Quote:
Originally Posted by Tinordi
The double edge sword of having a superstar fixture of your franchise is in full light in this thread. Their enormous influence and presence is valued in the good times and is a significant burden in the bad times. It would seem that everyone from management to ownership to the fanbase were subservient not just to Iginla but to the idea of Iginla's legacy and importance. As a result we took a three year walk in the woods where the idea of a player took the priority over the actual success of the franchise.
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I think people are mistaken for imaging that things could have ever played out much differently. Trading Iginla the icon was a doomed enterprise to begin with. There was never going to be a "kickstart" to the rebuild simply because ownership was wary of the fan base and loathe to move him. More importantly—and this point seems somehow to ALWAYS get missed in all of this—
Iginla never had any interest in playing elsewhere in the first place. One can't really blame the player, since he earned the right to control his destiny here, but nothing and no one hurt the Flames's return for Iginla more than Iginla's long insistence on staying with the Flames.