or Zetterberg or hell even Filppula. But in my opinion, $7M for 3 more years is a lot to tie up when we have a lot of guys over the course of the net few years needing contracts I think that would make things that much harder to retain the future of our team.

Stuart and Kronwall need new deals in two years. Ericsson and Howard need new deals after next year etc.

[oldredbarnman 13]

Yzerman's name came up over the weekend, I think it was on HNIC on Saturday, but I can't remember.

Yes, you are correct. Scott Morrison mentioned that Calgary could possibly bring in Bob Nicholson and Steve Yzerman to run the club, with Steve being the G.M. Morrison also said that it was because of the success they had with team Canada, and was only a possibility.

[Hockeytown0001 7,652]

Yes, you are correct. Scott Morrison mentioned that Calgary could possibly bring in Bob Nicholson and Steve Yzerman to run the club, with Steve being the G.M. Morrison also said that it was because of the success they had with team Canada, and was only a possibility.

Yzerman's only claim to GM fame is selecting the best Canadian players. He hasn't been in charge of drafting, contract negotiations, ect.

[titanium2 867]

Yzerman's only claim to GM fame is selecting the best Canadian players. He hasn't been in charge of drafting, contract negotiations, ect.

I wonder what he's like as a negotiator. Stevie thinks I should take X amount of dollars? Oh, well, I feel like I can get more but since Stevie said so then ok.

[cjm502 165]

Yes, you are correct. Scott Morrison mentioned that Calgary could possibly bring in Bob Nicholson and Steve Yzerman to run the club, with Steve being the G.M. Morrison also said that it was because of the success they had with team Canada, and was only a possibility.

I have disliked the Flames my entire life, but if Stevie was running the place I would be a die hard Flame fan. I cant wait until he lands his job as GM somewhere.

[Carman 387]

Yzerman's only claim to GM fame is selecting the best Canadian players. He hasn't been in charge of drafting, contract negotiations, ect.

That and seeing first hand how the best GM in hockey performs the job.

I'd say it doesn't get much better for a person trying to get his first GM oppurtunity.

[adubs 8]

He's the face of the franchise, a local hero, and arguably the most well-loved and greatest player in the history of the organization. He's an excellent scorer, he plays physically, and he in general works hard every game.

The front office would be lynched by the fanbase were they to let him go. I can't see it ever happening. I predict he'll stay in Calgary until he retires; his jersey will be retired in short order after that.

A lot of the fan base seems to want him gone. It wouldn't be the first time Calgary traded away their captain. I think Lanny and Conroy are the only guys who weren't traded during their tenure. We're used to it by now.

[godwings19 0]

Yzerman's name came up over the weekend, I think it was on HNIC on Saturday, but I can't remember.

for some reason CBC thinks yzerman is leaving the wings in the off season.... i dont buy it for a minute, because the wings have been loyal to him his whole career so in turn he will be loyal to them..... rumor is that several teams r interested in the services of yzerman including minny, and st louis.... cbc says so....

[dragonballgtz 273]

I'll pass. He reminds me of an aging Shanahan in the act of either he is hot or below zero.

[clutchngrab 12]

In the cap era Holland can't take guys like Iginla at 6 or 7 mil without ******* up the rest of the team. End of story.