Jarome Iginla returns to Saddledome to announce retirement from NHL

Former Flames captain retires from NHL Jarome Iginla will officially announce his retirement from the NHL at the Saddledome on Monday, Mark Villani has more.

Former Flames Captain Jarome Iginla will announce his retirement at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Monday after playing 20 seasons in the NHL.

The Flames released details of the press conference on its website on Wednesday morning.

Iginla is from St. Albert and was drafted into the league in 1995 by the Dallas Stars.

He was acquired by Calgary the same year in a trade and signed his first pro hockey contract with the team in 1996.

The Flames captain led the team to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final in 2004 and he was chosen six times for the All-Star team.

Iginla played 16 seasons for the Flames and potted 525 goals, 570 assists and 1095 points during that time.

He was traded to Pittsburgh in 2013 and also played for Boston, Colorado and Los Angeles before playing his last season in 2017.

Iginla also represented Canada three times at the Olympic level, winning two gold medals.

When Iginla lived in Calgary he spent many hours helping out in the community and Kevin Webster, Executive Director of KidSport Calgary,  says Iginla helped raise awareness about their program and contributed his time and money to the initiative.

“He was known to score a couple goals and he decided to donate $2000 per goal, which was unbelievable in terms of an athlete wanting to do that to give back. Over his time, over $500,000 contributed to KidSport here in Calgary and in other KidSport programs across the country to help kids get the opportunity to get on the ice and chase their dreams and be a future Jarome Iginla,” he said.

The Flames will hold a press conference on Monday at the Saddledome at 10:30 a.m. to officially announce Iginla’s retirement.