Jarome Iginla is officially off the market. Hockey fans on the East Coast were up later than usual last night, waiting for the announcement that Iginla had been traded to the Boston Bruins. The rumors began swirling when Iginla was scratched from the Flames lineup on Wednesday night, implying that a deal was imminent. TSN’s Aaron Ward tweeted that the deal was done with Boston, and so an official announcement was expected shortly thereafter.
When the Calgary vs. Colorado game ended Wednesday night, the Flames officially announced the trade…but the world was shocked to learn that Iginla wasn’t headed to Boston. Rather, he’d be a Pittsburgh Penguin, joining the likes of Evgeni Malkin, and his 2010 Canadian Olympic teammate, Sidney Crosby. It was kind of assumed that Pittsburgh was less of a contender in the Iginla race, as they just added Brendan Morrow and Douglas Murray to their roster a few days ago, but you really never can lose faith in Ray Shero. While Morrow and Murray bring depth and physical presence to the Penguins lineup, Iginla completes the top-six puzzle, and will likely be the right winger to Evgeni Malkin and James Neal.
Iginla spent nearly two decades with the Calgary Flames, never winning a Stanley Cup. At 35 years old, he’s ready to get his name etched into the most iconic trophy in all of sports, and let’s face it, that’s not going to happen in Calgary. In exchange for Iginla, the Flames received prospects Kenneth Agostino, Ben Hanowski and a 2013 first-round pick.
Here are some tweets in reaction to the surprising turn of events:
Roberto Luongo:
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