| Tij Iginla | |
| Birth Date: | 4 August 2006 |
| Birth Place: | Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada |
| Height Ft: | 6 |
| Height In: | 0 |
| Weight Lb: | 185 |
| Position: | Forward |
| Shoots: | Left |
| League: | NHL |
| Team: | Utah Hockey Club |
| Prospect Team: | Kelowna Rockets |
| Prospect League: | WHL |
| Draft: | 6th overall |
| Draft Year: | 2024 |
| Draft Team: | Utah Hockey Club |
Tij Iginla (born August 4, 2006) is a Canadian ice hockey forward for the Kelowna Rockets of the Western Hockey League (WHL) as a prospect to the Utah Hockey Club of the National Hockey League (NHL). He is the son of Calgary Flames legend and Hockey Hall of Fame inductee Jarome Iginla. He was the first-ever draft pick of the Utah Hockey Club, selected sixth overall in the 2024 NHL entry draft.
While attending RINK Academy in Kelowna, where as a 15-year-old playing at the under-18 level he recorded 48 points in 32 games, Iginla was drafted ninth overall by the Seattle Thunderbirds in the 2021 Western Hockey League (WHL) bantam draft.[1]
Iginla scored his first WHL goal on October 14, 2022, against the Edmonton Oil Kings.[2] In 48 games with the Thunderbirds in his rookie 2022–23 season, he scored 6 goals and 18 points.[3] Seattle would win the Ed Chynoweth Cup as 2023 WHL champions, and would make it to the finals of the 2023 Memorial Cup, but Iginla would only play three games, all in the first round.[4] In June 2023, Iginla was traded by the Thunderbirds to the Kelowna Rockets. Though not the reason for the move, it allowed him to live at home rather than with a billet family.
Entering the 2023–24 season, Iginla was not recognized as a top-level prospect for the upcoming 2024 NHL Entry Draft. He began the year with a "B" rating from NHL Central Scouting, indicating a projected second- or third-round pick, but after a torrid start to the season that saw him score 13 goals and 21 points in his first 12 games, he was upgraded to an "A" prospect, a likely first-round selection.[5] [6] In December 2023, Iginla was selected as one of 40 draft eligible prospects to compete at the 2024 CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game.[7] He finished the year with 47 goals and 84 points in 64 games.[8] The Rockets qualified to the WHL playoffs, facing the Wenatchee Wild in the first round. Iginla scored eight goals over the course of the series, which the Rockets won in six games, tying a franchise record for goals in a single playoff series.[9] They were defeated by the Prince George Cougars in five games in the second round, and Iginla finished the postseason with nine goals and fifteen points in eleven playoff games.[10]
Considered a likely selection high in the first round of the 2024 NHL entry draft, Iginla was taken sixth overall by the Utah Hockey Club. As the team had been newly established with the personnel of the deactivated Arizona Coyotes, he was their first-ever draft selection, which he called "a huge honour," adding that it "would've been a surreal feeling to get picked by any team. But to be the first pick of a franchise is really cool."[11]
On July 11, 2024, Iginla signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Utah Hockey Club.[12]
Iginla made his international debut for Canada as a member of Team Canada Red at the 2022 World U-17 Hockey Challenge. He scored two goals and five assists in seven games and won a silver medal.[13] He represented Canada at the 2024 IIHF World U18 Championships, scoring six goals and six assists in seven games, including a three-point performance in the gold medal game against the United States, where he scored the game-winning goal.[14]
Iginla is the son of Hockey Hall of Fame inductee Jarome Iginla and his wife Kara. His younger brother Joe plays for the WHL's Edmonton Oil Kings, and his older sister Jade plays for Brown University.
| Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | League | GP | PIM | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | ||||||
| 2021–22 | Seattle Thunderbirds | WHL | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2022–23 | Seattle Thunderbirds | WHL | 48 | 6 | 12 | 18 | 19 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 2023–24 | Kelowna Rockets | WHL | 64 | 47 | 37 | 84 | 35 | 11 | 9 | 6 | 15 | 0 | ||
| WHL totals | 115 | 53 | 50 | 103 | 58 | 14 | 9 | 7 | 16 | 2 | ||||
| Year | Team | Event | Result | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Canada Red | U17 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 0 | ||
| 2024 | Canada | U18 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 12 | 0 | ||
| Junior totals | 14 | 8 | 11 | 19 | 0 | ||||
| Award | Year | Ref | |
|---|---|---|---|
| WHL | |||
| Ed Chynoweth Cup champion | 2023 | ||
| BC Division First Team All-Star | 2024 | [15] | |