Iginla ‘appreciative’ of NHL career
Avalanche winger still wants to scratch Cup ring off his bucket list
Jarome Iginla’s eye-popping resume includes gold medals, countless individual accolades and more goals than even the most pie-inthe-sky kid could dream of scoring at the National Hockey League level.
The only thing missing, really, is a Stanley Cup ring.
And at 38, the longtime captain and face-of-the-franchise for the Calgary Flames — now patrolling the right wing for the Colorado Avalanche — realizes he’s running out of opportunities to scratch that biggie off his bucket list.
Make no mistake, Iginla wants one of those diamond-crusted championship rings and, more importantly, the memories that would come with it.
But on his return to the Saddledome for Friday’s clash with the Flames, the sure-thing Hockey Hall-of-Famer sounded like a guy who will be plenty proud — and rightfully so — even if he eventually retires without his name engraved on Lord Stanley’s historic mug.
“I have lots to be appreciative about,” Iginla said after Friday’s morning skate in Calgary, where he was the star attraction for most of his 15-season, 525-goal, 1,095-point run with the Flames. “I’ve got to play 19 years. I’ve got to play on a few good teams and get to be in the Cup final (with the Flames in 2004) and get to play for Team Canada ...
“I’d love to win. But, I mean, lots of guys would love to win. Everybody that plays would love to win … So no, no, it doesn’t eat away at me. I’m still enjoying it and I want to still push for it and I still believe it can happen. But to play as long as I have and to play in the situations and with guys I’ve played with, it’s been awesome.
“But, saying that, I would love to get the cherry on top. I’d love to be part of winning, there’s no question.”
You can’t taste the icing on the cake, of course, if you don’t score an invite to the playoff party.
The Avs are currently clinging to the final wild card berth in the Western Conference, but with the Minnesota Wild hot on their heels.
“I realize that there are only however many games left I play and they’re going to go fast and my opportunities are definitely not as many as they used to be,” Iginla said.
“So, yeah, I appreciate it. I appreciate these races, too. The games at the end of the year, if you’re not in the mix, they’re not nearly as fun to play as when you are in the mix, so I’m just trying to enjoy that right now and make the most of that.”
Iginla returned to Calgary — his fourth skate at the Saddledome as one of the other guys — with 608 career tallies, just two shy of joining Bobby ‘The Golden Jet’ Hull in a tie for 16th on the NHL’s all-time list.
He’s also scored 37 playoffs goals, with more than one-third of those coming in 2004, when No. 12 hoisted the Flames on his broad shoulders — with Gumby-like goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff as his co-star — for an improbable run to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final.
The Flames were the sixth seed in the Western Conference that year.
The Avalanche likely can’t do any better than eighth this spring, but Iginla will take it.
“If you make the playoffs, anything can happen,” Iginla said. “Teams, because of the salary cap, are a lot closer than they used to be when I first broke in. So you want to get in there, you want to give yourselves a chance.
“When we had our run here, we beat Detroit when they were a pretty impressive team,” he added. “So it gives you hopes just to make the playoffs and see what can happen.”
ICE CHIPS
Dennis Wideman’s miserable campaign is over early.
The Flames announced Friday that Wideman will miss the remainder of the season due a triceps tear. It’s not yet determined if the defenceman will require surgery.
Wideman suited up for 51 games this winter, posting the lowest point total (19) of his 11-year NHL career. He was injured in Wednesday’s victory over the Winnipeg Jets, just his third appearance after missing 19 contests due to an abuse-of-official suspension that was eventually reduced by appeal to a 10-game banishment.