Pittsburgh Penguins acquire Jarome Iginla from Flames

Pittsburgh Penguins’ general manager Ray Shero has struck again and has struck in a big way.

Mar 18, 2013; Dallas, TX, USA; Calgary Flames right wing Jarome Iginla (12) skates in the Dallas Stars zone during the game at the American Airlines Center. The Stars defeated the Flames 4-3. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Shero announced today that the Pens have acquired forward Jarome Iginla from the Calgary Flames in exchange for Ben Hanowski, Kenny Agostino and a 2013 first-round draft pick.

Iginla becomes the third major move that Shero has made this week, after previously acquiring Brenden Morrow from the Dallas Stars and Douglas Murray from the San Jose Sharks.

Prior to the deal, the longtime Calgary captain had spent his entire 16-year career with the Flames.

Shero was in search of a top flight winger and he found him in Iginla, who is the fifth-leading scorer among all active NHL players with 1,095 points in 1,219 career NHL games. Iginla’s 525 career goals rank him third among active players behind only Jaromir Jagr (679) and Teemu Selanne (671).

This season, Iginla has scored nine goals to go along with 12 assists in 31 games played.

He is an unrestricted free agent following the season, but Iginla is the top six forward the Pens have been looking for. More importantly though, Shero adds another veteran presence to the locker room as without a doubt, the Penguins are “all-in” in terms of winning another Stanley Cup.

Iginla had to waive his no-trade clause to go anywhere and Pittsburgh is the place where he wanted to be, as it has been reported by several sources that Iginla declined a trade to the Boston Bruins. TSN’s Bob McKenzie also has noted that Boston was Calgary’s preferred destination for Iginla, but they couldn’t get the deal done without his approval.

Bottom line, as was the case with Brenden Morrow, Jarome Iginla is a Pittsburgh Penguin today because PIT is where he wanted to go.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) March 28, 2013

Doesn't matter now, but CGY preferred deal was with BOS. The 2 teams agreed on components but w/o critical 3rd element - player approval.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) March 28, 2013

Once the deal between Boston and Calgary fell apart, Shero stepped in and added the biggest prize on the market.

Playing with either Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin, you would think Iginla’s numbers will go up, as he is guy that has some big goals in him the rest of the season.