Fwiw, both Trent and Jani have decent points. As trent said, having a dad who knows the game at such a high level is a huge advantage relative to the general population of players in his age cohort. And some of those advantages might not be observable, but will give Tij a lasting advantage while growing his game.
But when you're comparing Tij within a select pool of the best 20 prospects in the world for his age cohort...that advantage isn't the same. As Jani points out, for those top 20 prospects, they've been getting high quality coaching and mentorship for years - at least since age 13 or age 14. And many of the players will have athletic lineage in their family. And many of the players will have parents who are fantastic coaches and teachers of the game.
Furthermore, one might actually argue that not having lineage (like having iggy for a dad) makes the achievement of being a top 20 prospects even more impressive. Scoring a run is a lot easier if you start on second base. Think of it this way: if you're have to bet on two equally accomplished young men accepted into Harvard. And one guy comes from the projects and the other guy was born to a super successful family. Who do you think is going to have the more accomplished career? It's not clear cut. Making yourself an A+ prospect while having no lineage or connections speaks volumes about someones character, work ethic, resourcefulness and innate ability.
Finally it's not even clear whether having Iginla as a dad is actually an advantage over someone who has a dad who might be an amazing amateur coach. For example, say a child has a dad who is a teacher and player in the WHL and coaches amateur hockey for 10 years before they had kids. Tough to say who has the larger leg up.
To me, the biggest reason to draft Tij is that there's a better chance the flames can keep him his whole career. There's probably no team or city he would rather play for. But the pressure would be insane.
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