What's next for Jarome Iginla?
The future Hall of Famer will be absent from this year's playoff dance after the Los Angeles Kings were eliminated from postseason contention following a 2-1 loss to the Arizona Coyotes on Sunday.
The 39-year-old is a pending unrestricted free agent, and there are no assurances he'll return for another season in Hollywood, particularly when the Kings' cap concerns are taken into consideration.
After 16 seasons with the Calgary Flames, Iginla's short-lived stint with the Kings appears to be another missed shot at capturing his first Stanley Cup.
The former Flames captain has bounced around the league in recent seasons in search of Lord Stanley, first accepting a trade to the Pittsburgh Penguins at the 2013 deadline. Over the past four seasons, he has seen stints with the Boston Bruins, Colorado Avalanche, and, this March, Los Angeles.
His illustrious career now spans five different stops:
| Team | Games | Goals | Assists | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flames | 1219 | 525 | 570 | 1095 |
| Penguins | 13 | 5 | 6 | 11 |
| Bruins | 78 | 30 | 31 | 61 |
| Avalanche | 225 | 59 | 65 | 124 |
| Kings | 15 | 6 | 2 | 8 |
After moving on from last-placed Colorado, Iginla rediscovered his scoring touch and put up eight points through 15 games with the Kings. Still, banking on the aging veteran to keep up that type of production in future seasons would be unrealistic.
Considering the Kings' diminishing flexibility, and the team's shift outside of the contender's circle, Iginla must soon decide whether to move on to his sixth club in search of his first Cup, or to put an exclamation point on one of the game's finest careers.
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