I'm a big fan of Bossy, but he played in an era of increased offence, and played a great deal with Trottier (one of the best centers of his generation).
What Iginla did in his era with the linemates he had, is amazing.
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As others have noted, Iginla played in the dead-puck era and got burned by the lockouts (one of which occurred when it could be reasonably claimed he was the best forward in the world). It was fantastic to have him as a Flame and as a fan of him and what he did here I will always be cheering on his personal success.
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His contract certainly gives him no reason to hang them up early. My bet is he ends up right around Sakic, but it would be awesome if he managed to catch Andreychuk (640) or Shanahan (656). Would probably need to play until 41 or 42 though.
I'm a big fan of Bossy, but he played in an era of increased offence, and played a great deal with Trottier (one of the best centers of his generation).
What Iginla did in his era with the linemates he had, is amazing.
And the timing of the lockouts probably hurt him more than any of his contemporaries in the goal scoring department not named Sakic or Jagr.
Iggy 20th overall in the history of the NHL quite an amazing accomplishment. He has definitely cemented his name in the goal scoring pages of the NHL.
Bossy when i was a kid was one of the most prolific goal scorers of his time and I feel Iginla will be looked at in the same way.
Consistantly year to year a 30+ goal scorer. Even currently there are only going to be 2 or 3 players that will do that.
Iggy just a guess will finish 15th overall just ahead of Sakic or ahead of Bobby Hull.
Just stop to think about that for a second, Iginla's goal scoring is amongst the legends of hockey.
However his career goes from here on we'll all remember him as one of the best. In fact, I would say he was at one point the most dominant player in the game. I watch replays of games from '04 and I've never seen anything else like it. For how impressive guys like Crosby, malkin, toews, etc. have been in their playoff runs... To me it pales in comparison to how much of a force he was all over the ice. Night after night he'd deliver thundering hits that almost put guys through the glass and powered his way through the defence to create scoring chances. You could see it was all other teams could do just to try and contain him. Oh... And when was the last time you saw a captain drop the gloves in a playoff series like iggy did? And I'm talking about statement fights that affected the momentum of a series. And he did it in every series in that run.
I remember the announcers during the Detroit series talking how much the red wings struggled to stop him. How even lidstrom in his prime seemed powerless against him. Today I see flashes of what he did from guys like Milan Lucic, Evander Kane, Rick Nash, etc... But not like iggy. Not every shift game after game like he did.
Hope iggy keeps playing into his forties and I hope he does it with the flames. Maybe a trade next season or during the summer of 2016 to bring him home. "Gaudreau to iginla" has a nice ring to it. And giordano handing off a very long awaited cup to iginla sounds even better.
Everyone in YEG has always had a soft spot for Iggy and it was great to watch him all these years. Easily the best Flame ever and a first ballot Hall Of Famer. The smile is real.
However his career goes from here on we'll all remember him as one of the best. In fact, I would say he was at one point the most dominant player in the game. I watch replays of games from '04 and I've never seen anything else like it. For how impressive guys like Crosby, malkin, toews, etc. have been in their playoff runs... To me it pales in comparison to how much of a force he was all over the ice. Night after night he'd deliver thundering hits that almost put guys through the glass and powered his way through the defence to create scoring chances. You could see it was all other teams could do just to try and contain him. Oh... And when was the last time you saw a captain drop the gloves in a playoff series like iggy did? And I'm talking about statement fights that affected the momentum of a series. And he did it in every series in that run.
I remember the announcers during the Detroit series talking how much the red wings struggled to stop him. How even lidstrom in his prime seemed powerless against him. Today I see flashes of what he did from guys like Milan Lucic, Evander Kane, Rick Nash, etc... But not like iggy. Not every shift game after game like he did.
Hope iggy keeps playing into his forties and I hope he does it with the flames. Maybe a trade next season or during the summer of 2016 to bring him home. "Gaudreau to iginla" has a nice ring to it. And giordano handing off a very long awaited cup to iginla sounds even better.
From 2002-2004, definitely he was the best. Some good memories in that youtube, wow I haven't seen some of those 2004 playoff plays in 10 years. Some good memories for sure. I remember people used to say if Iginla was struggling, just put 2 midgets on his back and he'll get 2 goals and an assist. Or the 2002 Olympic gold medal game, 2 USA players water skiing and tackling Iginla and he just powers to the net and scores.
Not sure I am exactly on board with the idea with bringing in players to retire here though, kind of a weird culture to being a retirement home for players. I kind of like the idea of a lean roster, where everybody is contributing. If he's contributing, awesome, but not just for sentimental reasons.
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