With so many high-end defencemen available at the 2024 NHL Draft, a lot of attention has been given to the Ottawa Senators’ struggling defence corps and how they could fix it with their seventh-overall selection. There’s a high possibility that one of Zayne Parekh, Sam Dickinson, or Zeev Buium will still be available when the Senators step up to the podium, all of whom would give the team an immediate boost on the blue line.
But the Senators have more needs than just defence, and there will be several intriguing forward prospects available in the top 10 who could give Ottawa a massive boost up front. As I wrote in my initial article looking at three priorities the team needed to address with their first-round picks, one of their biggest areas of need is at center. So, let’s shift gears and look at one of the high-end forwards projected to be available in the top 10, Tij Iginla.
Tij Iginla Scouting Report
Iginla had the perfect draft-eligible season. He started as a mid-tier first-round pick after a middling rookie season with the Seattle Thunderbirds, but he broke out of the gate with the Kelowna Rockets, putting up 13 goals and 21 points in his first 12 games with the team. While his blistering pace slowed over the next few months, NHL Central Scouting upgraded his preliminary grade from a ‘B’ to an ‘A’ ahead of his appearance at the Kubota Top Prospects Game in January. While he couldn’t get his team the win, he was fiercely competitive every shift and was after the puck like a dog on a bone.
Related: Senators’ First-Round Draft Targets – Sam Dickinson
Suddenly, Iginla was one to watch, and he didn’t disappoint. Over the next 19 games, he scored 15 goals and 27 points, finishing with a team-leading 47 goals, and in the playoffs, he scored another nine goals in 11 games, including a hat trick in his first game. An early exit at the hands of the Prince George Cougars allowed him to travel to Czechia to join Canada for the U18 World Junior Championships, where he once again demonstrated how dangerous he was with the puck. In seven games, he finished second with six goals and third with 12 points, leading all draft-eligible players on Team Canada en route to a gold medal.
Iginla’s steady climb seems to have no limit; now, scouts are talking about him being a guaranteed top-10 pick and a potential top-five selection. Here’s what Jacob Billington wrote about Iginla in his Top 10 Centers in the 2024 Draft about what makes him such a highly-valued prospect:
“Tij Iginla has a ton of offensive talents and has shot up the draft rankings over the course of the season. He is strong on the puck and has good skating, but his creativity with possession is where he really stands out. Without hesitation, he can find a great play and end up with a scoring chance. His vision and hockey IQ to be able to find the seam pass is fantastic. On top of being a threat to make a dangerous pass, he has the shot to keep defenders guessing on what his next move will be. Comparisons to his father, Jarome Iginla, will never go away, but Tij is showing everyone that he is his own kind of player. Some similarities like the work ethic and aggressiveness in puck battles have been made, but the offensive game is where he truly shines, unlike Jarome, who was a treasured power forward.”
Why Iginla Makes Sense
Plainly put, Ottawa needs more pure goal-scorers. The Senators had just three players score over 20 goals in 2023-24 and haven’t had a 40-goal scorer since 2007-08. The team has tried multiple times to find their next top scorer, with one of the most recent (and infamous) attempts with Alex DeBrincat in 2022-23, joining other failed experiments Evgenii Dadonov, Marian Gaborik, Matt Duchene, and Derrick Brassard, among others. It’s been a long process with few success stories over the last decade. Adding Iginla immediately gives the Senators a top-six scorer who could be in their lineup in a couple of seasons.
But, more importantly, Iginla brings stability. The Senators were sure they had their core locked up last season, signing second-line center and former 30-goal scorer Josh Norris to a $7.95 million deal until 2030. However, several subsequent shoulder injuries have completely eroded the team’s confidence in him returning to the player that earned that extension, leaving a massive gap in the top six. Shane Pinto has shown some potential to take over that role, but he’s practically the only one. That’s a lot of pressure riding on a player who doesn’t have a long-term deal.
Iginla, on the other hand, is a perfect fit for the Senators’ core. As previously mentioned, he has a great nose for the net, which replaces the hole left by Norris, but he also has a fantastic work ethic that would mesh well with Brady Tkachuk, Ridly Greig, and Tim Stutzle. He’s less physical than his Hall-of-Fame father, but he isn’t afraid to engage and will doggedly pursue pucks into the corners. He has shown high intelligence and quick decision-making, making him a threat anywhere on the ice.
Why Iginla Might Not Be the Right Choice
Steve Staios stated publicly that, while he might go for a positional need later in the draft, with the seventh overall pick, the Senators were going to select the best player available, whoever that may be. Regardless of how things go, there will be a lot of interesting players available at seventh, and there’s a legitimate belief that there may be better players available when the Senators make their pick. Iginla is a strong offensive player, but he isn’t the strongest skater or the best defensive player, although both are certainly serviceable. When the Senators pick, they could have their choice of Ivan Demidov, Anton Silayev, Berkly Catton, or one of the defencemen mentioned earlier, all of whom will be difficult to pass up.
There’s also an issue of a potential log jam in the future. While the Senators lack center depth, they have some underrated candidates who could become solid middle-six producers. I’ve already mentioned Pinto, but Greig was a center in junior before mainly playing the wing when he turned pro. Meanwhile, Stephen Halliday has looked strong in his first foray into pro hockey after two seasons at Ohio State University. While it’s never bad to have too many top-six forwards, there is a chance that it creates a difficult decision in the future.
Finally, if the Senators take a forward, that leaves their defence unaddressed, meaning they’ll have to rely on a trade or a free agent to fix their most pressing need. Current free agent options on the right side include Tyler Myers, TJ Brodie, Chris Tanev, Tyson Barrie, Brett Pesce, Brandon Montour, and Filip Hronek. While a few of those would be decent fits, they won’t be cheap, which will eat up a lot of the Senators’ cap space. A trade will be even tougher, though, as it will either cost them a piece they don’t want to part with or force them to overpay to dump an ugly contract. Drafting a defenceman would be much easier, even if they won’t fix the problem immediately.
Still, there are many reasons to like Iginla in Ottawa. He’s a relentless, in-your-face player with a high-end offence who would instantly make the team’s top-six much more dangerous. His style projects to mesh well with what the Senators have already been building around Tkachuk. The only question remaining is whether Staios believes Iginla is the best player available when they pick.
