Combustible: thanks to a blistering start, the Flames' scoring machine Jarome Iginla is the hottest player in the NHL this season - Cover Story - Statistical Data Included

Hockey Digest, March, 2002 by Adam Raider

YOU CAN'T START A FIRE without a spark. And for a team like the Calgary Flames, which has missed the playoffs for five straight seasons, you need a pretty big spark to ignite playoff hopes.

That's where Jarome Iginla comes in. This season, Iginla's play has been so incendiary it could ignite a pile of wet newspapers. Through the first third of the season, Iginla led the league in goals and points, while propelling his team to a probable playoff berth in the Western Conference.

"This is the best start we've had as a team," Iginla said only days before being named to the 2002 Canadian Olympic Team, "and I think that makes it better--it's more fun to come to the rink. That's helped everyone."

When asked if he is the reason for the Flames rekindling, Iginla does what you might expect from a good Western Canadian kid; he deflects praise the way teammate Roman Turek has been deflecting pucks. But whether he realizes it or not, Iginla has the opportunity to do something really special: help put the city of Calgary back on the hockey map. It would place him in exclusive company among local heroes like Lanny McDonald, Al MacInnis, and Theoren Fleury.

"A lot of guys are having career years," he says. "I'm playing with Dean McAmmond and Craig Conroy and they're having the best years of their careers so far, too. We're helping each other out. Most of all, it's just confidence. We're all playing with a little more confidence and we believe we can do a little more than we have in the past as a team and individually."

Dallas' first choice (11th overall) in the 1995 Entry Draft, Iginla and Corey Millen were traded by the Stars to Calgary later that year for Joe Nieuwendyk. It would turn out to be a terrific deal for both clubs. Nieuwendyk would capture the Conn Smythe Trophy in 1999 as the Stars won their first Stanley Cup, while Iginla has blossomed into an All-Star with the Flames.

A power forward who has managed to keep his penalty minute totals comparatively low, Iginla credits his offseason work with the team's strength and conditioning coach, former Canadian decathlete Rich Hesketh, for helping him maintain and improve his high level of play.

"[Rich] was saying that it transfers over--that if you get a little quicker on the track, it shows a little bit on the ice. I've been trying to do that and I think my foot speed has improved."

And so has his scoring. With the exception of his sophomore season, in which his totals dropped to 13-19-32 in 70 games, Iginla's production has climbed steadily every year: 28 goals in 1998-99, 29 in 1999-2000, and 31 in 2000-01. This season he is certain to post career-high totals in every offensive category.

Early friendship and inspiration came from teammate Dave Gagner, for whom Iginla reserves his highest praise. "[Gagner] was an intense guy who had some skill--a gritty guy. I played with him a lot in my rookie season, along with Jonas Hoglund, who was also a rookie at the time. I learned a lot from Gagner and [admired] his intensity and his style of play. I really looked up to him."

Iginla made his NHL debut on April 21, 1096, in a playoff game against Chicago. In two appearances that series he recorded a goal and an assist.

Since then, it's been tough times for Calgary. The city affectionately known as "Cowtown" may be one of Canada's fastest-growing cities, but its hockey team is feeling the pinch of an unfavorable exchange rate that prevented it from staying competitive with teams in the States. It's gotten so bad that lawmakers in Canada proposed creating a special provincial lottery to aid Alberta's two NHL clubs.

Then there were the front office shakeups and seemingly annual coaching changes. Worst of all, the team wasn't winning. It makes you wonder how hard it is to come to the rink when the losses outnumber the victories.

"It depends on how you look it at," Iginla says. "I think we're all thrilled to be in the NHL, but it's not that hard to come to the rink and play. Looking at it now, it's so much more enjoyable to come when you're winning."

Watching teams Calgary had beaten during the regular season advance to the playoffs was hard to swallow, he says. "That's the toughest part--when you look back and feel like you've failed."

Now, a club that last won a playoff game in 1995 is contending for a division title. Iginla loves knowing that opposing teams are dreading their trip to the Saddledome for something other than the brutal Calgary winters.

"Our fans are getting into it more at home," he says. "Last year, we let them down a lot. You've gotta have a good home record to be a playoff team and we know that.

You can tell that fans--and their community-are important to Iginla. He's participated in Calgary-area literacy programs for kids and last year received the Ralph T. Scurfield Humanitarian Award, given every year to the Flames player who best combines on-ice excellence with community service. This year he's donating $1,000 to KidSport Calgary for every goal he scores.

Iginla hails from a town that most Calgary natives consider hostile territory: Edmonton. As a child his eyes were glued to the TV set, watching the Oilers dynasty ride roughshod over the league. Mark Messier, Wayne Gretzky, and Grant Fuhr ranked among his idols.