By WILL GRAVES
By WILL GRAVES
Associated Press
PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Penguins have acquired Jarome Iginla from the Calgary Flames.
The Flames announced the deal after their victory over Colorado on Wednesday night, sending their longtime captain to the Eastern Conference-leading Penguins in exchange for college prospects Kenneth Agostino and Ben Hanowski and a first-round pick this year.
The deal was Penguins’ third big move in four days. They picked up forward Brenden Morrow in a deal with Dallas on Sunday, and acquired defenseman Doug Murray from San Jose on Monday.
The 35-year-old Iginla is in the final year of his contract and will be an unrestricted free agent July 1. He was scratched from Calgary’s lineup against Colorado, ending his consecutive games streak at 441.
Flames general manager Jay Feaster said the deal was completed during the Flames’ 4-3 victory over Colorado, and that team was fielding three offers.
“We as an organization owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Jarome,” Feaster said, “not only for what he did for the franchise during his tenure as a player here and as our captain, but also for the fact that now as we recognize that despite our best efforts, and despite the work we’ve put in, we’ve fallen short of the goals we set for ourselves as an organization.
“We respect very, very much the fact that Jarome worked with us to enable this to come about.”
Iginla has nine goals and 13 assists in 31 games this season. In 1,219 career regular-season games in 16 seasons, all with Calgary, he has 525 goals and 570 assists. He has 28 goals and 21 assists in 54 career playoff games and has played for Canada in three Olympics.
Calgary is 14th in the Western Conference and will likely miss the playoffs for the fourth straight season.
Agostino plays for Yale, and Hanowski at St. Cloud State. Both are forwards.
The 20-year-old Agostino was selected by Pittsburgh in the fifth round of the 2010 draft. The junior leads the Bulldogs in scoring with 15 goals and 22 assists in 33 games this season. Yale will face Minnesota on Friday night in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
The 22-year-old Hanowski, a third-round pick in 2009, recently finished his senior season at St. Cloud State, where he was the team’s captain. He had 16 goals and 13 assists in 34 games this season.