ho is the NHL’s player
of the decade? If you
ask Sports Illustrated,

it’s New Jersey Devils superstar
goalie Martin Brodeur. According

to The Hockey News, it’s Detroit
Red Wings ace Nicklas Lidstrom.
Both are unquestionably solid picks
that not many can argue against, but
there is someone else I’d choose,
and for whatever reason, he seems to
have flown under the radar on most
people’s lists.

I’m talking about one of the best
power forwards in hockey history,
the captain of the Calgary Flames,
Jarome Iginla. While it’s true that
Iginla has never won a Stanley Cup,
unlike both Lidstrom and Brodeur,
his other accomplishments rival any
other player in the NHL.

Both Lidstrom and Brodeur
have played their entire careers in
highly successful, often star studded
systems. Iginla hasn’t always had
that luxury. Now, that isn’t a knock
on the other two by any means. After
all, they were (and continue to be)
huge parts of their respective team’s
success. When it comes to Iginla
though, he was far and away the most
integral part of the transformation
of the Flames. Under his leadership
and elite level of play, Calgary went
from a perpetual dweller at the
bottom of the league’s standings and
a prime candidate for relocation to
the American Sunbelt to a perennial
Northwest Division title contender
and one of the hockey’s best success
stories.

Obviously, Iginla didn’t do it
all himself, GM Daryl Sutter made
a number of shrewd drafting and
personnel moves that continue to pay

dividends for the Flames (acquiring
goaltender Mikka Kiprusoff and
selecting star defenseman Dion
Phaneuf back in 2003), but when it
comes to Calgary, Iginla has always
been the straw that stirs the drink.
That was all capped by a dramatic
run to the seventh game of the 2004
Stanley Cup finals and now every
year when the playoffs roll around
Calgary is considered a dangerous
club. Back in that iconic run, Iginla
carved himself out as a legend in
Cowtown when he threw down in
one of the most memorable fights of
the decade with Tampa Bay’s captain
Vincent Lecavalier.

Beyond being the driving force
behind his team, Iginla has proven
time and time again that he truly is
one of the game’s best. Since his
big debut with Team Canada back
at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games,
where he starred unexpectedly and
led Canada to their first gold medal
in 50 years, Iginla has taken his place
amongst the very best in the game.
Since the decade’s first season, Iginla
has never failed to reach 30 goals,
and has twice topped 50. Back in
2002, he led the loop in scoring with
96 points and was named the game’s
most outstanding player by the other
players, capturing the Lester. B.
Pearson award.

During hockey’s dark days of
the 2004-05 lockout, Iginla didn’t
play, like some who went to Europe
or the minors, but there was no doubt
that he still had a profound impact
on the game. Iginla was, and still is,
a major player for the NHLPA, and
he was key for Brendan Shanahan’s
competition committee in instituting
a number of changes to the way

—tr

the NHL is played that have vastly
improved the quality of play.

Iginla has played for Team
Canada at every Olympics this decade
and will once again be a force at
the 2010 Games here in Vancouver.
He’s been a first team all-star three
times, including the last two, and
a second team all-star once. When
it comes to the way he plays, he
probably isn’t the best in the world
in any one area. There are better
scorers, like Alexander Ovechkin or
Ilya Kovulchuk, and there are faster
players, like Marian Gaborik, but
there aren’t many better who can be
considered the complete package.
Plain and simple, Iginla does it all.
He’s a pure goal scorer, he can pass,
he can shoot, he can drive to the net
with the best of them, he can fight and
he’s unquestionably one of the best
leaders of his generation.

Off the ice, Iginla is just
about unmatched. While he won
the 2009 Mark Messier leadership
award and has often been cited
for his outstanding charitable and
community work, I’ve witnessed
something truly incredible about
Iginla that really shows the type of
man he is.

In 2004, during the first round of
those playoffs, Iginla led the Flames
past the Vancouver Canucks in a
thrilling seven game series that went
into overtime. Vancouver sent the
game to extra time with less than a
minute left on the clock before Martin
Gelinas ended the game abruptly
just two minutes into OT. Iginla was
left on the ice to do interviews after
the game ended. After his media
obligations ended and the fans in
GM Place had almost all filtered

 

out, Iginla took a brief moment for
himself on the bench and looked
around.

Sitting in the first row, directly
behind the Flames bench was a young
Canucks fan, no older than nine or
ten. He was decked out in Vancouver
gear, the foam finger, the puck head,
the jersey, the face paint, and he
was sobbing uncontrollably with the
Canucks out. Iginla spotted him and
motioned him over to the side of the
bench. After chatting with the young
boy for a few moments, he tapped
him on the head and handed him his
stick.

Now, think about that for a
minute. In the world of professional
sports today, where the superstar
athletes are increasingly separated
from the fans they entertain, this was
a pretty cool thing to do, and it just
shows what a class act Iginla truly is.
He took the time to do this for a little
kid, a fan of his team’s arch rival, in
the opposition rink at the end of a
hard fought, wild, seven-game series
with his surely ecstatic teammates
waiting for him in the dressing room
to celebrate. He didn’t have to do that
at all, but he did, just because he’s a
good guy. That, in a nutshell, is what
makes Jarome Iginla the best player
in the NHL of this past decade..