A familiar last name will hit the ice next season in Hamilton for the PWHL team's inaugural campaign.
With its second selection in the 2026 PWHL Draft, the newly established Hamilton outfit drafted Brown University forward Jade Iginla 18th overall, after taking Nelli Laitinen from Ohio State with the No. 6 overall pick.
Iginla, 21, is the daughter of Hockey Hall of Famer Jarome Iginla, who tallied 1,300 points across 1,554 regular-season games in the NHL and won a pair of gold medals representing Canada at the Olympics.
Last season with the Brown Bears, Iginla scored 17 goals and added 16 assists for a collegiate-career-high 33 points, after registering 16 points in 2024-25. Across her four seasons in college hockey, Iginla totalled 99 points. She was the captain at Brown for her final two seasons.
She joins her younger brother, Tij, as a professional in their father's footsteps after the Kelowna Rockets forward was taken in the first round, sixth overall, in the 2024 NHL Draft by the Utah Mammoth.
The expansion Hamilton franchise will begin play this fall after it was awarded the 10th franchise in league history in a May announcement.
