January 8, 2008
Getting Iggy with it
  

If you want hardware to back up my claim, Jarome's got a study full; a two time winner of the Maurice Richard Trophy (for most goals), the Lester B. Pearson (Player of the Year selected by the NHLPA), the Art Ross (League MVP) and so on.

He carried the Flames to within one game of the Stanley Cup (and most Calgarians will say they were just one bad call away from the Cup to this day) with a massive playoff run, 13 goals, 22 points and a plus-13 ratings on the 2003-04 playoffs.

He's been one of the main reasons, along with netminder Mikka Kiprusoff that the Flames have caught fire recently. They've won five in a row and are 7-1-2 over their last 10. A12-1-4 streak since December 1 finds them just a point away from Vancouver for the Northwest Division lead.

And although he's among the game's best for the better part of the decade and with a mediocre offensive supporting cast around him, Iginla its tracking a career year, on pace for 60 goals and in excess of 110 points and is just eight goals away from tying Theo Fleury's franchise records for goals scored (364).

Though Sidney Crosby's notoriety far outstrips Iginla (and that's due to the media market that Jarome toils in, not the dynamics of his game), if the Flames go on to capture the Northwest, more than a few ballots out of the West will have Iginla's name on it for the Art Ross once again.
 

"That season was pretty impressive at the time because he was so far ahead of everyone else," he said. "The first half of this season, however, is the best I've ever seen him play. He used to have to bull his way in but now he just does it all. It's fun to watch, he's feeling good. You can see the confidence, he's smiling."

On Saturday night, although he scored a powerplay goal in the Flames 5-4 victory of the downtrodden Los Angeles Kings, Iginla showed his MVP meddle when the chips were down from the passes he threw, not the shots he made. Calgary took a two goal lead into the final stanza but due to a plethora of bad penalties, the Kings forged a 4-3 lead with less than seven minutes to go.

With the crowd in frenzy, Iginla stepped up when the game was slipping away from his team’s grasp. After the Flames were granted a power play due to a foolish Alexander Frolov penalty in the offensive zone, Iginla took the puck off a battle along the left boards, made two beautiful dekes and feed a wide open Kristian Huselius for an easy tying marker.

Just a few minutes later while on the powerplay again, he saved the puck from leaving the offensive zone and his pass to Anders Erikssen eventually led to an easy tap in by Daymond Langkow. Game, set, match.

"On the game tying goal, I was in the corner with Daymond and one of their forwards came down and I felt like I had a step on him by the time I got to the face-off dot," Iginla said. "Huselius went to the open spot by the net and I hit him for the one timer. It was kind of a broken play; we caught one down low and came up with one. We watched their power play take the lead but we had to make a play to shift the momentum."

Iginla addressed why this season has a chance to be his best statistically.

"A number of things," he said. "I'm getting some breaks and I am older and feel more comfortable on the ice. But the biggest thing is that this is the most talented team I've even played with. Huselius, Langkow, I've played with Tanguay a bit. You've got (Dion) Phaneuf on the point with Aucoin, so there's no doubt it's the most talented group I've been with and that has a lot to do with it."

Talent is one thing, but are the Flames as presently constituted, good enough to reach the Finals and get Jarome his ultimate goal, the Stanley Cup?

"We were one goal away from winning the Cup that year (the seven game defeat at the hands of Tampa Bay in 2003)," he said. "I think we have the ability to be as good as that team, I like our potential, the grit and skill we have and we're just starting to find our game.

"In the beginning of December, we weren't in playoff position but then we went on that road trip and Huselius had a huge trip. Our young guys like Nystrom and Smith started to find their games and we found our identity there. We want to be physical and have energy and be tough to play against. We're finding that we have the right balance between skill and grit to win."

And then we asked the question that brought a laugh to the star's already smiling face.

Would he have enjoyed waking up on New Year's Day and taken the ice outdoors in Buffalo?

"I watched a little bit of it. I enjoyed watched the highlights! It was cool."

We'll take that as a no.

When you watch the strength and speed that Jarome Iginla possesses on the ice, you know you’re witnessing one of the finest players ever to have taken the ice. His legacy in the game is secure even if he never achieves ever NHL player's ultimate goal of winning the Stanley Cup.

But when you're as privileged as me to chat with him about his game and his team, it becomes crystal clear why the Calgary Flames has built their franchise around him. He's exceptional in every way.

FIRE THE COACH!

We're halfway home in the 2006-07 NHL season and surprisingly only two coaches have been fired. The Washington Capitals axed Glen Hanlon and the Atlanta Thrashers whacked smug Bob Hartley.

There's no way that these two cats will be the only ones shown the door by this season's end. Here are my favorites for the next bunch to drop through the trap door.

Marc Crawford, Los Angeles -- What's more boring than watching the LA Kings play most nights? Um, nothing I can think of in this town. Watching this team give effort about 30 minutes on average combined with horrific defensive play says there has to be a change.

The normally placid Kings' fans have finally started to notice too as they've started booing with the announcement of Crawford's name in the pre-game introductions. Certainly much of the blame can be put at the feet of Dean Lombardi, the Teflon GM who pronounced it "takes three years to re-build the franchise to where I want it to be," when he took the helm two years ago. Every move he's made in the free agent and trade market hasn't panned out and he's given Crawford a very soft team along with less than average goaltending. But when you've only won 40 percent of your games in the season and a half he's been manning the bench, one has to wonder if he's the kind of coach who can only win with talented rosters, as he did in Colorado and Vancouver.

John Tortorella, Tampa Bay -- Angry John got his Cup ring a few years back but the Lightning have bottomed out in the East, primarily due to horrific defense and effort has great deal of impact at that end of the ice. With their loss on Saturday night, the Bolts are in the midst of a season high seven game winning streak but it's obvious most of the team has quit on the coach.

As with Los Angeles, their goaltending is among the worst in the league; the trio of Johan Holmqvist, Karri Ramo (THE Karri Ramo?) and Marc Denis isn't making GM Jay Feaster's decision not to re-sign Nikolai Khabibulin like a genius move. While the first line of Vinny Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis and Vinny Prospal haven't thrown in the towel, all you have to do is look at the numbers on their second line center, Brad Richards to see where this team lies. When I covered the Lightning the year before they won it all, I thought Richards was a more complete player than Lecavalier at the time. These days, through 41 games, Richards has 11 goals, 34 points and an incredulous -24 rating, all the proof I need to let Tortorella hit the bricks.

Paul Maurice, Toronto -- As the Leafs drop in the standings, the pressure grows on Maurice in T.O. Yes, December was cruel to the head Buds man, losing D Bryan McCabe and starting goaltender Vesa Toskala to injury. They've hit the bottom of the Northeast by going 2-6-2 in their last 10 and on the cusp of a West Coast road trip. Through 41 games, only the seemingly ageless Mats Sundin is playing up to par and the Leafs poor home record, only 8-8-5 at Air Canada Centre, is making the Bud Lovers kinda grumpy.
 

Dennis Bernstein, the man behind SCORE! Media, is a columnist for TheFourthPeriod.com and the Los Angeles Correspondent for The Fourth Period Magazine.