They're not elephants in the room. They're veterans. Jarome Iginla is 38, Alex Tanguay 36, and while Iginla this season has become the 19th player in NHL history to score 600 career goals, the pertinent issue now for the Avalanche is that their production to varying degrees has been disappointing.
Iginla has 13 goals and 13 assists. That's roughly a 20-goal pace — far from disgraceful, but not up to the standards Iginla has set during a career that will land him in the Hockey Hall of Fame — and lower than the 29 he had with Colorado last season after signing a three-year contract as an un- restricted free agent.