Hockey Night in CanadaHealy's 5 questions: Iginla's future, shootout rant

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Twice a month Glenn will take the time to answer your questions about the game. All you have to do is send them to cbchockeyonline@cbc.ca.

Do you think Jarome Iginla will finish his hockey career with the Calgary Flames or will he be traded to a contender ala Ray Bourque? From: Paul Cole

Paul, we are now in the salary cap world and that is different when Ray Bourque was moved and achieved his dream of putting the Cup over his head. Iginla has a huge ticket at 7 mill per and not many teams contending have that kind of cap space. You would really have to find the perfect fit from a dollar standpoint. He has a no movement clause and it is really out of the Flames hands as he holds all the cards. The team is three points out of a playoff spot and do you think it right that the first one to flee the city is their captain and best player? He should retire a Flame.

Why don't all the biggest and strongest players have the hardest slapshots? I've watched a number of hardest shot competitions and found that big men like Rick Nash and the late Derek Boogaard don't seem to possess extremely hard slappers. Steven Stamkos, a much smaller guy compared to them, clocked over 100 mph in last year's all-star skills competition. What's the trick? From: David Song

David, it is no different than the guy who is not a monster but can drive a golf ball 300 yards.  It is about technique and incredible eye-hand coordination so you don't catch five feet of ice behind the puck. Your equipment is also important and the flex and curve on your stick matters. Al MacInnis had the craziest curve on his stick and as of today I have yet to see his shot.

I am a hockey fan, not a Leafs fan. Just wondering if you have made any recent comments on when Reimer was injured. I believe you said he was embellishing the hit to get a penalty called. From: Jim Cree 

Jim, my point was he drew the penalty and it worked. Brian Gionta mentioned the same belief on HNIC when he was interviewed. I would never question the fact that he is truly hurt as he is a goalie and part of the fraternity. 

Why has the NHL not put in place these tests on their brains before they are allowed to play. My daughter had to do testing before she was allowed to play on her university women's soccer team. In the event that she did hit her head they would at least have a baseline to work with. I believe it is a standard practice for this. Should the NHL not be doing this? From: Kim Horst

The NHL currently does the baseline tests before you play so they have a comparable. The NHL is taking the concussion issue very seriously and have been doing the baseline tests for more than a decade.

Why don't shootout goals count in the personal statistics? They are more important than empty-net goals surely, and these do count. I think the player who scores and possibly gets his team an extra point should be credited with a point himself. From: Gloria Large 

You could be the least reliable player on your team and be good on breakaways and be a shootout king. You could pad your stats because with a minute left in a tie game the coach would never dream of putting you on the ice but in the shootout you are first up at bat. The business of hockey in your scenario makes you a shootout star a guy with great stats and a player who will wipe up in arbitration when he compares himself to a true goal scorer like Stephen Stamkos. The shootout stat is not a true indicator of the player but an indication of your skill at the thing I call a gimmick. Play five more minutes of OT and then you can include in the player's stats
 

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