Tij Iginla shares fun story on his relationship with Flames GM Conroy

The chatter linking the Calgary Flames and Tij Iginla is growing louder and louder with the draft now just one day away.

The Flames have the ninth overall selection at this year’s draft, which is right around where Iginla (son of Flames icon Jarome) is set to go. The 17-year-old hasn’t been shy to admit that going to Calgary would be a very exciting opportunity.

“It sounds like it would be a lot of fun and be a cool opportunity,” Iginla said to TSN’s Mark Masters nearly a month ago. “Obviously, I don’t know exactly how things are going to shake out. I try not to speculate too much, but I know they’re there at pick nine or whatever it is. I guess we’ll just have to see how it goes, but that would definitely be pretty cool.”

Not only is Iginla a great player as shown by his 47-goal, 84-point season with the Kelowna Rockets, but the Flames also have great intel on him as a person given how close Jarome and general manager Craig Conroy are. Yesterday, the young Iginla discussed his relationship with Conroy, including some fun stories he remembers from his childhood.

“I knew Conroy quite a bit growing up,” Iginla said. “We’d always go to his house on Christmas Eve. He had some good little get-togethers there, so it’s been fun going into the combine interview. He’s asking me questions, and I’m thinking back to when I was a little kid on the Santa tracker at his house in the basement.”

While it seems all Flames fans are hoping to land Iginla, whether it’s a possibility or not remains to be seen. His stock has rapidly increased all season long, with some lists now projecting him to go as high as fifth overall. The Montreal Canadiens own the fifth selection and have interviewed Iginla on multiple occasions.

Iginla’s fate will be decided tomorrow night, as the first round of the draft is set to get underway at the Sphere in Las Vegas beginning at 5 pm MT.

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