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Jarome Iginla to announce retirement July 30 in Calgary

NHL, Calgary Flames

Six-time All-Star Jarome Iginla will announce his retirement July 30 at the Saddledome, the Calgary Flames said on Wednesday.

"In a sense, I grew up there,'' Iginla said, according to the Flames. "I started playing for the Flames at 19 but even in minor hockey I remember traveling to Calgary for tournaments, from St. Albert, and I imagined playing in the Saddledome.

"It's been a fun adventure, for my family and I. Some great cities, great people. To be back in Alberta, though, will feel like home."

Iginla, 41, will finish his 20-year career with 625 goals, good for 15th all-time, and 675 assists. 

He last played for the Kings in April 2017, and since then has undergone a hip resurfacing procedure. He had been considering trying to continue his career.

Iginla will now head back to Boston, where he lives with his wife and hockey-playing children. Iginla had 30 goals in his one season with the Bruins in 2013-14 at the age of 36.

Like Jaromir Jagr, Iginla played at a high level long after others hung up the skates. As recently as 2015-16 with the Avalanche, at age 38, he scored 22 goals and played 82 games.

Iginla, considered by many to be a future Hall of Famer, won the Maurice Richard Trophy as the league's top goal scorer twice. But he never won a Stanley Cup, coming closest in 2004 when the Flames lost to the Lightning in seven games.

"For sure, it took me a while to just let it go, losing," he said, according to the Flames. "From seven years of missing the playoffs to almost winning it. And it does still sting a little bit. I've always dreamt of being on a Stanley Cup-winning team. That always stayed with me. I know now that dream isn't coming true.

"But if you said when I started that I was going to play 20 years, experience what I have, I'd have taken it in a heartbeat. I did the best I could, played as hard as I could. And all my dreams came true, more than I ever could've imagined, except that one dream.

"It just wasn't in the cards for me."

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