Boston Bruins forward (12) stretches. Mandatory Credit: Eric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports
Jarome “Iggy” Iginla will no doubt be in the NHL Hall of Fame once he finally decides to hang his skates up. But until that day comes he belongs to the Boston Bruins (at least until the end of this season) after signing a 1-year, $6 million contract that was very much incentive laden.
Speaking of those incentives, just five games into this young season and without even have scored a goal, Iggy is exactly halfway to collecting one of his biggest bonuses from the contract. He gets $3.7 million for appearing in just 10 games for the Bruins, yes just 10 measly games and that’s all it will take for Iggy to make more money then I’ll probably ever see in my life. Granted, the contract looks ridiculous but the reason the Bruins did it was so they can worry less about the cap this year and shift some of the weight to next season.
Earlier I mentioned Iginla hadn’t scored yet, however in Iggy’s defense he does lead the team with 19 shots on net, so its not like he isn’t trying and he’s already dropped the gloves once this season. In fact, he’s probably trying too hard or pressing as he tries to win over a city that just 6 months ago wanted his head on a silver platter.
Now with all the talk about his 10 game bonus surfacing, the pressure will only mount on the goalless Iginla but I’m not worried about him at all and neither is Bruins head coach Claude Julien. “We know he’s a good shooter. Whether that’s pressing or whether that’s circumstances, I don’t know,” said Julien to the Boston Globe. “He’s been around the league long enough. He’s going to find his way and he’s going to score some goals for us. He’s going to be the player we thought he would be for our hockey club.”
I feel the same way and you all should too. Iggy’s too good, too talented, too in-shape , too hungry and on too good of a team with plenty of offensive weapons to be held off the scoresheet as often as he has.
But it’s all going to click for Iginla and more importantly it’s going to click for a couple other Bruins too (looking at you Brad Marchand) and when it does, the NHL better be ready. I already have my popcorn ready, do you?