Jarome Iginla's Flame Still Burns in Calgary

It took Jarome Iginla 847 career NHL games, but he did it.

He scored his 356th career NHL goal.

Now a lot of you out there may say: "Well that's not a big deal, Dino Ciccarelli had over 600 career NHL goals and he's not even in the Hall of Fame."

Granted Ciccarelli isn't (and I think I've found fodder for a future article), but this goal was big nonetheless.

With that goal, at 18:27 of the first period of last night's tilt with the St. Louis Blues, Jarome Iginla potted the goal to place him atop the Calgary Flames' All-Time goal scorers list—passing former Flame (and current reality show star) Theoren Fleury.

Although Fleury wasn't at last night's game, he told Iginla via Jumbotron that he'd "see him at 500"—a mark Fleury never reached in his career.

But for Iginla, last night's goal happened in a way that seems to fit right into his career. 

After helping teammate Kristian Huselius out of a goalless drought that went as far back as January 16th, Iginla then found himself on the receiving end of some good fortune, as Huselius returned the favor in setting Iginla up for the benchmark goal.

But that's the kind of guy that Iginla is—he's selfless, a team-player, and the kind of Captain that any team would love to have.

He's always been one of the first players to shoulder the blame. He's been a role model, a guy who would do anything to stick up for his team—even if it meant dropping the gloves. 

Just look at last night—Iginla didn't know for sure that if he was going to get credit for the goal when it went in. He admitted that he thought it was going to Daymond Langkow, and his celebration wasn't hindered at all, as he was just happy that his team had a hold of the lead.

But that's exactly who Iginla has been for Calgary—through thick and thin, trade rumors and close calls, injuries and struggles, he's always been there.

He's turned down opportunities to go to larger markets for more money, and maybe even a better shot at a championship, and, in spite of his personal success (three 40 goal seasons, two 90 point seasons), he just keeps striving to lift the team to a higher level.

If Iginla stays with Calgary, there's no telling what kind of personal success he could have. At the age of 30, the potential is there for Iginla to top the franchise-record for points (830), as well as a solid shot at 500 career goals and 1000 career points.

But no matter what, he'll still want to be the first captain to bring a Stanley Cup to Canada since 1993.

And with the Leafs still deciding what they want to do with the rest of the season—Jarome, I'm in your corner.