Jarome Iginla indirectly urges Calgary fans to hate him
A little lost amidst the hoopla of Calgary signing universally hated right wing Todd Bertuzzi to a one-year, $1.95 million contract, was the fact that the Flames were on the fence with the signing until Jarome Iginla approved of the deal.
The Calgary Flames would really really really really really like their fans to keep that in mind. From the Flames’ press release:
“Todd is a proven scorer with the ability to play both wings,” said (GM Darryl) Sutter. “He expressed to us that he wanted to play in Canada and that
desire along with signing him to a one year deal was important to our
philosophy. He wanted to play on a good team and it fit our money.“Additionally, our captain, Jarome Iginla, was a strong supporter of Todd and wanted him on our team.”
No seriously, Iginla wanted him on the team. Listen:
“He is a character guy,” Iginla insisted. “I’ve known him over the years, and he made a very bad decision. I assure you if he could take that back, he would. I do believe in second chances.”
What you still might not understand is that Iginla was the one that wanted Bertuzzi in Calgary. Here are interviews with Calgary’s local sports talk station from Iginla himself, Bertuzzi, and Sutter to reinforce that fact.
Even with their beloved captain and general manager advocating tolerance and forgiveness (Sutter went so far as to laughably compare Bertuzzi paralyzing Steve Moore to running a red light), Flames diehards are still pissed. On the most popular Flames message board, calgarypuck.com, more than seven percent of fans say they will boycott the team until Bertuzzi’s outta Calgary. Almost 57 percent say they aren’t in favor of the move, but will tolerate it.
They throw around words like “bad person” and “locker-room cancer,” as though Sutter hadn’t thought of that. Good for him for not caring whether or not Todd Bertuzzi punches kittens and litters.
If Bertuzzi can produce 40 points in 68 games like he did last year in Anaheim for less than half the cost, the Flames front office will be doing cartwheels.
