Jarome Iginla’s rise to captain of the Calgary Flames didn’t come with a grand ceremony or a long buildup. It started with a little frustration, a little timing, and a conversation that turned into one of the more memorable leadership handoffs in team history.
Iginla remains the first name that comes to mind for a lot of Flames fans, and the numbers only back that up. The Hall-of-Famer played 1,219 of his 1,554 career games in Calgary, piling up 525 goals and 1,095 points in a Flames sweater.
But his value went well beyond the box score. He brought a relentless edge every night and was widely seen as one of the NHL’s best captains during the nine seasons he wore the “C” for Calgary.
The backstory to how he got that letter is where things get especially interesting. On the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast, current Flames GM and former player Craig Conroy explained that Iginla was bothered when Shane Doan was named an NHL captain before him. Their connection went back to their days together with the Kamloops Blazers, and Doan’s appointment as captain of the Phoenix Coyotes ahead of the 2003-04 season clearly stuck with Iginla.
Conroy was the Flames captain at the time, and after realizing Iginla was frustrated, he brought the issue to then-head coach Darryl Sutter.
“I went and saw Darryl, and I said, ‘Darryl, Jarome’s the leader of the team. I [have] the ‘C,’ which is awesome; it is an honour, but what do you think about me giving the ‘C’ to Iggy?’
He goes, ‘Oh ya, you definitely should. He’s the captain.'”
From there, Conroy checked in with Iginla, and there was no drama at all.
“You’re the captain, you should have the ‘C,'” Conroy said to Iginla. “He was like, ‘Oh, I totally agree.’ It wasn’t even like he hesitated.”
“It was still hard to give up the ‘C,’ but I knew he was the leader on that team.”
The switch made sense quickly. Iginla grew into one of the most iconic captains in Flames history, and this story shows he didn’t need much convincing to take on the role.
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