Jarome Iginla had a lot of individual success over the years, even against the Montreal Canadiens adding on to the career he had.
It was a bittersweet day in the hockey world on Wednesday as Jarome Iginla decided to hang up the skates. He started his NHL career in 1995 after he was selected 11th overall by the Dallas Stars, but never played a single game with them. The Stars chose to trade Iginla to the Calgary Flames the following December where he would start to irritate the lives of teams the following season, including the Montreal Canadiens.
Iginla was the Calgary Flames for over a decade and a half. By the time he was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins ahead of the 2013 Trade Deadline, the then 35-year-old had put up 525 goals and 570 assists for 1095 points in 1219 games. Iginla added another 205 points to his career total splitting time between the Pens, Boston Bruins, Colorado Avalanche, and Los Angeles Kings.
Most of this production came against Western Conference teams, which is to be expected seeing as he spent the majority of his career in the West. But what’s interesting was the numbers against Eastern Conference teams.
Disregarding the Detroit Red Wings as they were in the East up until the 2012-13 season, Iginla had the most success against the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens. The Edmonton native scored a total of 14 goals and 16 points in 30 games against the Habs.
One of those games includes the 2011 Heritage Classic between Montreal and Calgary at McMahon Stadium. The temperatures plummeted that night, and although the Habs were shutout 4-0, it was still a special moment to be part of.
He also got a taste of the historic Habs-Bruins rivalry when he joined Boston for the 2013-14 season. The two teams met in the second round of the playoffs that season and Iginla did his part in the series scoring three goals across the seven games.
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Even after Iginla was on the last heels of his career, there was strong interest from the fan base for the Montreal Canadiens to take a run at him. He wouldn’t have been expected to put up the same level of production he did in year’s past, but his determination, leadership, and work ethic were amongst the best in the league.
Additionally, there would’ve been a level of familiarity there via Claude Julien who coached him during that 13-14 campaign. But it’s come down to this.
We also can’t forget Iginla’s accomplishments on the national stage. He was a member of Team Canada at the Winter Olympics for both gold medal victories in 2002 and 2010. The latter tournament saw Iginla score the most goals (5) and have the primary assist on Sidney Crosby‘s golden goal.
There are so many things to take away from Iginla. He was a player to look up to and mould a game after setting the stage for other forwards who can bring more to the table besides offence. Those type of heart-individuals are hard to pass up which makes someone like Brendan Gallagher so important to a team.
Who knows what the next step for Iginla is, but whatever it is, he’s already left an overwhelming impression on the league after 20 years.