Drafting Tij Iginla Is the Only Way To Stop Another Iginla Haunting Minnesota

If apples really don't fall far from trees, the Minnesota Wild should be very, very scared of the 2024 NHL Draft. This draft class includes Tij Iginla, the son of Jarome Iginla, the player who's burned the Wild perhaps more than any other.

The older Iginla scored 625 goals in his career, which is surprising to Wild fans only because it felt like he scored 500 against Minnesota alone. In reality, it was "only" 39 goals (with another 33 assists for good measure) over 84 career games against Minnesota. The next-best Wild Haunter, Ryan Kesler, only had 26 career goals against Minnesota. 

Even that doesn't fully underscore the dominance Iginla had over the Wild. Minnesota didn't have a team for the first four years and 91 goals of his career -- presumably because the Wild were too intimidated by "Iggy" to form a team that would have to play against him. Once Minnesota entered the chat, Iginla's reign of terror against the Wild accounted for 7.3% of Iginla's 534 goals.

Then, of course, 35 of those came during his time with the Calgary Flames, Minnesota's Northwest Division rivals. The Wild could never stymie his combination of an elite shot and wrecking ball playing style. No. 12 still causes long-time Minnesota fans to wake up in a cold sweat.

No one is saying the Wild should only draft Tij because his father was Jarome. That would be silly. What I am saying is that drafting Tij might be the only way the Wild prevents two decades of being tortured by another Iginla. 

Don't get me wrong -- there's also a case to draft Tij independent of his Wild-killing lineage. Jarome's kid is a great prospect in his own right. His 47 goals for the WHL's Kelowna Rockets tied him for sixth in the league last season. He's also one of the youngest players in this draft, not turning 18 until August 1. He's a top-tier prospect with a lot of runway between now and his NHL debut. 

Iginla is also in the range for the Wild to scoop up with their 13th overall pick. Elite Prospects' Consolidated Draft List ranks him 13th in his class. However, the 2024 class is expected to be volatile in the top half of the draft. With so many top defensemen available, a winger like Iginla might slide down the draft board, even with outlets like Elite Prospects ranking him as high as sixth in his class.

Okay, so the goal totals are great, but what else can Minnesota expect if they draft Iginla?

Well, if they want a Jarome-style wrecking ball, Tij is that Iginla-type player they're seeking. "Bigger, stronger, faster -- those are nice ingredients to have," Bill Guerin said at his end-of-season press conference. Here you go.

"He's an excellent skater," says The Athletic's Scott Wheeler. His tools include being able to "beat you in a straight-out race, cut past you laterally with quick weight shifts, or build speed through tight crossover patterns."

Awesome, rad, we got "faster" covered. 

It's not breaking news that a 17-year-old kid probably needs to get bigger and stronger to succeed in the NHL, but Iginla's already listed at 6-foot-0. You can't rule out a late growth spurt because he's so young. Wheeler is high on Tij taking on his dad's game, mentioning "the emergence of a power game" to his toolkit. Jarome still managed to be one of the league's most fierce power forwards of all time at 6-foot-1, so it's not like a player needs Tage Thompson levels of height to do that kind of work.

Particularly when he's got a shot that reminds everyone of... well, you know. "Pops taught him well," an Eastern Conference Executive told Cam Robinson of Elite Prospects. Robinson has much, much more to say on Tij's shot. He points to InStat's data, which lists 19 games where Iginla shot the puck 10 or more times, close to 30% of his 64 outings in the WHL.

We're just scratching the surface here. Robinson says Iginla "does many of the little things ahead of his attempts that go into A) making sure a shot gets through to the net, and B) that it's not easy to track for the netminder." The subtleties are great, even when not combined with the fact that the dude can rip the puck.

And there's more, according to Robinson. His speed and puck-handling make him a nightmare in transition that should allow him "to develop into a player who can beat defenders one-on-one at the NHL level one day." Robinson is even higher on Iginla's puck-handling skills than his shot. "He can embarrass opponents," Robinson warns any team that might pass on Iginla.

The Athletic's Corey Pronman ran his first mock draft on Tuesday, where he sees the Wild taking Iginla at 13 overall. "He checks the skill and compete boxes Bill Guerin would be looking for," Pronman says. What goes unsaid is that the alternative to letting Iginla drop past them risks a worst-case scenario.

The likelihood of a Central Division rival snatching up Iginla before the Wild have a crack at him is pretty slim. The Chicago Blackhawks are unlikely to pick Iginla with the second overall pick, and the Utah Not-Coyotes are the only other team picking before the Wild at No. 6. Utah may pass on a premium position like center or defenseman for Iginla, but it'd be a surprise.

However, if Minnesota lets Iginla slip past 13? Now things get scary. That's trade-up territory for, say, the St. Louis Blues (No. 16 overall) and the Nashville Predators (No. 22, with a spare Juuse Saros on the block). If the Wild had a tough time beating Central Division rivals before, imagine how much worse it'd be if you have them an Iginla.

It's a future that Minnesota can't allow to happen. The Wild might be lucky enough to have some Eastern Conference team send Iginla as far from them as possible. The New Jersey Devils, Buffalo Sabres, and Philadelphia Flyers are picking 10th, 11th, and 12th, for example. But to really be sure of a future where the path to the Stanley Cup doesn't hang on the Wild stopping an Iginla from scoring at will, they'll have to find a way to make sure Tij is safely in St. Paul, where he can help Minnesota instead of haunt them.