The Pittsburgh Penguins added even more firepower to a group that was already leading the NHL in goals with 117, by trading for Calgary Flames captain Jarome Iginla.

The Penguins are in first place in the Eastern Conference with a five-point lead over the second place team, the Montreal Canadiens.

Iginla debuted in the NHL during the 1996-1997 season and has played with the Flames for all 15 years of his career. This season, the 35-year-old right-winger has scored nine goals and recorded 13 assists while scoring two game-winning goals. According to ESPN.com, Iginla had a list of three teams he would agree to being traded to; those teams were the Penguins, the Boston Bruins, and the defending Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings. The Kings reportedly dropped out of the running early on, but the Bruins were believed to be the favorite to land Iginla.

Pierre LeBrun, an ESPN hockey writer wrote, "if you asked me to bet my life savings, I would have pointed to Boston as a more likely destination for Iginla, if for no other reason than the Bruins had more urgency to make an addition after what Eastern Conference rival Pittsburgh already had accomplished."

The Iginla move comes on the heels of the Penguins dealing for Dallas Stars' captain Brenden Morrow on March 24th and defenseman Douglas Murray from the San Jose Sharks on Monday. The trades for Morrow and Murray seemed to signal a cooling of Pittsburgh's pursuit of Iginla, but that was clearly not the case.

Penguins general manager Ray Shero said, A player like Jarome Iginla doesn't come around very often." He added "We still wanted to add Jarome, we just tried to stay in it," with regards to the previous deals.

The Penguins will have a mess of salary cap issues in the offseason with extensions for Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang looming, and Shero cautioned fans that these acquisitions guarantee nothing.

"All the stuff on paper seems nice, but it doesn't mean anything. Hockey is about chemistry and making it work. We have to go out and prove it."