The Pittsburgh Penguins have added another piece to their Stanley Cup puzzle on Thursday, by adding Calgary Flames 525-goal-scorer Jarome Iginla.
Iginla, who has been chasing the Stanley Cup upon entering the league in 1996, has only appeared in the finals once, 2004, is hoping that by waiving his no-trade clause to join the Penguins, the dream will become a reality.
As for the Penguins, it is clear that they have decided to go all in. Besides the Iginla trade, Pittsburgh have added former Dallas Stars' captain Brenden Morrow and San Jose Sharks depth defenseman Douglas Murray
"I don't even know why we'd bother playing the playoffs," joked Senators coach Paul MacLean when asked Thursday about the Iginla trade, according to New York Daily News.
The shocking part of this deal isn't that the 35-year-old winger was traded, but that it was the Penguins that won his services.
TSN (The Sports Network of Canada) reported earlier Wednesday night that Calgary and the Boston Bruins had agreed to a deal.
Flames general manager Jay Feaster said "Iginla submitted a list of teams he would waive his no-movement clause to join -- the Bruins, Penguins and Los Angeles Kings, according to an ESPN.com source.
"We began negotiations with teams and in the final analysis, we had offers from three different clubs," Feaster said in a news conference in the wee hours of Thursday. "In having those offers, again the player in this trade has a no-trade [clause], a no-move, so the player is part of that process. And so we worked with the player and concluded a deal this evening with the Pittsburgh Penguins," according to ESPN.
For a player who gave his heart and soul to not just a team, but a community, the opportunity to go after the Cup was something that Feaster believed his former captained, not only earned, but deserved.
"We as an organization owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Jarome," Feaster said, "not only for what he did for the franchise during his tenure as a player here and as our captain, but also for the fact that now as we recognize that despite our best efforts, and despite the work we've put in, we've fallen short of the goals we set for ourselves as an organization," reported TSN.
In 1,219 career regular-season games in 16 seasons, all with Calgary, he has 525 goals and 570 assists. He has 28 goals and 21 assists in 54 career playoff games, and has played for Canada in three Olympics. Iginla assisted on Crosby's gold-medal-winning goal for Team Canada in the 2010 Vancouver Games, states researched via by NHL.com.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
