Craig Conroy and Jarome Iginla didn’t get off to the best start when the American centre arrived with the Calgary Flames prior to the 2001 trade deadline.

The transaction that brought Conroy to Alberta sent Cory Stillman to the St. Louis Blues. At the time of the move, the Flames were 15 points out of a playoff spot and trying to stay in the hunt, and swapping Stillman for Conroy represented a 20 point downgrade. Iginla was said to remark at the time that the Flames had enough checkers.

Over time, though, Conroy became ingrained in the Flames’ attack and became one of their most useful players – a two-way presence who could allow his linemates, which usually included Iginla, to commit more fully in the offensive zone. Conroy, too, became more of a scoring threat, and his first two full seasons as a Flame were his two best point totals to that point in his career. (Conroy was voted runner-up for the NHL’s Selke Trophy in 2001-02.)

Conroy endeared himself enough on and off the ice that when the coaching staff opted to shake up the club’s leadership and remove the captaincy from Dave Lowry in February 2002, he and Bob Boughner were named co-captains. Before the following season, Conroy was made the club’s sole captain.

But while Conroy was emerging as a leader with the Flames, his linemate, Iginla, was emerging as a superstar. Playing with Conroy for much the season, Iginla erupted for 52 goals in 2001-02 – becoming the first Flame in a decade to score 50 goals – and he emerged on the international scene as a key member of the Olympic team that won a gold medal in Salt Lake City, snapping a 50-year gold medal drought for Canada.

By the time training camp rolled around in the fall of 2003, Conroy felt it was time for Iginla to wear the C and approached general manager and head coach Darryl Sutter to discuss the possibility of passing the torch.

“I remember talking to Darryl,” said Conroy, now the Flames’ general manager. “‘If I wasn’t the captain, would you give it to Jarome?’ And he’s like, ‘Yeah, we would.’”

With Sutter’s blessing, Conroy approached Iginla with his idea. And so, one of the most consequential conversations in franchise history unfolded in the steam room.

“I think Marty Gelinas and him were in the steam room,” recalled Conroy. “I just went in and said ‘Hey, I think it’s time for you do be captain, would you want to do it?’ And he said quickly ‘yes’ and that was it. It wasn’t too dramatic. Marty and I were laughing, and he laughed too.”

Coincidentally, Iginla’s ascension to the Flames captaincy came less than a month after his former Kamloops Blazers teammate Shane Doan had been named the captain of the Phoenix Coyotes. Iginla had reportedly brought that fact up in conversation, but it’s likely that Iginla’s status as the Flames’ best player was what led Conroy to make him captain.

“I think it was just the time,” said Conroy. “I do know, he was mentioning, ‘Doaner’s already a captain.’ He was throwing some subtle hints, but Jarome’s too nice to actually come right out and say it. It wasn’t a hard decision for me, and he really was the leader on the team.”

Jamie McLennan was the Flames’ backup goaltender to begin the 2003-04 season. He recalled the captaincy transitioning quite smoothly between Conroy and Iginla in the locker room.

“I remember being there and not thinking it that big of a deal, because Jarome was that big of a leader anyways,” said McLennan, now an analyst with TSN. “And Connie was a good captain. And just because Connie gave the C to Iggy, it didn’t make him less of a leader in the room. To me it was almost like semantics. ‘Oh, there’s a C on that guy’s jersey as opposed to that guy’s.’ Connie, Iggy, Marty Gelinas, Rhett Warrener, Robyn Regehr, whether they had letters or not, that was your core group. That was the guys that, when you needed a day off or when guys had to sit down with Darryl, your leadership core, those are the guys that are dealing with the day-to-day muck, good and bad.”

While sometimes a change in a captaincy can be a sign of a club in upheaval, McLennan recalled the team reaction being pretty minor.

“It wasn’t a big story in the room,” said McLennan. “It was just kind of accepted. ‘Yeah, that makes sense.’ And Iggy was a big leader for us before that, so it didn’t really change anything other than the fact there was a C on his jersey and Connie went to an A.”

Conroy recalled just how effective Iginla was as the Flames’ leader.

“Whether Jarome had an A or C or anything on his jersey, everybody knew he was our leader,” said Conroy. Especially on the ice. Everyone wonders, he didn’t talk a lot. He would dial into his game before, put the towel over his head and he’d really, I don’t know if he was visualizing, what he was doing under there, but he didn’t talk a lot before. But when he did talk, even before he had the C, people listened. And he’s a competitive guy. He did his most of his talking out on the ice and, you know, he would will us to win games. Whether it was a big fight, we needed something, a pick-me-up, he always found a way to pick the team up and move us forward.”

Between Iginla and netminder Miikka Kiprusoff, the rest of the Flames’ roster felt they had a chance to win on any night.

“To have Kipper and him, we had two stars that year,” said Conroy. “The rest of us were workers but we all believed we could do it and it all started with him.”

Now donning a C on his chest, Iginla ended up having another strong season. He scored 41 goals in the regular season and led the Flames in playoff scoring with 13 goals and 22 points over 26 post-season games. In addition to capturing the Rocket Richard Trophy for sharing the league lead in goal-scoring, Iginla was awarded the NHL Foundation Player Award and the King Clancy Memorial Trophy for his leadership and humanitarian qualities.

And the Flames came within a single win, and a single goal, of capturing their second Stanley Cup.