Tij Iginla

November 2023 – Though the scoring has dried up somewhat from his red-hot start, Tij Iginla still looks like an interesting prospect. Besides the name pedigree, Iginla is an easy player to root for. His habits away from the puck are a definite strength, from his frequent scanning, active stick, good forechecking routes and hard-nosed backchecking. Iginla’s best skills seem to be in slowing the play down to give him space or finding soft spots on the ice. He gets off the wall to the middle quickly, and can also drift into high-danger areas, and when paired with his lightning-quick snapshot, makes him a dangerous goal scorer. Though his skating isn’t elite, he’s got quickness, stability and mobility which helps him be a solid transition player, though they’re more useful off the cycle, where he is just as effective, solving problems and playing a possession game. Iginla might lack the high-end dynamism of some of the other WHLers in this class, but his combination of all-around skills and pro-level habits make him a good bet to be a contributing NHLer. Luke Sweeney (November Rankings: 18th Overall)