2024 Flyers Draft Prospects: Tij Iginla
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Being the son of Hall of Famer Jarome Iginla comes with plenty of pressure—having to live up to a man thought to be one of the last great power forwards in the NHL is no easy feat. However, with Tij Iginla being eligible for this year's draft, he has the opportunity to carve out his own path at the top level.
With 47 goals and 37 assists in 64 games for the Kelowna Rockets in the WHL, along with six goals and six assists in seven games for Team Canada at the U18 World Junior Championship, he's shown he already has a knack for generating offense.
Standing six feet tall and weighing 185 lbs., Iginla is a pretty solid physical presence on the ice, but his impressive style of play isn't reliant on his size so much as it is on his skill. With a strong shot (yet soft hands), Iginla has no problem scoring, but his puck-handling skills are known to create space by bamboozling defensemen, thereby opening up plenty of passing options.
He's an agile skater who, while he's not the fastest, is good on his edges, has very fluid movement, and can switch directions at the drop of a hat if needed. This contributes to how active he is off the puck, as he's constantly moving around to put himself in good positions to try and generate offense.
A drawback of Iginla is what is noted as his inconsistent defensive game, but with a high hockey IQ and a coolness under pressure, he is still able to positively contribute on defense. Another note, obviously, is that he will likely have to contend with comparisons to his father for the foreseeable future. While this is probably nothing new to him, it can add some extra pressure and higher expectations than other prospects in this year's draft will have to deal with.
Iginla's shot, skating ability, and positional awareness will be able to inject plenty of brightness and energy into the Flyers' offense, where he will fight right in with the young core of creative and dynamic forwards that Philadelphia often relies on for goals and scoring opportunities. While his defensive game will need to develop if he's drafted to the Flyers, so many elements of his game are already advanced beyond what might be expected of a 17-year-old player that he'll still have plenty to contribute to the team.
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