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Hall well-deserved honor for Iggy

June 24, 2020, 7:25 PM ET [2 Comments]
Rick Sadowski
Colorado Avalanche Blogger •Avalanche Insider • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Congratulations to Jarome Iginla, who on Wednesday was named to the Hockey Hall of Fame, along with former NHL players Marian Hossa, Kevin Lowe and Doug Wilson.

Kim St-Pierre of Canada’s women's national team and Ken Holland, in the builder’s category, also were named.

The induction ceremony is scheduled for Nov. 16 in Toronto.

Iginla played 15-plus of his 20 NHL seasons with Calgary, and three seasons with the Avalanche after short stints in Pittsburgh and Boston before ending his career in 2017 with Los Angeles.

"It's extremely special," Iginla told NHL.com. “I had a hard time sleeping the past few nights. Starting my career, I didn't dream of making it to the Hall of Fame. It's a true honor; I've been extremely blessed. It's still sinking in."

"It's extremely special," Iginla told NHL.com. “I had a hard time sleeping the past few nights. Starting my career, I didn't dream of making it to the Hall of Fame. It's a true honor; I've been extremely blessed. It's still sinking in."

“Iggy”, who signed with the Avalanche as a free agent on July 1, 2014, was obviously a great player but also a really good guy. He always seemed to be smiling (off the ice, anyway) and was wonderful to deal with when seeking him out for a story or just to chat.

The rugged right wing was on the down side of his career when he joined Colorado, which never made the playoffs during his time here, but he scored 29 goals in 82 games his first season after signing a three-year, $16 million contract, ending his streak of 12 consecutive 30-plus goal seasons.

Iginla had 59 goals and 124 points in 225 games with the Avalanche, who traded him to the Kings for a conditional fourth-round draft pick late in the 2016-17 season to give him a chance to compete for the Stanley Cup. Unfortunately, the Kings also missed the playoffs.

He will be the 10th player who wore an Avalanche uniform to enter the Hall of Fame, joining Sakic, Dave Andreychuk, Rob Blake, Ray Bourque, Peter Forsberg, Paul Kariya, Jari Kurri, Patrick Roy and Teemu Selanne.

Iginla finished with 625 goals (tied for 16th with Sakic) and 1,300 points in 1,554 games (14th all time). He won the Art Ross Trophy as the leading scorer and Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy as the top goal-scorer with the Flames 2001-02 when he had 52 goals and 96 points, and won the Rocket Richard Trophy again in 2003-04 with 41 goals, tying Rick Nash and Ilya Kovalchuk.

Iginla had plenty of success on the international scene, winning Olympic gold medals with Canada in 2002 and 2010. He also won gold in the World Cup of Hockey in 2004, the IIHF World Championship in 1997, and the IIHF World Junior Championship in 1996.




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