Saving Face: Calgary Flames

We all have players on our favourite team that we value, ones that we wouldn't give up for anything. But they didn't all start out that way, in fact many "Franchise" players weren't even drafted by the team that now finds them so valuable. Some are on their second team, some are on their fourth, but all of them have become extremely valuable hockey players. This series is intended to allow us to look closely at these so called "Faces of the Franchise" because sometimes stars are easy to see, sometimes it takes years to find diamonds in the rough, and sometimes you don't know what you got till it's gone.

Jarome Arthur-Leigh Adekunle Tig Junior Elvis Iginla - Calgary Flames

Jarome, you got a little something....uh under your eye.....Look, you're bleeding profusely Jarome

Iginla was drafted 11th overall in the 1995 Entry Draft by the Calgary Fla.. what? The Dallas Stars drafted him? Oh next you're gonna tell me they didn't draft Mike Modano either....oh 

Alright let's start again. The DALLAS Stars drafted him, in what appears to be a High School Gymnasium, waited six months and then traded him to the CALGARY Flames for future GM Joe Nieuwendyk. Later that same season, his junior career over, he joined the big club in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Jarome, look out behind you. It's Dr. Walter Bishop! He might steal you and take you away to a parallel universe!

1995-96: Jarome plays two playoff games, assisting in his first career game and then scoring in the next. Meanwhile, Joe Nieuwendyk and the DALLAS Stars fail to make the playoffs.

1996-97: Young Iginla plays his first full season in the NHL, accumulating 50 points. However, he loses the Calder for Top Rookie to Bryan Berard (Scary Stuff)

1997-98: Jarome slumps, posting only 32 points. He does however, fight Rick Tocchet, I assume the fight is over whose jersey sucks more. 

1998-99: Establishing what has become a theme through his career, Jarome bounces back, scoring 28 goals to lead all Flames. Meanwhile, Joe Nieuwendyk and the Dallas Stars win the Stanley Cup by cheating. 

1999-2000: Iginla pulls a "Doughty" and refuses to sign a contract. He misses three games but he makes up for it, scoring 29 goals and totally 63 points. You know who else made it big in 2000? Four words: Bud Light Bubble Hockey.

What is his stick made out of? Cooked Pasta?

2000-01: Iginla works well with Marc Savard, and attains new highs in Goals (31) and Points (71). You know what doesn't work well with Marc Savard? Matt Cooke. Also, whatever he ate for dinner.

2001-02: All Hail King Iggy! Jarome breaks the 50 goal mark, reaches 96 points and wins the Rocket Richard, Art Ross and Lester B. Pearson Awards. He loses the Hart to Jose Theodore, and his amazing hair.

Meh, I prefer XBOX

2002-03: Jarome regresses, finishing the season with only 67 points. His poor play could be attributed to dislocating his finger in this fight (man, Marc Savard gets destroyed like every game he plays)

Did you know his last name means "Big Tree" in Yoruba?

2003-04: Jarome Iginla becomes the first black captain in NHL history, well kind of. And he takes the Flames to the Stanley Cup Finals, doing a little of this and a little of this. Unfortunately, the Flames lose and we no longer get to witness the "Red Mile"

2004-05: Jarome doesn't play overseas during the lockout, instead focusing on becoming a better player, oh and working on his acting skills.

HA! Blocked!

2005-06: Iginla struggles again, following the trend of his on again off again career, honestly he's like Ross and Rachel's relationship, amirite? He does however do this, which is pretty cool. MARKUS NASLUND RESPONDS.

2006-07: Well look at that, Iginla has a bounce back season. Despite missing 12 games he records an impressive 94 points. You know who else had 94 points? This guy.

2007-08: Ig-Latin has a BIG year. He passes Theoren Fleury(364) on the Career Goals by a Flame list as well as breaking the franchise record for Games Played. He also signs a new contract that pays him Seven, Seven? Yeah Seven million dollars a season. P.S. Did Miley Cyrus really screw up the count-in to that song? WOW

To the left, to the left, everyone on the Flames sits to Iginla's left

2008-09: Jarome reaches 800 points, then scores his 400th goal and on December 31st 2008 records a five point game. Pretty selfish Jarome.

2009-10: Jarome becomes "Sutterized" which sounds REALLY painful. The Flames fail to make the Playoffs for the first time in 7 years, ie. the year Jarome was made Captain, because they make Jarome play with this guy.

2010-11: Despite playing well, with 43 goals and 86 points, speculation begins to swirl around Jarome, some say trade him and some say don't. And everyone laughs as the Flames fall short of the playoffs again, despite getting points in 46 of their final 57 games.

What was that? Trade Rumours? Lalalalalalalala can't hear you lalalalala

Jarome Iginla has become the Face of the Franchise for the Calgary Flames, so naturally, they're trying to trade him away. And although he got his start in Dallas, who is doing just fantastic right now, unlike them, he has no Stanley Cup Ring. He is an exemplary athlete, a consummate professional and very active with charities. He has represented Canada at three Olympics, winning Gold twice. So let's all hope the Flames trade him to a team that actually has more than snowballs chance in hell of winning the Stanley Cup this year. What was that? "But they have Mikka Kiprusoff!" you say? I got your Mikka Kiprusoff right here.

Join us tomorrow when we discuss the Carolina Hurricanes and their Face of the Franchise, the big-bodied, smooth-skating master of Fratricide, Eric Staal.