Film Room: How Tij Iginla has become one of the CHL's most lethal threats

It’s been nearly 30 years since one of the NHL’s great “even trades” went down. It was Dec. 19, 1995. The Dallas Stars were sitting third-last in the Western Conference and 21st of 26 teams league-wide. They desperately needed a centre to play behind Mike Modano. Joe Nieuwendyk had just gone through a nasty arbitration battle with the Calgary Flames that resulted in him holding out and demanding a trade. Dallas came knocking, and the piece that Calgary insisted on having was the most recent 11th-overall pick – Jarome Iginla.

A deal was struck.

Three years later, the Stars went to their second-straight Stanley Cup final and took home the prize. The Flames landed their future captain, league MVP, and the face of the franchise for the better part of two decades. 

A true win for both sides. 

Nearly 30 years later another Iginla is charting his own path to the NHL. Tij Iginla has been putting his bloodlines to good use. The Canadian forward was selected ninth overall in the 2021 WHL Bantam draft to the Seattle Thunderbirds. This after shining at the RINK Hockey Academy in Kelowna, BC. After managing a respectable rookie season among the bottom six forwards with the Thunderbirds last season, the 6-foot, 180-pound forward was dealt to the Kelowna Rockets last summer.

It turns out that being back home in Kelowna was the magic ingredient needed to jumpstart his production and help chart a path toward an early selection at the 2024 NHL Draft. 

At the time of writing, The 17-year-old is among the top-producing draft-eligible skaters in the CHL. His 45 goals in 59 games is a 750 percent increase over last season's six in 48. That total leads the Rockets and sits third among CHL draft-eligible skaters. His evolution from last season has been incredible to watch. But what exactly makes this second-generation scorer tick? We’ll figure it out in this edition of The Film Room.