Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

Where does Iginla go from here?

06/09/2013 at 4:44pm EDT

The Calgary Sun's Eric Francis discusses the curious case of Jarome Iginla in a Sunday column pondering the former Flames captain's post-Pittsburgh options. Francis believes that Iginla can in fact continue his quest to capture a Stanley Cup if the soon-to-be-36-year-old takes way, way less than the $7 million he theoretically earned this past season (he received 48 games thereof), despite the fact that Iginla is still the equivalent of a 60-point-scorer...

In no small part because the vast majority of the teams in position to compete for the Stanley Cup find themselves facing a salary cap crunch (with re-signing players likely to gobble up their cap room) as the "upper limit" drops from $70.2 million to $64.3 million.

As such, Francis believes that Iginla will have to at least halve his salary demands to latch on with Los Angeles, Chicago, Anaheim, St. Louis, Vancouver or even Detroit:

Los Angeles Kings GM Dean Lombardi has long coveted Iginla, but while Darryl Sutter has a long history with his former captain in Calgary, the head coach also knows Iginla doesn’t play the style of game in demand at this time of year.

...

The Kings are yet another team that will struggle to stay under the reduced cap of $64.3 million, as 10 players need new deals. Unless, of course, Iginla is willing … well … you get the idea.

As far as other contenders Iginla may be interested in joining, Detroit Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock saw first-hand what Iginla is capable of at the Olympic level and may ask Iginla to bring his discounted services to Motown.

The Anaheim Ducks might be a nice fit, especially if second-line right-winger Teemu Selanne chooses to retire, as the Ducks have more cap room than most.

All the cornerstones of the cap-strapped San Jose Sharks are one year from free agency, which might work if Iginla agreed to a cheap one-year deal.

One of the most intriguing possibilities is with the St. Louis Blues, with whom there’s cap space and a relative void on the right side. But how he’d fare in Ken Hitchcock’s defence-first system is questionable.

Would he even consider going to play for the Vancouver Canucks?

Continued

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Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

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