[Flame Of Liberty]

Originally Posted by pylon

I think that now the Iginla homerism is wearing off, people are seeing him for what he really is, and for what a lot of the 'experts' have seen him as the last few seasons.

A slow, worn down, veteran with a good shot, and no defensive responsibility. He looks like a third liner right now.

To be honest, one thing this has immensely opened my eyes to, is how Marty St.Louis is potentially the greatest player to come from that young gunz era, not Iginla. As a 1 year older, and much smaller he has not only had greater personal success (.93 vs Iginla's .90 PPG), he has also had far better team success. Look at their stats from last year for cripes sake, Iginla wasn't even close. Buying him out and letting him walk, should be considered a bigger travesty in my eyes than any of the bone headed trades the Flames have made over the years.

There have been a ton of players that have been supreme performers at Iginla's age, and with the steady decline we have seen from him over the last 3-4 seasons, I just do not see him being a Recchi, or a Jagr, or a Sakic. To be honest, he isn't even in the conversation.

And honestly, its a bit unfair to Iginla to compare him to the longevity of these 4, his game was built around raw power and elite shot, with age he naturally lost the ability to beastly dominate the opposition. Nature of his style is the reason he dropped off faster than the other 4. Doesn't mean that anyone "hates" Iginla.