He also helped Canada win the 1996 IIHF World Junior Championship and 1997 IIHF World Championship, and a gold medal at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics and 2010 Vancouver Olympics, setting up Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby for the Golden Goal on home soil the last time.
And he did it with class, setting the kind of example he once followed. Lanny McDonald, a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame and its chairman, held various roles in the Flames front office in the 1990s and early 2000s. One day on the road, he was signing autographs for kids along a fence as the players boarded the team bus.
"Jarome comes right by, goes onto the bus, and I thought, 'Damn, I was kind of hoping he'd come over and sign a few autographs,'" McDonald said. "He went on the team bus and told every teammate, 'Get off the bus and sign autographs for the kids for a few minutes, and then we'll leave.' And that told me a whole lot about Jarome, what kind of a person he is, what he stands for."
Iginla got to play one season with Fuhr, when the goalie finished his career in Calgary in 1999-2000. He called it an honor.
"He was a true idol of mine, for being a Black hockey player but also for being such a great hockey player," Iginla said.
Iginla said he showed Fuhr the picture they took together when he was a kid, and they took another picture together. This one was for Sports Illustrated with a Black teammate, goalie Fred Brathwaite. It's on the wall in his house.
"I look at it all the time, and it means a lot to me," Iginla said.
This means a lot to a lot of people.
"I think it's fabulous," Fuhr said. "You couldn't ask for a better person on the ice and off the ice. He's the guy that makes people around him better, in all aspects of life."
NHL.com staff writer William Douglas contributed to this report