There is a difference between a prospect hoping to make the NHL and a prospect who believes he belongs there.
Tij Iginla sounds like the latter.
After a season in which he finally stayed healthy and continued to make meaningful strides, Iginla isn’t approaching the 2026-27 season wondering whether he’s ready for the next step.
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He’s approaching it with a much simpler objective: make the Utah Mammoth.
“I think I’m ready,” Iginla said during Utah’s development camp. “I’m looking forward to a big summer of training and pushing myself hard in the gym, but I feel ready.”
That confidence isn’t coming out of nowhere.
Iginla, Utah’s first-ever draft selection, has now spent two years inside the organization’s system. More importantly, he finally put together a healthy season and believes the experience helped him add another layer to his game.
He doesn’t point to one dramatic adjustment that suddenly transformed him. His improvement has come through the accumulation of smaller details — changes in his skating, movement and decision-making that can eventually turn a promising prospect into an NHL player.
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He’s even spent part of his offseason skating alongside Gavin McKenna, giving him another opportunity to study the subtle differences that separate elite players from everyone else.
“I’m just trying to keep adding those little details to my game,” Iginla said.
Now comes the biggest test.
Iginla’s goal isn’t simply to have another impressive development camp or show well during the preseason. He wants to arrive at training camp in September and force Utah to make a difficult decision.
“My goal is definitely to make the team,” he said.
That makes Iginla one of the most logical candidates to crack the opening night lineup.
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But there is another prospect who could make the Mammoth’s final decisions considerably more complicated.
While Iginla may have the clearest path among Utah’s prospects, Dmitri Simashev could be the dark horse who forces his way into the conversation.
The 21-year-old defenseman has already had a taste of the NHL, appearing in 28 games for Utah last season. But his most encouraging work came in Tucson, where he emerged as a legitimate offensive contributor and finished with 35 points in 40 AHL games.
That production matters because Simashev isn’t simply trying to prove he can survive at the NHL level anymore.
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He’s trying to prove he belongs there permanently.
With Utah’s defensive depth leaving a potential opening on the third pairing, Simashev enters training camp with a legitimate opportunity to claim a full-time job. His size, mobility and ability to contribute offensively give him a different path to the roster than Iginla, but the underlying question is the same:
Who is ready to stop being a prospect and become an NHL player?
That makes Simashev a fascinating wild card.
Still, Iginla has something Simashev doesn’t: the chance to directly address an area of the lineup with his offensive skill set and potentially force his way into a forward group that has room for a young player to emerge.
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And he isn’t waiting for an invitation.
During development camp, Iginla played with the urgency of someone who understood that every opportunity matters. He attacked drills, competed hard and eventually scored a hat trick during the scrimmage.
Of course, nobody earns an NHL roster spot in July.
But that wasn’t really the point.
Iginla wanted the organization to see that he’s coming for a job.
“No one is making the team out of development camp,” he acknowledged. “But the goal coming in here is to plant that seed.”
That seed has now been planted.
When training camp arrives, Iginla will have a chance to turn it into something much bigger.
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Utah is entering another important stage of its development, and the Mammoth need their young players to begin pushing established NHLers for jobs.
Simashev could make the race more intriguing
But if one Utah prospect is most likely to make the opening night roster, Iginla has already made a compelling case that it should be him.
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