Andrew Cristall will be making his professional debut this season. All that’s left to decide for the 20-year-old forward is which league he’ll play in.
Cristall’s junior teammate with the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets, Utah Mammoth prospect Tij Iginla, hopes his good friend and Washington Capitals prospect will get his start at the top level in the NHL. Iginla, the son of Hockey Hall of Famer Jarome Iginla, spoke about Cristall while at MedStar Capitals Iceplex on Wednesday for the 2025 NHLPA Rookie Showcase.
“Yeah, he’s a great player, super, super crafty, super skilled, thinks the game so smart,” Iginla told RMNB’s Katie Adler. “I think he’s going to do really well and be a good player, so I’m hoping for him here with the Capitals camp starting up.”
The two were able to have a quick catch-up as Iginla was flying into the DC area for Wednesday’s event. Cristall arrived at the same time to get involved with the Capitals’ informal skates at their practice facility.
“I saw him on the ice there,” Iginla said. “I bumped into him at the airport coming in, actually. So that was nice.”
Cristall and Iginla were teammates and alternate captains on the Rockets for parts of the past two seasons, often combining on the club’s top line before Kelowna dealt Cristall to the Spokane Chiefs last January. During their joint time together, Cristall recorded 171 points (66g, 105a) in 90 games, while Iginla recorded 116 points (61g, 55a) in 85 games.
Iginla was drafted sixth overall by the Mammoth in the 2024 NHL Draft after his first season with the Rockets, but saw his 2024-25 campaign cut short after undergoing double hip surgery last December. The 19-year-old winger returned to the ice this summer and will try to make the Mammoth’s NHL roster out of training camp.
Cristall, a year older than Iginla, is well-versed in trying to make the leap to the big leagues as a teenager, as he was one of the final cuts from the Capitals’ training camp last fall. He’ll come to camp this year and battle with other prospects, including Ivan Miroshnichenko, Bogdan Trineyev, Henrik Rybinski, and Ilya Protas, to fill whatever holes are left on the club’s roster.
The Vancouver native spent his summer back home in British Columbia training with NHL talent like Connor Bedard, Kent Johnson, Beck Malenstyn, Luca Cagnoni, Zach Benson, and Gage Goncalves.
Cristall has said he believes he has grown his game enough to take the next step and join names like those this year, spending significant time with Capitals skills coach Kenny McCudden and player development coach Jim Slater.
“I think my defensive game has come around a lot, and I feel like I have a really good stick and can kind of see things in the defensive zone that can maybe get the puck back and create a turnover,” Cristall said in July. “So, I think that’s definitely a big improvement in my game as well. Just my skating, my speed has come a long way too, but still a lot of work on both those areas to be done.”
If he can’t crack the NHL lineup again, he’ll make his pro debut in the AHL with the Hershey Bears. Cristall has served as a playoff black ace with the Bears the past two years.
