Franchise great among six in the first group of the Top 25 unveiled
Chalk up another one for the GOAT!
Flames legend and Hall-of-Famer Jarome Iginla has has officially been named to the NHL’s Quarter-Century Team. ‘Iggy’ was announced as part of the first group of 25, featuring skaters that debuted before the year 2000.
Iginla was named alongside Joe Sakic, Joe Thornton, Teemu Selanne, Nicklas Lidstrom and Zdeno Chara.
The Quarter-Century Team was selected via fan vote from Feb. 12 to April 1. The fan vote followed the reveal of all 32 NHL clubs’ first and second teams, which were announced earlier this year. The six players named to each team’s First Team were eligible for selection in the Fan Vote:
The picks are in. What do you think?!
Stats (Beginning Jan. 1, 2000)
Regular season: 556 goals, 592 assists, 1,148 points, 1,285 games
Postseason stats: 36 goals, 30 assists, 66 points, 79 games
Awards: Iginla led the NHL with 52 goals and 96 points in 2001-02, and in addition to winning the Rocket Richard and Art Ross trophies, he was voted the Ted Lindsay Award winner that season by his fellow players. The forward also won the Richard Trophy in 2003-04, when he tied Ilya Kovalchuk and Rick Nash for the League lead with 41 goals and also helped the Calgary Flames reach the Stanley Cup Final. That same season he was honored for his work off the ice by being voted winner of the NHL Foundation Player Award for community service and the King Clancy Trophy for leadership and humanitarian contributions. In 2009, he won the Mark Messier NHL Leadership Award.
IGGY! IGGY! IGGY!
Jarome Iginla has been named to the @NHL's #NHLQCTeam! pic.twitter.com/aqxNeFWuy7
Bio: Iginla was selected by the Dallas Stars in the first round (No. 11) of the 1995 NHL Draft but never played for them; he was traded to the Flames on Dec. 19, 1995. He was in his fourth NHL season with the Flames when the calendar flipped to 2000. That season saw him score at least 20 goals for the second of 13 consecutive seasons, 11 of them with at least 30 goals. He led the Flames to the Cup Final in 2004 with an NHL-best 13 playoff goals, including a short-handed goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 1 that was the game-winner. He was Flames captain for nine seasons, the longest tenure in franchise history. He also played for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Bruins, Colorado Avalanche and Los Angeles Kings before retiring in 2017. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2020, and his No. 12 was retired by the Flames in 2019. Iginla’s 556 goals since Jan. 1, 2000, are fourth among all players, and his 1,148 points are eighth. Iginla also was a stalwart in the Calgary community, with his off-ice accomplishments making him one of the most important people as well as players in Flames history.
Quote: “He’s a caring, smiling, charismatic person. What we saw on the ice is that player, that force, that guy who could score goals. For me, what made Jarome a complete, complete package is what he did off the ice. What he did on the ice, we all saw it. We were all lucky enough to play with him and cherish those memories. But what he did off the ice was exceptional. Jarome had a gift of doing so with a simple autograph or shaking hands or going to a school and spending time with charities, calling someone out of the blue and making their day. That’s what makes him the classiest, I think, person I’ve played with, on and off the ice.” — former teammate Martin Gelinas
