‘Believe me, it was tempting’: Jarome Iginla staying out of Calgary Flames potentially drafting son Tij
By Sam Nestler
6 days agoThere is potential for something really cool to happen at the 2024 NHL Draft
Calgary Flames legend and current special advisor to general manager Craig Conroy Jarome Iginla has been preparing for the draft on June 28-29 in Las Vegas. During that preparation, he continues to hear scenarios in which his team selects his son, Tij, with the ninth overall pick.
“Oh ya, I’d be okay with that, and talking to him, he likes Calgary, too,” Jarome told Sportsnet’s Eric Francis in a recent interview. “There are tons of things I loved about Calgary, obviously: great place to live, close to home, passionate hockey market.”
Sure, that would be cool, and a story for many years to come. But Jarome is staying out of this potential scenario as much as possible. First, he won’t even glance at the scouting reports on his son and even went as far as to excuse himself while Conroy and his staff discussed the draft list.
“Believe me, it was tempting,” he said about looking at Tij’s scouting reports.
He also made it clear that he does not want to be the one up on the draft stage if this pick does happen. Instead, he wants to just be a Dad, sitting up in the stands and waiting to hear his son’s name on one of the biggest days of his young life.
“I see me staying up in the stands with Tij, Cara and the kids until he’s drafted,” Jarome said. “It brings back some awesome memories with me and my mom and dad and grandparents. That moment is a pretty neat one for all the players who get drafted, but it’s also very special for the parents. Cara and I are feeling very blessed and I want to be in the stands in that setting, taking that in as a family.”
Tij has massively bolstered his resume as of late, scoring 47 goals in 64 games with Kelowna in the Canadian Hockey League and serving as one of Canada’s top players as they won a gold medal at the recent Under-18 World Championships. He is projected to go anywhere from fifth overall to later in the first round. So really, the Flames may not even have a chance to make this happen.
“The question everyone asks me is, ‘where Tij is going?’ and I literally have no idea, like none,” said Jarome.
One thing is certain though, Jarome is going to be one proud Dad on June 28.
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