Quote:
Originally Posted by FlameZilla
None of those players represented the Flames in the same way as Iginla. The only real comparable is Fleury. He stuck with the Flames through the hard times and he carried the team on his shoulders when the rest of the early-90s players left for greener pastures. The way he acted as and after he left will always tarnish that iconic status, unfortunately.
As far as the other players you mention, none have meant as much to the team as Iggy.
Nieuwendyk played 9 seasons with the Flames
Roberts played 10 seasons
Otto played 11
MacInnis played 12
Jarome Arthur-Leigh Adekunle Tig Junior Elvis Iginla is in his SEVENTEENTH season with the Flames. He is the all time leading scorer by 200 points.
His legacy is cemented as the biggest playing contributor to our franchise. I was at the Dome when he got his first point in his first playoff game, assisting on a Theo Fleury goal in '96. Having seen his development into the unplayable beast of a power forward that led us to within an inch of the Cup, nothing would give me more joy than to see him retire a Flame. Scratch that, ONE thing would give me more joy: if he retired a Flame with a Stanley Cup ring on his finger. Even if he's only a role playing Lanny MacDonald-esque leader for the 2018 Stanley Cup winning Flames, I'll be overjoyed.
The trade return we would get from the 35-year-old Iginla would do nothing to help the team win now, and any picks and prospects are a huge gamble. A trade would deflate the franchise & I guarantee the fan base will dwindle. Don't get me wrong; I was a Flames fan at 2-years old & I'll be a Flames fan when Jarome moves on. It will be a sad day for the franchise if he moves on to another team.
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I can argue that Nieuwendyk, Roberts, Otto, MacInnis provided this city with it's lone Stanley Cup. The greatest team in the history of the franchise by a long shot and IMO one of the historically great teams to play in any NHL season.
Outside of 2004 all Iginla has been is the face of the team during years of mediocrity on a team that was either flat out bad or underachievers. He may be the greatest Flame based on games played with the franchise and holding all the scoring and points records but I value that 1989 Stanley Cup above anything Iginla added to the Calgary Flames.
I don't want to ruin what's supposed to be a positive thread on Iginla but I just have a problem with a lot of newer fans that didn't get to watch the team in the heyday of the franchise and don't realize how good the teams of the mid to late 80's were and how important all those players listed to the history of this organization. I appreciate what Jarome has accomplished as the face of the franchise for 17 years but outside of maybe 5 years it's been amongst some of the worst years in the history of the franchise in Calgary.