Welcome to LWOS Hockey’s summer series, Call to the Hall, where we take a look at the next great player from each NHL franchise to get called to the Hockey Hall of Fame. There are a few caveats, the player must be active, and must have played 300 games (or 150 for goaltenders) with the franchise.
Check out the previous Call to the Hall articles HERE.
Call to the Hall: Calgary Flames
The Calgary Flames have a rich 43-year history (8 of which were spent in Atlanta), over which time they’ve seen twelve former players inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Most notable among them are Lanny McDonald, Al MacInnis and Joe Nieuwendyk, all of whom were members of Calgary’s 1989 Stanley Cup-winning team. However, there is only one player who dominates all the franchise scoring records, despite playing much of his prime years during the NHL’s dead puck era. Possibly the easiest entry in this summer series, there’s no question that the active player most deserving of entering the Hall as a Calgary Flame is the franchise’s greatest player – Jarome Iginla.
JAROME IGINLA
Iginla played his junior hockey for the (then-dominant) Kamloops Blazers of the WHL – who, ironically, wear Edmonton Oilers colours. In 1994, a 16-year-old Iggy helped his team to capture both the WHL championship (Kamloops’ third in five seasons) and the Memorial Cup. Again in 1995, the Blazers won the national championship, this time with Iginla leading the way with five goals during the Memorial Cup tournament. His play that season led to him being selected 11th overall at the 1995 NHL Draft by the Dallas Stars.
He never suited up for the Stars, though – in December of that same year Iginla was traded to the Calgary Flames in a blockbuster that sent Joe Nieuwendyk back the other way (a move almost universally acclaimed as a good trade for both sides – as Nieuwendyk helped Dallas win the Stanley Cup in 1999). The move made waves across the hockey world, with the Calgary Herald’s morning edition headlined by the infamous words “Jarome Who?”. Iginla himself was shocked at the trade news, initially thinking he had been traded from Kamloops to the WHL’s Calgary Hitmen – a bottom-dweller at the time. Iginla did indeed return to Kamloops for the 1995-96 season, scoring 63 goals that year in 63 games and winning the Four Broncos Memorial Trophy as the league’s top player. He was invited to join Team Canada at the World Junior Championship in Boston, where he led the tournament in scoring and received the top forward award en route to Canada’s fourth gold medal in a row.
As soon as the WHL season ended, Iginla was flown to Calgary to make his NHL debut in the playoffs against the Chicago Blackhawks. He recorded his first assist in his first game, and added a goal in his second, however the Flames were disposed of quickly by the Hawks, sweeping them in this first round series. Iggy stayed with the Flames next season, though. In his first year, he finished second to Bryan Berard in Calder Trophy voting after leading all rookies with 50 points.
By 2002, Iginla was a bona fide superstar. He scored 52 goals and 96 points in 2001-02, which was good enough for him to capture both the Maurice Richard Trophy and the Art Ross Trophy. He was nominated that year for the Hart Memorial Trophy, but lost controversially. He finished tied in votes with goalie Jose Theodore, who won because he had received more first place votes – one writer, however, had mysteriously left Iginla off his ballot.
Before the 2003-04 season, the Flames named Iginla the 18th captain in franchise history, at the age of 26. He was just the second black captain in NHL history. Iggy had another banner year (perhaps the best Flames season in recent memory), winning the Richard Trophy again with 41 goals. He marched Calgary straight into the Stanley Cup Final, which would go down as one of the most exciting Finals of all time. The Flames lost in seven games to the Tampa Bay Lightning, coming teasingly close to the championship when Martin Gelinas scored a goal in Game 6 that was disallowed, which would’ve won it for Calgary. Iginla led the NHL in playoff scoring with 13 points.
After that playoff performance, Iginla found himself in the conversation for the best player in the world for a while. His hard-hitting yet skilled style of play endeared himself to fans all over the world, Canada especially.
Iginla ultimately played 16 seasons in Calgary, becoming undeniably a Flames legend. He tops the franchise list in games played (1219), goals (525) and points (1025 – a considerable way ahead of Theo Fleury in second place with 830). Having moved on in pursuit of his first Stanley Cup (last season suiting up for the Colorado Avalanche), Flames fans still struggle seeing him in colours other than red.
Iggy’s international body of work is just as impressive as his NHL tallies, too. To his name are two Olympic gold medals (from 2002 and 2010), a World Championship (1997), a World Juniors gold medal (1996) and a World Cup of Hockey (2004 – remember that?). At the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002, Iginla became the first man of African descent to win a gold medal at the winter games.
There’s no question that Jarome Iginla deserves to be in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Some (this writer included) would even say he’s a first-ballot Hall of Famer. As such, it’s impossible to choose any other Flames player for this series (and a Flames player he still is in the hearts of many, despite being under contract to another team).
