#avsnation

Colorado Avalanche signed veteran Jarome Iginla to a three-year contract and held a conference call with the forward. Check out the transcript below:

On His Relationship With Avalanche Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations Joe Sakic And If It Had An Impact On Him Signing

“Well, it definitely had something to do with it. I have a lot of respect for Joe and getting to know him and play with him over the years. Also, for the career he’s had, and he’s a winner. It definitely had something to do with it, but there were a lot of things that went into it. I think that the team: being a great young team, playing against them, watching them, seeing the players that they have, the goaltending they have, the direction that they’re going. My buddy Alex Tanguay, that I got to play with for years, being a friend and talking to him. I talked to (Gabriel) Landeskog a few days ago and Patrick Roy. So all that really did go into it and a big part of it was all the good things I heard, and also from playing against the guys and seeing how good they are and the direction they are going.”

On When He Knew Colorado Was The Right Fit

“Yeah, it’s definitely a different experience. I haven’t gotten used to it. Last year was kind of like that, too, but there is a lot of uncertainty. The interview period over the last week, I think it’s interesting. I think there is a lot of good things that come from it, you get to talk with teams that are interested and vice versa and just see if there is potential there. You never know until the actual day comes what that, until noon, what that actually means. Well, at least we didn't. So, over the last few days and right away when I heard from Joe [Sakic], and Tangs reached out to me in a text and stuff that they were interested. You know, I thought it was very intriguing because I was aware that going back to Boston didn’t look like that it was going to be an option. It was something that at the time, my family and I, before free agency, we did want to be able to work it out. We realized going into it with the cap, and the cap being lower than expected and Boston having all the great young players that they do and the position they’re at, it really wasn’t an option. It just wasn’t. We looked at Colorado, they were definitely right near the top of our list, if not at the top of it the whole time, but you don’t know what that means as far as both, if the Avalanche feel the same way. I was talking to some other teams that we liked, too, and had respect and liked the direction and thought it could be a good fit. The Avalanche were definitely right up there and probably over the last few days, you don’t want to ever admit before what your favorite team is because you don’t know who is going to come, they were our favorites. Honestly, it changes; you don’t know how it’s fitting, seeing people sign and it’s pretty unnerving. You don’t really know how it’s going to go and then what the offers are going to be.”

The Colorado Avalanche announced today that the club has acquired forward Daniel Briere in exchange for forward P.A. Parenteau and a fifth-round pick in the 2015 NHL Draft.

  Briere, 36, a first-round draft pick (24th overall) of the Phoenix Coyotes in 1996, signed with Montreal as a free agent in July 2013. He finished this past regular season with 25 points (13g/12a) and had a +1 plus/minus rating in 69 games. He added seven more points (3g/4a) in 16 playoff games, helping the Canadiens to the Eastern Conference Final.

  “Daniel is a veteran who brings experience to our hockey club. We’re looking forward to him joining our team,” said Avalanche Executive Vice President Joe Sakic.

What does it take to be an Avs Ice Girl?