The 2016-17 season won’t go down as the best in Jarome Iginla’s hockey career, but the Avalanche forward is still hoping to be a valuable contributor on a winning team.
Colorado is one of the few teams that can safely say they won’t be participating in the postseason. So if Iginla wants to help a team take a run at the Stanley Cup, Avs GM Joe Sakic will have to move him before the trade deadline. The veteran is more than willing to be dealt out of Denver if it means he can get another crack at winning it all.
“I would like to, at the deadline, go somewhere,” Iginla told Yahoo’s Puck Daddy blog. “I would like to be in the playoffs. I would hope that there is some opportunity to go and play in the playoffs. Those are the best games, the most fun for sure, and you have a chance to win. So no, I haven’t given up on that chance to win.”
The 39-year-old has put up just six goals and six assists in 48 games this season. That’s not completely surprising when you consider his age, and the fact that the players surrounding him aren’t producing very much either. No team has put up less goals than Colorado’s 94 at this point of the season.
Iginla’s never won the Stanley Cup, but he’s been a productive playoff performer throughout his career. In 81 playoff games, he’s put up 37 goals and 31 assists, which is pretty impressive.
He hasn’t played in a playoff game since he was a member of the Bruins in 2014, and with his contract and career winding down, he knows he won’t have many more opportunities to win the Stanley Cup.
“I have enjoyed it (in Colorado) and there are lots of great young guys here, and I think it’s going to be a promising future,” added Iginla. “But yeah, my window’s not the same as the other guys for sure.”