BOSTON — How did Jarome Iginla enjoy his first game back at TD Garden?
“I didn’t get booed every time I touched the puck,” the Colorado Avalanche winger said Monday afternoon, “so I appreciated that.”
No, the Bruins faithful did not give Iginla the Johnny Damon-at-Fenway treatment when he returned to Boston in a different-colored sweater for the first time — as they shouldn’t have.
From the beginning, it was clear that the team’s decision to let Iginla walk after one season on Causeway Street was about one thing: business.
“I think he was well-liked by his teammates and the coaching staff,” Bruins coach Claude Julien said before the Bruins’ 2-1 loss to Iginla’s Avs. “We all enjoyed having him around, and it’s unfortunate — again, those are the situations that you’ve seen us go through with the salary cap, and we just couldn’t afford to keep him. It wasn’t from him not wanting to come back or us not wanting him back; it was a matter of a business situation that both sides had to look at.”
Iginla, who called his brief stint in Boston “one of the best (years) of (his) career,” said he initially was hoping he’d get to spend another season in black and gold. When it became clear he eventually would have to move on, however, the veteran winger chose to do so sooner rather than later.
“I was hoping at the time, before free agency opened, that it could work out, but you know there are cap issues,” Iginla said after the game. “With my family, we wanted to be able to make sure, I’m going to play more than one year, and I didn’t want to just play one year then next year (the Bruins) have even less (cap) room. With all the good, young guys they have coming up, they’ve got to keep room for them and keep signing them. It’s a good problem to have, though, if you’re the Bruins.
“But I understood why and figured if I was going to move my family, it would be the time now, before they keep getting more entrenched in school and liking it even more, and then trying to move the following year.”
While Iginla enjoyed seeing “some very familiar faces” around the Garden, the fact remained that his team — the Central Division champions last season — had been shellacked in its first two games, losing by a combined score of 8-0. Daniel Briere finally gave the Avalanche a notch in the win column when his last-second goal snuck past Bruins netminder Niklas Svedberg, making the return an all-around happy one for Iginla.
“It hasn’t been too long, it feels almost like you’ve just been gone for a long vacation, but it’s part of the game,” the 37-year-old said. “Coming from the other side, once the game starts, it’s business. We were looking for our first win, and we knew they were trying to get things going for themselves. But it’s a bit different on the ice. You wouldn’t want to play all the time against that team, but it’s a great place and it’s fun to come back.”
Photo via Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports Images
