Was Jarome Iginla ever the best player in the league?

[rambo97]

Yes he was. He played out west so a lot of the people in the east were asleep when his games started but Iggy was unreal (and I'm an Oiler fan).

He didn't have great talent around him. It was basically him, Kipper and Regehr and those 3 carried some very mediocre clubs. He regularly outproduced his teammates by a huge margin (think Taylor Hall last year).

The guy could do it all. He faced every teams best defensive players and everyone knew you had to shutdown Iggy but he came through over and over.

His play during the Flames Cup run in 2004 was something else to watch.

Very underated player.

 

[5 Minute Major]

Nope. Very good player but he never held that title...IMO.

 

[Foppberg]

Yes.

 

[MadLuke]

Never clearly the best imo because some of biggest competition of the time was either rarely playing and Lidstrom/Brodeur playing different position.

 

[Halakitlikethat]

Even around 07-08 he might have been the best all around forward in the league

 

[Fishboy*]

To add to the conversation.... First Ballot HHoF?

I say yes. I think most people do, but I've seen others say no.

 

[Rangediddy]

It was a brief window, but he was definitely the best player on the planet.

He could have reached 700 goals if it wasn't for 2 lockouts. You don't score 700 goals in the DEAD PUCK era without being the best player on the planet at some point of your career.

That's my argument anyways.

 

[ImNeverWrong]

Need to get this off my chest. But Jose Theodore absolutely deserved that hart in 02. Quit saying Iggy got robbed. Habs were a horrendous team and jose carried that garbage team into the playoffs. Habs top scorer that year had 56 fn pts!!!! Not only did the flames not just miss the playoffs in 01-02' but iggy only had 6 more pts than the next player. McDavid didnt even get nominated last year...and he had 6 more pts than Giroux. So would you please stop it with this revisionist history of iggy deserving something he never did...he got the pearson/lindsay anyways. Am I hot?!

 

[BlueBaron]

I'd say he was the top power forward for a good span so it depends on what you value.

 

[ITM]

Is there a difference between "best" and most complete?

I think for a short time Iginla owned the title of the most complete forward by every hockey metric including the gradually fading need to fight. But Datsyuk hadn't yet arrived on the scene in the early 200os. So I think we could insert Iginla's 01-02 season as a season that certainly gives legitimacy to the claim for a short period that included international success.

Ignila's 07-08 season was second to Datsyuk's and I think before that season Datsyuk emerged as the best, most complete player in the league and was the best player (with Crosby in the conversation) after the 07-08 season.

But that period between 01-02 and 07-08, Iginla was always in the conversation at the very least and no other forward was as complete. This to say, skill, toughness, leadership and production...Mhm. Jerome Iginla was a hell of a hockey player.

 

[1specter]

I'm a Leaf fan and I miss Iggy. One of the most fun players to watch growing up and an all around good guy.

 

[KIRK]

Not even close.

 

[Felidae]

Not even close.

I agree, that's why in 2001-02 he won the pearson and had 3 less first place votes than the Hart winner.

 

[Avsboy]

In 2002 he definitely was. This was post-Jagr, post-Pronger peak, pre-Thornton peak, and pre-Crosby/Ovi. Forsberg was injured. Absolutely he was, at least the best forward for sure but probably best in the NHL that year.

 

[Big Phil]

I loved Jarome, who didn't? He had a nice year in 2002 with that Art Ross year and he twice led the NHL in goals. However..............even in 2002 he came out early in the season guns a-blazing but by December had cooled off, as did the Flames. They were well out of a playoff spot when he turned it on again for the last 25 games of the year to get the Art Ross. So from a points standpoint, he had the most.

But even then, 2002 was a weak year for forwards. Mario missed most of the year. Forsberg the entire year. Sakic had a down year. Jagr had a down year. I honestly think people still would have picked 5-6 players over Iginla even at that time, including someone like Lidstrom.

 

[Flamer12]

I say yes. He had absolutely no supporting cast other than Kipper and he carried his team of grinders to to game 7 of the Stanley Cup final. (a Final in which they really won in game 6). He was the best for a couple of years.

 

[MXD]

Need to get this off my chest. But Jose Theodore absolutely deserved that hart in 02. Quit said Iggy got robbed. Habs were a horrendous team and jose carried that garbage team into the playoffs. Habs top scorer that year had 56 fn pts!!!! Not only did the flames not just miss the playoffs in 01' but iggy only had 6 more pts than the next player. McDavid didnt even get nominated last year...and he had 6 more pts than Giroux. So would you please stop it with this revisionist history of iggy deserving something he never did...he got the pearson/lindsay anyways. Am I hot?!

There are more voters that kept Theodore off their ballot than Iginla, so I don't really know why the focus is on the lone voter who kept Iginla off his ballot instead of on the four voters who kept Theodore off theirs.

 

[ImNeverWrong]

There are more voters that kept Theodore off their ballot than Iginla, so I don't really know why the focus is on the lone voter who kept Iginla off his ballot instead of on the four voters who kept Theodore off theirs.

i did not know this, wow. I only kept hearing the propaganda of the one "french guy" that kept iggy off his list.

 

[EpochLink]

I loved Jarome, who didn't? He had a nice year in 2002 with that Art Ross year and he twice led the NHL in goals. However..............even in 2002 he came out early in the season guns a-blazing but by December had cooled off, as did the Flames. They were well out of a playoff spot when he turned it on again for the last 25 games of the year to get the Art Ross. So from a points standpoint, he had the most.

But even then, 2002 was a weak year for forwards. Mario missed most of the year. Forsberg the entire year. Sakic had a down year. Jagr had a down year. I honestly think people still would have picked 5-6 players over Iginla even at that time, including someone like Lidstrom.

Yeah I remember the Flames started off to an amazing start then went into the abyss soon there after. The Flames were so far out of the playoffs by the time Iginla started to get red hot, he was just a one man band that year.

IF and I mean IF the Flames were gunning for the last couple playoff spots by the time March/April rolled around and they made lets say the 6-8th seed, then Iginla's would've won the Hart.

Theodore deserved it that year, it is what it is.

 

[Sadekuuro]

Yeah I remember the Flames started off to an amazing start then went into the abyss soon there after.

If memory serves, that was the year Roman Turek had the best month of his life to start the season, banked a nice four year deal, and promptly crashed and burned.

 

[Chet Manley]

His peers decided he was the best player in the league for 1 year. That's good enough for me. Players' opinion over "journalists" for sure.

 

[the4thlinegrinder]

As if his 2001-02 season wasn’t good enough already, Iginla also had 2 goals and an assist in the 2002 Olympic gold medal game. What a year.

 

[GMR]

I always wondered how many more goals he'd score in his career, had he played with a real center in his prime years. Those Calgary teams surrounded him with plugs and grinders.

 

[GMR]

As if his 2001-02 season wasn’t good enough already, Iginla also had 2 goals and an assist in the 2002 Olympic gold medal game. What a year.

At that time, most people would say Forsberg, Jagr, or Lemieux were the best player in the league. The MVP is the player with the best season. Iginla was never the best player in the league.

 

[sr edler]

There was a suspect but thankfully relatively short window there at the tail end of the DPE when Iggy, Nazzy and Tuzzi were the big shots in the scoring race. Much of it had to do with the old high flying guard being either injured/burned out (Forsberg, Bure, Lindros) or supressed by their new teams (Jagr/WSH, Selänne/SJS) on the one hand, and the real crown princes being a few years away (Ovechkin, Crosby, Malkin) on the other.