Haggerty: Pressure’s on for Chiarelli to make a move
Clearly the Bruins are interested in Iginla’s services, and those feelings have intensified as any potential trade hopes with Ottawa for Daniel Alfredsson went up in smoke as the Senators kept on winning. The Calgary Flames captain has become the No. 1 target for the Bruins on their trade wish list, and fits the ball for Boston on so many levels.
Iginla is a fiery leader, he’s a physical presence still capable of playing the power forward position at an elite level and he was good enough to still score 32 goals last season at 35 years old.
Even better, Iginla is a player with a burning desire to win a Stanley Cup, and the current edition of the Bruins – with so many players that captured the Stanley Cup just two years ago – could use that type of insatiable hunger and unbridled competitiveness in their midst. In discussions with NHL scouts, there have been more inquiries about 19-year-old goaltending prospect Malcolm Subban than any other prospect in the Bruins system. Subban would fit the mold as the centerpiece for a Flames team that seems to have targeted a young goaltender as the desired bounty in any potential trade involving their franchise winger.
A package of Subban, a roster player (Rich Peverley is the most likely candidate given his wide range of abilities) and a first round pick would be the going rate for a player of Iginla’s ilk: the kind of return that would allow Calgary management to calm some of the angry masses surely be upset watching their superstar migrated across the country for a hockey club with a better chance to win.
It would be the reverse of 12 years ago when Ray Bourque bolted Boston to go win his Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche. So Bruins fans should know full well just how delicate things will be in Calgary when it comes to moving a player that’s been the face of their franchise for 16 years.
Above and beyond that, Iginla will need to be 100 percent on board with coming to Boston, and this is where the Bruins will be competing with the Penguins, Kings, Canucks and Red Wings among others for his services. It will be Iginla driving the bus on where he is traded to as much as anything or anybody else.
http://www.csnne.com/blog/bruins-talk/haggerty-pressures-chiarelli-make-move