This website has members that go to great lengths to defend Iginla and that's fine, because he is a true Flames legend. But to sit there and think that the reason this team is a lot closer is because of the coaching staff throwing a couple parties is... definitely odd to me. Friendships / relationships are built upon the people that are in them... not the guy who sets up the event. I'm friends with friends because we get along. If you look at the very wide selection of quotes over the last few years, and what they insinuate, I'm not sure how you could not conclude that Iginla was a problem as a leader on this team.
It's like the OJ murder trial... yeah he was not found guilty. Does anyone actually truly believe that? No, I guess there was nothing that grounded the theory that he is a murderer in 100% certainty. But god damn, there was a lot of evidence.
Mr. Cole a page back alludes, "Hey back off! Leave the guy alone! He's gone stop talking about it!" in his very best impression of that guy who video'd himself asking people to stop "attacking" Britney. But I notice in that post he states that Iginla "gave us his all every night" or something to that effect. Well that right there is my problem. He didn't give it his all every night. Look at how this team works. Look at how Iginla worked the last few years. If you can't see a difference, there will be no convincing you, but I didn't see consistent effort. I saw a quite comfortable guy that had not a lot motivating him, certainly not money. The concept of a Cup was for sure a long shot.
So anyway, why do people talk about it? Because it's a logical conclusion to draw from the multitude of quotes and information, this is a Flames message board, and it's probably what a lot of people believe. That's why.
It doesn't mean he wasn't the best Flame ever to play, or that we all hate him. But I think questioning his leadership abilities is, 100% in bounds and very likely linked quite strongly to how close this team really was over the last few years.
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