Following a sure-fire, first-ballot-Hall-of-Fame career, the Flames' longtime captain and leader in so many statistical categories will officially announce his retirement July 30.
He'll do it at the Scotiabank Saddledome, fittingly, where he carved his niche, made his name, burnished his legend.
Iginla hasn't played a competitive game since April 3, 2017 for the L.A Kings. The past fifteen months have been spent trying to get healthy (he recently underwent a hip resurfacing procedure) to perhaps see if he could continue playing.
The family's set up shop these days in Boston, wife Kara, the boys and daughter Jade, now a hockey-playing high schooler. The number of local tournaments for the three kids, cutting down drastically on time apart, made the Massachusetts option inviting and, having lived a year there, the transition proved easy.
"Good schools, good sports and no travel,'' reports the patriarch. "I guess I kinda got burned out from travelling."
Coming back to Alberta for this commemorate sign-off, though, is one trip he's relishing.
"In a sense, I grew up there,'' says Iginla. "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."
Where it all began, back in '96.
"You know, there were some disappointments, losing in 2004, for example,'' he says. "Being so close, that was tough. But it was amazing, too. The way the city embraced us. The Red Mile. And each series was so close. Beating Vancouver and then Kipper standing on his head against Detroit.
"I don't know if I ever told you this story but I remember sitting on the bench near the end of Game One against Detroit, we're getting beat 5-1, you look at the strength of their team, (Brett) Hull and all those guys, and a part of me goes: 'Well, at least we made it here …'
"And somehow we pulled that series off. Then reached the final.
"For sure, it took me a while to just let it go, losing. 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."
