Utah drafts Tij Iginla 6th overall with 1st pick in club history

The Utah Hockey Club drafted forward Tij Iginla with the sixth overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft on Friday, the first selection in team history.

Tij Iginla

Once projected to go outside the first round, Iginla's stock has been steadily rising over the past year. He wasn't an everyday player for the WHL's Seattle Thunderbirds in 2022-23, mustering 18 points in 48 regular-season outings while appearing in just three playoff games during their run to the Memorial Cup final.

The soon-to-be-18-year-old broke out in a big way this past campaign for the Kelowna Rockets, though. Iginla ranked seventh in the WHL in goals and second on his team with 84 points before adding nine tallies and 15 points in 11 playoff games. He also enjoyed a standout performance at this spring's World U18 Championship, where he helped Canada win gold. He jumped up two spots between NHL Central Scouting's midterm and final rankings.

Tij is the son of Hall of Fame winger Jarome Iginla.

"I don't think it's any one thing," Tij said when asked about the biggest lesson he's learned from his dad. "It's hard to just put one thing, so many life lessons, things like that, over the years. I guess a big one would be effort. You can make mistakes, but effort's got to be there."

The youngster outscored his father's production in his draft year, with Jarome putting up 33 goals and 71 points in 72 games for the WHL's Kamloops Blazers before being selected 11th overall by the Dallas Stars in 1995.

After being drafted higher than Jarome, Tij conceded that "it's nice" to have some family bragging rights.

"He had a pretty good career," he quipped, per The Canadian Press' Joshua Clipperton. "I'll have to start trying to build my resume."

What they're saying

"Tij is a very talented offensive player," wrote The Athletic's Corey Pronman in May. "His stick-handling displays stand out constantly. He beats defenders one-on-one at a high rate and improvises very well with the puck. ... He gets to the inside to score as well and displays a strong effort away from the puck. ... He projects as a strong top-six wing who will score a lot of goals."

Pronman also likened him to veteran forward Viktor Arvidsson and previously compared Iginla to talented Buffalo Sabres youngster JJ Peterka in his April rankings.

"Score, score, and score some more. That's what (Iginla) does best," Daily Faceoff's Steven Ellis wrote in April. "Iginla is a solid distributor ... but with the puck on his stick, he's a dangerous generator. He plays with good pace, and while he isn't big, he's physically strong."