Future first-ballot Hall of Famer Jarome Iginla will announce his retirement July 30 at the Saddledome, the Calgary Flames said on Wednesday.
“In a sense, I grew up there,” Iginla said, according to the Flames. “I started playing for the Flames at 19 but even in minor hockey I remember traveling to Calgary for tournaments, from St. Albert, and I imagined playing in the Saddledome.
“It’s been a fun adventure, for my family and I. Some great cities, great people. To be back in Alberta, though, will feel like home.”
Iginla will finish his 20-year career with 625 goals, good for 15th all time, and 675 assists.
He last played for the Kings in April 2017, and since then has undergone a hip resurfacing procedure. He had been considering trying to continue his career.
Iginla will now head back to Boston where he lives with his wife and hockey playing kids. Iginla had 30 goals in his one season with the Bruin in 2013-14 at the age of 36.
Like Jaromir Jagr, Iginla played at a high level long after others hung up the skates. As recently as 2015-16 with the Avalanche, at age 38, he scored 22 goals and played 82 games.
Iginla was a six-time All-Star and won the Maurice Richard Trophy as the league’s top goal scorer twice. But he never won a Stanley Cup, coming closest in 2004 when the Flames lost to the Lightning in seven games.
“For sure, it took me a while to just let it go, losing,” he said, according to the Flames. “From seven years of missing the playoffs to almost winning it. And it does still sting a little bit. I’ve always dreamt of being on a Stanley Cup-winning team. That always stayed with me. I know now that dream isn’t coming true.
“But if you said when I started that I was going to play 20 years, experience what I have, I’d have taken it in a heartbeat. I did the best I could, played as hard as I could. And all my dreams came true, more than I ever could’ve imagined, except that one dream.
“It just wasn’t in the cards for me.”