Well, that didn’t take long.
After Jaroma Iginla announced his retirement in the offseason — he didn’t play in the 2017-18 season, but had still hoped to return to the NHL after hip surgery — the Calgary Flames announced on Thursday that their longtime captain would have his number 12 jersey retired on March 2nd, before a game against the Minnesota Wild.
A number of Flames spoke to reporters about Iginla’s jersey retirement, although of course, there aren’t many holdovers from Iginla’s tenure with Calgary. Mark Giordano and Mikael Backlund have played with the Flames since 2005 and 2008 respectively, and both testified to Iginla’s leadership as well as the quick decision to retire his jersey.
In 16 years with the Flames, Iginla became the team’s leading goal-scorer with 525 goals, and captained Calgary to the Stanley Cup in 2004. He also had stints with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Boston Bruins, Colorado Avalanche and Los Angeles Kings.
Upon his decision to retire, many members of the NHL reached out with messages for Iginla, who was not only accomplished in the sport but also seemed to be universally liked around the league. He even tossed a few friendly chirps at former teammate Craig Conroy during his retirement speech.
