[Signing] Bruins Sign Iginla 1 Year $6Mil

[minnow]

Originally Posted by redforever

That is not solely an Eric Francis thing..lots of people here said the same thing.

I wouldn't say "lots", it was more like "some".

[puckluck2]

More like the idiots. Francis is the same guy who said bouma has been a huge disappointment this year when 99.9% of people were thrilled with how Bouma was playing.

He was born for the Calgary Sun.

[Frank MetaMusil]

Originally Posted by drewtastic

If anything, I'd argue that Keenan was an Iginla-killer...taking him off the PK went a long way toward changing Iggy's work ethic at the time, imo...

Keenan's PK was ranked 4th overall in 08/09. Iginla was better served teeing up Cammalleri on the PP.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by SportsJunky

He said it on NHL Radio just a couple of weeks ago while talking to Kelly Hrudey. Hrudey didn't debate him on it either. I know some people don't like Francis but it was a jarring statement to hear even from him.

I tend to agree that he was a coach killer in Calgary but I don't think he outright did on purpose. The owners and King made him bigger than the team. Even the really good people change when placed on a pedestal. In his mind he only ever did what he thought was best for the team but at times that clashed with what the head coach wanted and Playfair, Keenan, Sutter, Hartley were powerless when it came to dealing with Iginla as after all the team was built around the guy and his buddies were brought in one after another.

Things are better for both parties now. Iginla now can just focus on playing and not carrying a team and the Flames don't have any players in the locker room with more power than the head coach.

[puckluck2]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

I tend to agree that he was a coach killer in Calgary but I don't think he outright did on purpose. The owners and King made him bigger than the team. Even the really good people change when placed on a pedestal. In his mind he only ever did what he thought was best for the team but at times that clashed with what the head coach wanted and Playfair, Keenan, Sutter, Hartley were powerless when it came to dealing with Iginla as after all the team was built around the guy and his buddies were brought in one after another.

Things are better for both parties now. Iginla now can just focus on playing and not carrying a team and the Flames don't have any players in the locker room with more power than the head coach.

So EE who's going to be responsible for "killing" Hartley when this season is done where he without a doubt will be fired?

Funny how you've been pro every coach while Iginla was here but now that he's gone you blame the coach.

[stemit14]

It has bothered me for years how so many of people would ridicule and put down a guy simply because the years are catching up to him... As if it's his fault that he's not as dominant a player at the age of 34 as he was at the age of 27. The guy has been a great player for a long time and he still is... yet people tried to say he was taking nights off... I never saw that him.

There was a time when he was so dominant that the best defencemen in the game could not contain him the same way guys like Crosby, malkin, and stamkos are today. But age catches up with everyone... I would say he's been amazingly consistent considering the tough miles he's put on over the years yet it wasn't enough for some people.

I think back to 2009-2010 as the year that sutter seemed to all of a sudden abandon all the scoring depth the flames had built from the previous seasons in favour of putting all the pressure on iginla and Jokinen. No huselius, cammalleri, tanguay, bertuzzi, or Lombardi (I know they weren't all there at the same time). Instead... Lundmark, Boyd, Dawes, nystrom. That was the first year where teams could start to shut down iginla and, with no scoring depth, that effectively shut down the flames.

I'm glad to see him doing well in boston and I hope he gets his cup this year... Nobody in the NHL deserves one more than him.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by puckluck2

So EE who's going to be responsible for "killing" Hartley when this season is done where he without a doubt will be fired?

Funny how you've been pro every coach while Iginla was here but now that he's gone you blame the coach.

Funny how you could conclude that given I was never pro-Keenan. He's responsible for guys like Iginla and Phaneuf forming bad habits.

Hartley's could be a victim of circumstance given the GM shuffle. I think most of us knew that his and Feasters jobs were linked the day he was hired. I think he's done a much better job this season compared to last season but I don't know if he's done enough to convince a new GM not to bring his own guy in. He will be on the last year of a three year contract next season and I don't see new GM coming in and having a lame duck coach in his first season at the controls.

[nemanja2306]

Iginla had to go, not because he became a bad player, was a bad leader or was a coach killer, but because the Flames weren't going to win with him. He wasn't a dominant force he used to be, he couldn't carry the team anymore, and there wasn't anybody on the roster who could replace him in that sense due to bad drafting, bad trades and poor FA signings. It's too bad we suffered all those injuries when we acquired Jokinen (2009-10), that team would have probably gone deep in the playoffs.