Jarome Iginla has committed his future to the Calgary Flames by signing a five-year, $35-million US contract extension with the NHL club.

Calgary defenceman Robyn Regehr also signed a five-year extension worth $20 million.

Flames captain Jarome Iginla, who scored 39 goals for Calgary last season, has had his contract extended for five years.
(Larry Macdougal/Canadian Press)

Iginla, 30, and Regehr, 27, were both slated to become unrestricted free agents after next season.

Iginla said the direction the Flames are moving towards winning a Stanley Cup, and living in Calgary drove his desires to sign a contract extension.

"You have to think about free agency a little bit, to be honest. But when I talked to my wife, we have family that is close to Calgary. The city is great. But one of the biggest things is winning," said the all-star forward and team captain.

"Here, there is a chance to win and that's what you want. So, in the end, it wasn't even close. We're excited to be staying in Calgary," said Iginla, who has played 10 seasons with the Alberta team.

"People who play in Calgary really enjoy it. We enjoy playing together, we enjoy the city, the passion that the city has for hockey."

Re-signing 'makes sense': Regehr

Regehr echoed Iginla's sentiments about where the Flames are headed.

"It was pretty tough. It's always tough answering questions when you are losing more games than you are winning," he said. "I really like the direction of our team the last two years. I'm very happy. I like Calgary. My fiancé likes Calgary. This makes sense on a lot of levels.

"I think a lot of people can really learn something from [Flames general manager] Darryl [Sutter], the way he's handled our team the last couple of years. He doesn't like to go into a season with question marks. He's a guy that's very aggressive when he sees players that he likes or with certain situations coming up around the corner he doesn't waste any time."

Iginla scored a team-high 39 goals and tallied 94 points in 70 games last season.

He has 324 goals and 340 assists in 778 career regular-season games.

The Flames' captain since the start of the 2003 season, Iginla reached three major milestones last season when he scored his 300th goal, collected his 300th assist and recorded his 600th point.

Playing in his seventh season with Calgary, Regehr appeared in 78 games last season, scoring two goals and adding 19 assists. Regehr also led all Flames with a plus-27 rating during the regular season.

In 510 NHL career games, Regehr has 101 points and 512 penalty minutes.

A first-round draft choice (19th overall) of the Colorado Avalanche in 1998, Regehr was acquired by the Flames on the following years in a trade involving Theo Fleury.

With files from the Canadian Press