Top 40 Calgary Flames: #1 Jarome Iginla
By Ryan Pike
3 years agoThis coming May is the 40th anniversary of the Atlanta Flames moving to Calgary. To commemorate this occasion, we’re counting down the Top 40 Calgary Flames in history.
Who else could be in the top spot but Jarome Iginla?
Originally selected by the Dallas Stars in the 1995 draft, Iginla was traded to Calgary for Joe Nieuwendyk. (That continued a chain of trades that began with Kent Nilsson’s selection in 1976.)
Iginla went pro as a 19-year-old, landing an NHL gig out of camp. He spent the better part of 16 seasons with the Flames. He worked his way up the lineup and was Calgary’s most important player for much of his tenure.
Among Iginla’s accomplishments:
- 14 seasons with 20+ goals, including 13 consecutive seasons.
- 11 (consecutive) seasons with 30+ goals, including a pair of 50 goal seasons.
- Three seasons of 90+ points
- A scoring title.
- Two goal-scoring titles.
During his time with the Flames, Iginla wore the captain’s C for parts of nine seasons – depending how you interpret Dirk Graham’s ethnic background, Iginla’s the first black captain in league history. And a good case can be made that he was the best player in hockey during the 2001-02 to 2005-06 period. Iginla won basically every award he was eligible to win as a Flame – he was runner-up for the Calder as a rookie and runner-up for the Hart twice, but otherwise his trophy case got packed.
Iginla’s 18th all-time in games played with a single franchise. He leads the Flames in games played, goals, assists, points, even strength goals, power play goals and game-winning goals. He was traded from the team as they launched their rebuild and to give Iginla a chance to win a Stanley Cup.
To be blunt: Iginla’s the best player that’s ever wore the jersey. He’s easily #1.
| Seasons | GP | G | A | P | +/- | PIM |
| 1996-2013 | 1219 | 525 | 570 | 1095 | +46 | 831 |
Arrival: Traded with Corey Millen from Dallas for Joe Nieuwendyk (December 19, 1995)
Departure: Traded to Pittsburgh for Ben Hanowski, Kenny Agostino and 2013 first round pick (Morgan Klimchuk) (March 28, 2013)
Awards: 2001-02 Art Ross Trophy winner; 2001-02 Lester B. Pearson Award winner; 2001-02 and 2003-04 Rocket Richard Trophy winner; 2003-04 King Clancy Memorial Trophy winner; 2008-09 Mark Messier Leadership Award winner; 2001-02, 2007-08 and 2008-09 First Team All-Star; 2003-04 Second Team All-Star
Top 40 Calgary Flames: HM Martin Gelinas | HM Al Coates | HM Bob Johnson | HM Darryl Sutter | HM Cliff Fletcher | #40 Brad Marsh | #39 Matt Stajan | #38 Jiri Hudler | #37 Dion Phaneuf | #36 Guy Chouinard | #35 Phil Housley | #34 Matthew Tkachuk | #33 Cory Stillman | #32 Curtis Glencross | #31 Jamie Macoun | #30 Carey Wilson | #29 Reggie Lemelin | #28 TJ Brodie | #27 Alex Tanguay | #26 Daymond Langkow | #25 Sergei Makarov | #24 Craig Conroy | #23 Robert Reichel | #22 Paul Reinhart | #21 Doug Gilmour | #20 Mikael Backlund | #19 Jim Peplinski | #18 Joel Otto | #17 Tim Hunter | #16 Joe Mullen | #15 Sean Monahan | #14 Robyn Regehr | #13 Mike Vernon | #12 Kent Nilsson | #11 Hakan Loob | #10 Lanny McDonald | #9 Johnny Gaudreau | #8 Gary Roberts | #7 Gary Suter | #6 Miikka Kiprusoff | #5 Joe Nieuwendyk | #4 Theoren Fleury | #3 Mark Giordano | #2 Al MacInnis
Recent articles from Ryan Pike
