Jarome Iginla Traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins

After years of wondering whether or not Calgary Flames' forward Jarome Iginla would be traded, the Flames finally decided to part ways with arguably the best player in the franchise's history early this morning. 

The Flames and the Pittsburgh Penguins, who currently lead the Eastern Conference in points (52) and have won 13 games in a row, agreed to terms on a trade where the Penguins would acquire the star winger, reported first by TSN's Bob McKenzie. The terms were that Iginla would be sent to Pittsburgh for two collegiate prospects, Kenneth Agostino from Yale University and Ben Hanowski of St. Cloud State; also going to Calgary would be Pittsburgh's first round draft pick. This was also reported by TSN's Bob McKenzie. 

There is no denying the impact that Jarome Iginla has given the Calgary Flames throughout his lengthy career. With nearly 18 years of service in the Flames' organization, he is undoubtedly the face of the franchise and no Flames player has arguably been as great as he has been. Iginla is the franchise leader in games played (1,219), goals (525) and points (1,095) and, also, is second all time in assists (570) to Al McInnis (609). While Iginla has struggled this season (9-13-22; -6) he has been one of the most consistently good players in the league, having scored 30 goals or more in 11 consecutive seasons (2000-01 to 2011-12). That also includes two 50-goal seasons.

Iginla might be 35 years old and might be a rental for the Pittsburgh Penguins, but he brings a lot to the table. If he is propped up to the top line with Sidney Crosby, then he will be playing with the best center that he has ever played with. Should the Penguins not prop Iginla up to the top line, as suggested by Rob Rossi of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Iginla would go onto the third line and play alongside young center Brandon Sutter and the ever-polarizing Matt Cooke. It goes without saying that if that's the case, having Jarome Iginla on the third line is just unfair. 

I like this deal a lot for Pittsburgh as they are going all in with the acquisitions of forward Brendan Morrow and defenseman Douglas Murray and are in it to win it all. For Calgary, I think that this is a poor return for the best player on the team for nearly two decades, and I think that GM Jay Feaster did an unsatisfactory job of getting a good return, even with Iginla being a rental with an expiring contract at the end of this season. 

Time will tell how this shakes out for the Penguins and Flames, but at this point in time, it looks like Pittsburgh got a whole heck of a lot better. As if that were possible.