Jarome Iginla has made it no secret he'd like to play one more year and, on July 9th, he is still looking for work.
With the Calgary Flames gearing up to contend as soon as this season, and there being room for an established depth scorer in the bottom-6, some have suggested the Flames bring back Iginla to finish his career where it started.
I don't think that's a good idea.
As as much as I'd like to see him get one last chance -- I appreciate how hard he plays, even at his age -- I don't think Calgary should be the team that gives it to him.
His goal, assist, point and shot totals have dropped in three consecutive seasons and, at 40, I don't see him bucking that trend.
His rate stats have also fallen off a cliff and they reached a new low last season. Iginla averaged less than one point per hour of 5v5 ice, which ranked him below the likes of Torrey Mitchell, Tom Pyatt, Austin Watson and Dominic Moore, among many, many others. That's not where you want to be when you're regarded as an offensive player.
His underlying numbers weren't good, either, as his teams controlled just 48.9% of the shot attempts and 38% of the goals with him on the ice and fared better in each category without him.
I think he still may be able to contribute a little bit on the power play but even those numbers have tailed off in recent years.
Iginla would be a great guy to have in the locker room, he's still willing to stand up for teammates, and I'm sure he'd still be able to pot 10-15 goals.
In saying that, he's a shell of the player he was even a few years ago and he's trending downwards in a hurry.
Bringing Iginla back to Calgary would be a great story but, at this point, that's probably all it'd be.
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