UPDATE: Calgary trades Iginla to Pittsburgh

The Calgary Flames have dealt their captain Jarome Iginla to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Iginla has been traded to the Penguins in exchange for Kenneth Agostino & Ben Hanowski & the Pittsburgh Penguins 2013 first round pick.

Iginla was drafted 11th overall in the 1995 NHL entry draft by the Dallas Stars. Despite being drafted by the Stars, he has played his entire career in Calgary. He was a member of the Flames for 16 seasons, recording 525 goals, 570 assists (1095 points) in 1219 regular season games.

He will join a team that already has the NHL’s leader in points (Crosby), last year’s points leader (Malkin), this year’s leader in points for a defenseman (Letang) and this year’s leader in wins (Fleury). Not to mention James Neal who scored 40 goals last season and has 17 goals and 13 assists in 34 games this season. Despite his regular centre Malkin missing 13 games.

The Penguins are doing everything they can to make sure they win the Stanley Cup this season. Penguins GM Ray Shero already added veteran forward Brenden Morrow and physical defenseman Douglas Murray earlier this week.

Iginla was named the 18th captain of the Calgary Flames at the start of the 2003-04 season. That season Iginla tied for the NHL Rocket Richard Trophy (most goals) with Ilya Kovalchuk and Rick Nash with 41 goals. The same season he led the playoffs in scoring with 13 goals.He carried the Flames to the Stanley Cup Finals where they eventually lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning in seven games. He has not played in the playoffs since 2008-09, but has recorded 28 goals and 21 assists in 54 career playoff games.

Iginla will likely play on a line with Sidney Crosby which will give him an obvious boost in fantasy value. He has 11 straight 30 goal seasons, so I’m sure he will be looking for 21 goals in the Pens last 14 games to keep the streak going. Chris Kunitz has 19 goals and 23 assists while Pascal Dupuis has 15 goals and nine assists with Sid this year. Just think about what a 500 goal scorer is going to do on his right wing.

As for the Flames they receive Kenneth Agostino who was drafted in the fifth round in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft. He is a 5-foot-11-inch forward that scores but also plays much bigger than he is. He scored 96 points in 97 in three years at Yale University.

Ben Hanowski was drafted 63rd overall in 2009. He scored 16 goals and 13 assists in 34 games this year (Junior) at St. Cloud State.  He will return for his senior year.

EDITORS NOTE: If you have Iginla, hold onto him and enjoy the production. If you have him and Crosby… That should be the most fun you ever have in fantasy hockey! I wish I did. Also I apologize for the immediate reports that Iginla was traded to Boston. However they were reported as unconfirmed… This Penguins trade is for real.