He is one of the young turks of the game, at 25 in his sixth NHL season blossoming into an impact player.

"I'd like to be thought of that way," says Jarome Iginla matter-of-factly. "I want to be known as a good player. A great player. I want to be a star. I want to win the scoring title.

"I want all of that. I don't think it's a bad thing to want all of that."

Calgary's dressing room at the Saddledome is virtually empty at 11 p.m. The Flames have just beaten the NHL's top team, the Detroit Red Wings, 4-3, to head into the All-Star break on a high note. Iginla has scored his career-high 32nd goal and added two assists to rejoin Canucks sniper Markus Naslund atop the scoring charts.

He had been mired in a confusing, prolonged slump, after setting the point-scoring tone for nearly a month and a half. But two nights earlier he'd scored the OT winner against the Wild at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn., and followed that up with an exclamation point against the Wings. Iginla, his resurgence seemed to say, is back to stay.

The chase for the scoring championship is being put on hold for a few days, while Iginla travels due south for the NHL All-Star game. A lot of others are privately mumbling about the weekend in L.A. (imagine that!). So many games crammed into a compressed schedule, then for many the Olympic ordeal in Salt Lake. So this detour into the Staples Center for a game that isn't really, well, a game per say, seems merely another pitstop -- and a basically unnecessary one -- on a never-ending carousel of a season.

Not for Iginla.

This is his first experience in such heady company.

"I'm in a different situation. A lot of these other guys have been to 10 or 11 All-Star games. It's probably old hat to them. To me ... well, I grew up watching All-Star games dreaming one day I'd be in one.

"Walking into that dressing room at the Canadian (orientation) camp, seeing all those great players, was a fantastic experience.

"So this All-Star game, to me, is a real thrill; a real honor. I only hope it's the first of many to come." He smiled. "I can't see myself getting bored."

That assumption would seem pretty safe. But Iginla has the opportunity to become more than just a very good pro. There have been quite a few black goaltenders -- Grant Fuhr, Fred Brathwaite, Eldon (Pokey) Reddick -- and a fair share of tough guys -- Donald Brashear, Peter Worrell, Georges Laraque -- but never before has a black player had the opportunity to make such a statement as an offensive force, which is the part of the game that, like it or not, is the enticement that turns hedgers into converts.

"More is made of it in the States than here in Canada," says the Edmonton-born Iginla, whose father, a lawyer, hails from Nigeria. "But, yeah, when I was a kid, I'd pay particular attention to the black players in the league. I noticed there weren't many. So when a Claude Vilgrain in New Jersey or a Tony McKegney, say, would do something special in a game, I'd notice.

"It's not a race issue or anything of that sort ... you were just happy to see them do well."

Does he believe his winning the scoring title could be a significant impetus for young black players pondering taking up hockey?

"I know it would've made a big difference to me growing up, if someone had done it, so I've got to assume it could to someone else, too."

This has been quite a year for Iginla. He was called by executive director Wayne Gretzky to join Canada's Olympic orientation camp in Calgary after a shoulder injury felled Philadelphia's Simon Gagne. Then, he got off to the torrid start, was selected to the Salt Lake City entry, and was picked as an addition to the North American side for the All-Star game. Oh, and he also had time to get engaged, too.

"The thing about Iggy is that no one begrudges him this success," says Calgary's special assistant to the GM, Al MacNeil. "I mean, you couldn't find a nicer, more even-tempered, even-keel guy. People are happy for him. He treats everyone with respect. He signs all the autographs. He smiles. I know he comes across as kind of 'Aw shucks ...' But that isn't a put-on; it isn't an act. It's him.

"There's no phoniness, no pretension. He's just a genuine person, and you don't find many of those in any walk of life."

His emergence as a dominating right winger hasn't been an overnight thing. Seasons of 28, 29 and last year's 31 goals paved the way for what's happening now. Still, there's a newfound maturity, a confidence, that's striking for anyone who's been around him since his arrival in Calgary. The Jarome Iginla of, say, even two years ago would have felt it presumptuous to set such lofty goals for himself as "star" and "great player" and never, ever dared to mention himself as a legit Art Ross Trophy candidate. But now, he has developed an appetite for achievement all great ones require.

"He's utilizing all of his assets," says centerman Craig Conroy, who calls his time playing alongside Iginla this season "the highlight of my career."

The Detroit game is a prime example. Iginla scored his goal from just off the lip of the crease; and on the first set-up, used his considerable strength to hold off a defenseman, kicked the puck up to his stick and one-armed a pass into the slot to linemate Marc Savard. Over the past three years, there have been flashes, glimpses, of the scope of power forward people are seeing on a consistent basis this season. In 2001-2002, however, Iginla showed he can be the real deal.

"The difference between those guys who've been to the 10 or 11 All-Star games and me is that consistency," he points out. "That's the sort of career I'm shooting for. I want to be someone to depend on for a lot of years."

Consider the first, and biggest step taken.

"Iggy's development has been ... gradual," reckons MacNeil. "Remember, though, for three years people in Montreal kept scratching their heads and wondering when Guy Lafleur was going to deliver the goods, too.

"Call it self-belief or confidence or whatever you want. A light goes on and they realize how good they can be."

Iginla knows.

George Johnson of the Calgary Herald is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.