The NHL’s trade deadline market for rentals is full of all sorts of players, from scoring wingers to depth options and defencemen. But there’s one player potentially available who wouldn’t cost any assets to pick up and would garner a salary likely close to the league minimum.
Well past his prime and four months removed from hip surgery, Jarome Iginla seeks another chance. He has been skating with the Boston Bruins‘ AHL affiliate in Providence as of late as he works on getting his legs back.
“I’d like to be a part of the playoffs,” he told The Providence Journal‘s Mark Divver on Thursday. “With a team that you can contribute to any way you can, but also that you feel can win.
“One more chance to win, I’d be thrilled.”
While some elements of his game remain — including a shot that’s led to 625 goals in his career — the sport’s continued shift towards speed and finesse doesn’t make it easy to find a place for a 40-year-old, two-time Maurice ‘Rocket’ Richard Trophy winner. He may be a tough sell to most legitimate Stanley Cup contenders, but there is one organization which, at the very least on a sentimental level, could be a fit.
The Calgary Flames could find value in Iginla as a low-risk addition for their bottom six. Micheal Ferland missed Saturday’s game, which bumped Sam Bennett to the top line. Kris Versteeg has been out since November. Iginla could be a fresh, if ageing, body to add to their depth, and there’s of course the added wrinkle of his legacy with the team, which could factor into a potential return.
There’s no indication Iginla is on the club’s radar at this time. That said, assistant general manager Craig Conroy — who suited up alongside Iginla in Calgary for nine seasons — shared his thoughts on a potential return for No. 12, which reflect his admiration and respect for the former captain.
“I love Jarome. We’re great friends and I would love to see him come back,” Conroy said Wednesday. “He’s a Calgary Flame to me. That’s what Jarome Iginla is. To bring him back would be nice, but I’m going to leave that to Brad (Treliving) and Brian (Burke) to make that decision. I’m too close to that one.
“Obviously he’d love to win a Stanley Cup, so that’s probably the one that keeps the fire burning in him, for sure. Because he’s won everything else. He’ll always tell you, ‘Hey, I really want that Stanley Cup.’ Like all of us.”
It’s likely more of a long shot than a sure thing Iginla ends up with any playoff team this season. But look at some of the little holes in Calgary’s forward unit and there could be a path to him being a contributor.
For instance, the Flames still lack bottom-six depth. Curtis Lazar, a deadline acquisition a year ago, is currently in the fourth line right wing spot and has just seven points in 48 games this season.
A few others who have earned turns in the bottom six this season include: Andrew Mangiapane (10 games), Tanner Glass (seven games), Ryan Lomberg (seven games), Marek Hrivik (three games), and Morgan Klimchuk (one game). They have all combined for a single point. Iginla isn’t the award winner he once was, but it’s fair to wonder if he’d be an upgrade there.
But the biggest area he could potentially help is on the power play, where Iginla is somewhat of a specialist now. The Flames’ man advantage unit has been hot of late with a 30.6 per cent conversion rate over their past nine games, but in the nine games previous to that it hit on just 7.7 per cent of its opportunities. Overall this season, the Flames rank 23rd on the PP at 18.5 per cent and should explore anything that could help.
Thirty of Iginla’s 74 points over the past two seasons (41 per cent) came on the man advantage. This is the value Los Angeles saw in Iginla when it acquired him at last year’s deadline, which was explored by Sportsnet’s Andrew Berkshire.
“Jarome Iginla stayed effective well into his late 30s, but at 39 now he simply isn’t close to the player he used to be. Below league average in every measure of offensive creation at even strength, Iginla is solely a power-play weapon at this point in his career,” Berkshire wrote at the time. “If a team wants to acquire Iginla, they should be thinking of him as a fourth-liner who can help on the power play, where he is still legitimately good.
“Anything more than that and you’re setting yourself up for disappointment.”
Of course, there’s another side of a potential homecoming that could reap rewards for the Flames – the chance to expose Calgary’s young stars to Iginla’s work ethic, positivity, and understanding of what it means to lead the Calgary Flames.
We know the team is open to such experiments given its interest in Jaromir Jagr. Injuries hampered Jagr’s ability to provide much help to the club on game day, and though his seven points may seem like the attempt failed, No. 68’s leadership was well worth the gamble.
“We were in Philadelphia and him and Matthew (Tkachuk) were on the ice around the net. He was just showing him little, little smart things about how to use his body position, his size, his strength, to get into position,” Conroy said. “To see Jagr and Matthew doing that, then you see him with Sam Bennett, then you see him talking to Johnny (Gaudreau). … He’s a first-ballot Hall of Famer. It’s amazing the knowledge that he has.
“Coaches always say stuff and coaches are there, but it’s amazing how when you’re with another player and he shares that stuff, it always seems to go a little bit further. So to have him here, to work with those guys, I think it’s made them all better from it.”
Should Iginla join the club and find a way to make a mark to boost Calgary’s Cup hopes in any supportive way, great. But if not, it would at least set Iginla up to retire as a Flame before his number is inevitably raised to the rafters.
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