[{"id":88654,"date":"2026-06-30T13:03:03","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T20:03:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/?p=88654"},"modified":"2026-06-30T20:28:35","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T03:28:35","slug":"giants-unveil-full-regular-season-schedule-for-2026-27","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/article\/giants-unveil-full-regular-season-schedule-for-2026-27","title":{"rendered":"Giants Unveil Full Regular Season Schedule for 2026-27"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Vancouver, B.C. \u2013<\/strong> The Vancouver Giants announced today their full 68-game schedule for the 2026-27 Western Hockey League season.<\/p>\n<p>As was <a href=\"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/article\/giants-to-open-2026-27-season-sat-sept-19-vs-rockets\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">previously announced<\/a>, the Giants will begin the 2025-26 regular season on home ice against the Kelowna Rockets on Saturday, September 19, 2026 at the Langley Events Centre at 7 p.m. PT.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/schedule\/223\/289\/\"><strong>CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL SCHEDULE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The longest homestand for the Giants will be eight games in late October and November, beginning Friday, October 30 against Victoria and ending Sunday, October 22 against Kamloops.<\/p>\n<p>The team\u2019s Alberta road trip \u2013 the longest road trip of the season \u2013 will take place in late February and early March, with the G-Men starting in Medicine Hat on February 27 and wrapping up in Calgary on March 7, with stops in Lethbridge (Feb. 28), Edmonton (March 3) and Red Deer (March 5) in between.<\/p>\n<p>The regular season will wrap up at home on Saturday, March 27 against Victoria.<\/p>\n<p><strong><u>NOTEWORTHY HOME DATES<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Saturday, September 19, 2026<\/strong>: White Spot Home Opener vs. Kelowna (7:00 p.m.)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Friday, October 30, 2026: <\/strong>Trick or Suite Night vs. Victoria (7:00 p.m.)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Saturday, December 12, 2026<\/strong>: Teddy Bear Toss vs. Penticton Vees (7:00 p.m.)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Sunday, January 24, 2027<\/strong>: First of two home games vs. defending champion Everett Silvertips (4:00 p.m.)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Monday, February 15, 2027<\/strong>: Family Day Matinee vs. Portland Winterhawks (2:00 p.m.)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Saturday, March 27, 2027<\/strong>: Fan Appreciation Night (Final Home Game) vs. Victoria (7:00 p.m.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/62\/2026\/06\/29190909\/26-27_Schedule_Poster.pdf\"><strong>CLICK HERE FOR\u00a0SCHEDULE PDF<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>This season, the G-Men have seven Friday games, 11 Saturday games and nine Sunday games taking place at the LEC. There will be one Monday home game (February 15 \u2013 Family Day), three Tuesday home games (October 6 vs. Brandon, November 10 vs. Spokane and December 29 vs. Kelowna) and three Wednesday home games (February 3 vs. Prince Albert, February 24 vs. Saskatoon and March 17 vs. Everett).<\/p>\n<p><strong><u>HOME GAMES BY MONTH<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul style=\"list-style-type: circle\">\n<li>September &#8211; 2<\/li>\n<li>October &#8211; 4<\/li>\n<li>November &#8211; 8<\/li>\n<li>December &#8211; 5<\/li>\n<li>January &#8211; 4<\/li>\n<li>February &#8211; 7<\/li>\n<li>March &#8211; 4<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>HOME GAMES BY DAY OF THE WEEK<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n<ul style=\"list-style-type: circle\">\n<li>Monday &#8211; 1<\/li>\n<li>Tuesday &#8211; 3<\/li>\n<li>Wednesday &#8211; 3<\/li>\n<li>Friday &#8211; 7<\/li>\n<li>Saturday &#8211; 11<\/li>\n<li>Sunday &#8211; 9<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The 2027 WHL Playoffs and the battle for the Ed Chynoweth Cup will begin Wednesday, March 31, 2027, culminating with the 2027 WHL Championship Series from Friday, May 7, through Monday, May 17, 2027.<\/p>\n<p>The 2027 Memorial Cup presented by Kubota will be hosted in Guelph, Ont., by the Ontario Hockey League\u2019s Guelph Storm from Friday, May 21, through Sunday, May 30, 2027.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/schedule\/all\/295\/?view=grid\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>CLICK HERE<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0to view the 2026-27 WHL Regular Season schedule in its entirety. Games, dates, locations, and times are all subject to change.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><i>Giants<b>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/seasontickets\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/seasontickets\/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1719421250150000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1WrdqLu-CfoQecL58OJYp-\">season tickets\u00a0<\/a><\/b>and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/flexpacks\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/flexpacks\/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1719421250150000&amp;usg=AOvVaw15_K7TCFmqAFa0PyaS2TJV\"><b>flex packs<\/b><\/a>\u00a0are NOW ON SALE!\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/seasontickets\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/seasontickets\/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1719421250150000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1WrdqLu-CfoQecL58OJYp-\">Season ticket packages<\/a> start as low as $18.26 per game and include the first two home playoff games. <a href=\"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/flexpacks\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/flexpacks\/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1719421250150000&amp;usg=AOvVaw15_K7TCFmqAFa0PyaS2TJV\">Flex packs<\/a> start at just $135 and come in six ,12 or 36 -ticket packs. Call the Giants Office at 604.4.GIANTS (<a href=\"tel:\/\/+16044442687\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">+1 (604) 444-2687<\/a>)\u00a0or contact the Giants at:\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:sales@vancouvergiants.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sales@vancouvergiants.com<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Giants announced today their full 68-game schedule for the 2026-27 WHL season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":442,"featured_media":88680,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1488],"tags":[{"term_id":61,"name":"schedule","slug":"schedule","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":62,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":17,"filter":"raw","term_order":"1590"},{"term_id":333,"name":"vancouver giants","slug":"vancouver-giants","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":334,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1464,"filter":"raw","term_order":"1794"}],"class_list":["post-88654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","tag-schedule","tag-vancouver-giants","category-1488","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/62\/2026\/06\/30112336\/schedule-cover-website.png",1920,1080,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":0,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/442"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88654"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88654\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88695,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88654\/revisions\/88695"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":88687,"date":"2026-06-30T12:22:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T19:22:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/?p=88687"},"modified":"2026-06-30T12:22:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T19:22:22","slug":"giants-select-2-defencemen-in-chl-import-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/article\/giants-select-2-defencemen-in-chl-import-draft","title":{"rendered":"Giants Select 2 Defencemen in CHL Import Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><span style=\"font-family: arial, sans-serif\"><b>Ladner, B.C. \u2013\u00a0<\/b>The Vancouver Giants selected 2008-born defenceman\u00a0<strong>Jakub Flori\u0161\u2019<\/strong>\u00a0(Bratislava, SVK) and 2009-born defenceman\u00a0<b>Oliver Botka\u00a0<\/b>(Martin, SVK)\u00a0in the 2026 Canadian Hockey League Import Draft on Tuesday morning.<\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Flori\u0161\u2019, 18, was drafted by the Nashville Predators in the fourth round of the NHL Entry Draft this past weekend, 106th overall.\u00a0Botka, who turned 17 in April, is eligible for the 2027 NHL Draft.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;This really improves our backend and that&#8217;s where you build from,&#8221; Giants Head Coach and General Manager Michael Dyck said. &#8220;Both of\u00a0these\u00a0guys not only have the ability to create some offence and get pucks up the ice\u00a0and move them\u00a0to our forwards, but I think both\u00a0of them\u00a0are [also] proficient defensively and\u00a0will definitely help us\u00a0with our transition game.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Flori\u0161\u2019 is<span style=\"font-family: arial, sans-serif\">\u00a06-foot-3 and 194 lbs. The right-shot blueliner has played the last two seasons in Finland. During the 2025-26 season, Flori\u0161\u2019 recorded 10 goals and eight assists for 18 points in 38 games for Lukko U20, ranking fourth among all defencemen in the Finnish U20 league in scoring.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eliteprospects.com\/player\/873343\/jakub-floris\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.eliteprospects.com\/player\/873343\/jakub-floris&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1782933523553000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2qhuSybxMkOPSUIGsQlgd2\"><b>CLICK FOR FLORIS&#8217; ELITE PROSPECTS PROFILE<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Botka played for Slovakia as an underager at the IIHF U-18 World Championships,\u00a0where he recorded\u00a0four assists in seven games.\u00a0The 6-foot-1, left-shot blueliner led all defencemen in the Slovakian U20 league in scoring this past season with 36 points (9G-27A) in 44 games for HK Nitra U20.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eliteprospects.com\/player\/961122\/oliver-botka\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.eliteprospects.com\/player\/961122\/oliver-botka&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1782933523553000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3sg4Tr02Nu8j7jab9Eqj8Z\"><b>CLICK FOR BOTKA&#8217;S ELITE PROSPECTS PROFILE<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<hr \/>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: large\"><b>What the Scouts Says &#8211; Floris<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<h4>Elite Prospects<\/h4>\n<div>\n<div title=\"Page 1610\">\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<p>&#8220;Flori\u0161\u2019 appeal comes mainly down to the physical tools. He\u2019s a projectable skater who achieves ideal depth and has plus-level four-way mobility, regularly able to chain together end-to-end rushes and catch up on attackers when they try to beat him wide&#8230;Flori\u0161 generates reliable value on both sides of the ice. He\u2019s a proactive defender who leverages his tool advantage to pinch aggressively, force dump-ins by gapping up early, and has the frame to battle effectively down low. When the play turns the other way, he\u2019s rushing to support it if not leading it. Interestingly, Lukko utilized him on the bumper spot on the power play, which played a big part in his high goal total.&#8221; \u2013\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.eliteprospects.com\/nhl-draft-guide\/2026?position=D\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.eliteprospects.com\/nhl-draft-guide\/2026?position%3DD&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1782933523553000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0AuNnsY34U7EQbE92O9Yu-\">2026 NHL Draft Guide<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h4>Daily Faceoff<\/h4>\n<div>\n<p>&#8220;You usually know what you\u2019re getting from Flori\u0161 every time he hits the ice. He\u2019s a well-rounded blueliner who won\u2019t wow you with his offensive game but can shut you down defensively. His skating is impressive and I love how physical he is along the boards. He plays a suffocating style that gives you little room to work with.&#8221; \u2013\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailyfaceoff.com\/news\/2026-nhl-draft-rankings-final-top-120-steven-ellis-mckenna-reid-stenberg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.dailyfaceoff.com\/news\/2026-nhl-draft-rankings-final-top-120-steven-ellis-mckenna-reid-stenberg&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1782933523553000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2qRPYtNB6kmlfsYcf1KiGg\">Steven Ellis<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><span style=\"font-size: large\">What the Scouts Says &#8211; Botka<\/span><\/h3>\n<h3>Elite Prospects<\/h3>\n<div>&#8220;Frequently jumped in on rushes or carried the puck up himself. Able to use spin moves to create space and get the puck up ice. Quick hands and feet to make plays off the blue line&#8230;his raw tools and offensive upside are extremely exciting especially since he still appears to be growing and is closing in on 6-foot-2.&#8221; \u2013 Janik Beichler, EP Scout<\/div>\n<h4>Daily Faceoff<\/h4>\n<p>&#8220;I hadn\u2019t seen much of Botka\u2019s game before this tournament, but count me in as a fan. The 17-year-old put up good numbers against U-20 competition this season, and he has looked like one of the most mature options on the Slovak blueline. He makes smart, calculated decisions with the puck while eating a ton of ice time.&#8221; \u2013\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailyfaceoff.com\/news\/2026-u-18-world-championship-higlight-top-standouts-from-quarterfinals-scouting-reports-preston-suvanto\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.dailyfaceoff.com\/news\/2026-u-18-world-championship-higlight-top-standouts-from-quarterfinals-scouting-reports-preston-suvanto&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1782933523553000&amp;usg=AOvVaw27xBYM4IuUGloyxp7TBP-w\">Steven Ellis<\/a><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>The full list of 2026 CHL Import Draft selections can be found\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/chl.ca\/draft\/chl\/2025\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/chl.ca\/draft\/chl\/2025&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1782933523553000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1DYWkwXDXHU6iLnuX4tb7H\">by clicking here.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;This really improves our backend and that&#8217;s where you build from,&#8221; Giants HC &amp; GM Michael Dyck said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":442,"featured_media":88689,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1488],"tags":[{"term_id":1865,"name":"Jakub Flori\u0161","slug":"jakub-floris","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1865,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":2,"filter":"raw","term_order":"0"},{"term_id":1868,"name":"Oliver Botka","slug":"oliver-botka","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1868,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw","term_order":"0"},{"term_id":1390,"name":"CHL Import Draft","slug":"chl-import-draft","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1394,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":11,"filter":"raw","term_order":"519"},{"term_id":333,"name":"vancouver giants","slug":"vancouver-giants","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":334,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1464,"filter":"raw","term_order":"1794"}],"class_list":["post-88687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","tag-jakub-floris","tag-oliver-botka","tag-chl-import-draft","tag-vancouver-giants","category-1488","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/62\/2026\/06\/30121929\/Giants-CHL-Import-Draft-Web-Wide.jpg",1920,1080,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":0,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/442"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88687"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88687\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88690,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88687\/revisions\/88690"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":88639,"date":"2026-06-30T11:04:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T18:04:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/?p=88639"},"modified":"2026-06-30T12:49:23","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T19:49:23","slug":"giants-to-call-city-centre-arena-home-starting-in-2030","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/article\/giants-to-call-city-centre-arena-home-starting-in-2030","title":{"rendered":"Giants to Call City Centre Arena Home Starting in 2030"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Langley, B.C. \u2013 <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Vancouver Giants announced on Tuesday that the hockey club will relocate to City Centre Arena \u2013 a new sports and entertainment arena that will be completed in 2030 \u2013 in Surrey, B.C., beginning at the start of the<\/span><b> 2030-31<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Western Hockey League season.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cThis is a transformational decision for the Vancouver Giants and one that positions our organization for long-term success,\u201d Giants Majority Owner and President Ron Toigo said. \u201cWe are thrilled to be part of this amazing venue that will change the face of Surrey like never before. It\u2019s an exciting time for the city and we\u2019re proud to be part of its growth.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cMoving into a brand-new, state-of-the-art arena in Surrey City Centre gives us the opportunity to bid on premier events such as the IIHF World Junior Championship and the Memorial Cup. It will provide an outstanding experience for our players, fans and partners in a building that is designed for the future. We\u2019re grateful to the Township of Langley for its support and look forward to spending at least three more seasons there. With Michael Dyck back in the fold, we\u2019re excited to get back to our winning ways.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>City Centre Arena<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> will be located in the heart of Surrey City Centre, where the Giants will be the anchor tenant. Anticipated\u00a0to be completed by 2030, the state-of-the-art facility will be the centerpiece of Surrey&#8217;s new entertainment district, featuring an arena with an approximate seating capacity of 10,000 for hockey, concerts and community events. The development also includes a hotel with conference facilities, retail, office and commercial space connected by an enclosed galleria.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">&#8220;We&#8217;re proud to welcome the Vancouver Giants as the future anchor tenant of the City Centre Arena and Cultural Event Centre,&#8221; Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke said. &#8220;This announcement reflects the confidence that organizations like the Giants have in Surrey&#8217;s future. Together, we&#8217;re creating a world-class venue that will serve residents, attract major events, support local businesses, and help build a vibrant entertainment district in the heart of Surrey&#8217;s downtown.&#8221; <\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.surrey.ca\/news-events\/news\/10000-seat-city-centre-arena-and-vancouver-giants-are-coming-surrey\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Click <strong>HERE<\/strong><\/a> for the City of Surrey announcement.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>To inquire about purchasing season tickets to see the Vancouver Giants, call 604.4.GIANTS (604.444.2687) or <a href=\"http:\/\/vancouvergiants.com\/seasontickets\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">click here<\/a>\u00a0for more information.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Giants will be the anchor tenant at City Centre Arena in Surrey starting in 2030.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":442,"featured_media":88691,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1488],"tags":[{"term_id":1866,"name":"City Centre Arena","slug":"city-centre-arena","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1866,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw","term_order":"0"},{"term_id":1867,"name":"Surrey","slug":"surrey","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1867,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw","term_order":"0"},{"term_id":333,"name":"vancouver giants","slug":"vancouver-giants","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":334,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1464,"filter":"raw","term_order":"1794"}],"class_list":["post-88639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","tag-city-centre-arena","tag-surrey","tag-vancouver-giants","category-1488","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/62\/2026\/06\/30124612\/CitycentrearenaJune20261-scaled-e1782848819672.jpg",2560,1442,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":0,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/442"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88639"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88639\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88679,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88639\/revisions\/88679"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":88668,"date":"2026-06-30T10:28:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T17:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/?p=88668"},"modified":"2026-06-30T12:03:51","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T19:03:51","slug":"giants-select-2027-nhl-draft-prospect-botka-with-2nd-chl-import-pick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/article\/giants-select-2027-nhl-draft-prospect-botka-with-2nd-chl-import-pick","title":{"rendered":"Giants Select 2027 NHL Draft Prospect Botka with 2nd CHL Import Pick"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Ladner, B.C. \u2013 <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Vancouver Giants selected 2009-born defenceman <strong>Oliver Botka<\/strong> (Martin, SVK) with the 70th overall pick in the 2026 Canadian Hockey League Import Draft on Tuesday morning.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Botka, who turned 17 in April, is eligible for the 2027 NHL Draft and played for Slovakia as an underager at the IIHF U-18 World Championships, where he recorded four assists in seven games.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Really, really good skater,&#8221; Giants Head Coach and General Manager Michael Dyck said. &#8220;Obviously offensive upside and a guy who&#8217;s going to be a good two-way guy for us.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eliteprospects.com\/player\/961122\/oliver-botka\"><b>CLICK FOR BOTKA&#8217;S ELITE PROSPECTS PROFILE<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The 6-foot-1, left-shot blueliner led all defencemen in the Slovakian U20 league in scoring this past season with 36 points (9G-27A) in 44 games for HK Nitra U20.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>He produced 18 points (2G-16A) in 29 games in the U20 league as a 15-year-old during the 2024-25 season.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>What the Scouts Says<\/h3>\n<h4>Elite Prospects<\/h4>\n<div class=\"page\" title=\"Page 1610\">\n<div class=\"section\">\n<div class=\"layoutArea\">\n<div class=\"column\">\n<p>&#8220;The only underage player on Slovakia&#8217;s blue line, Botka was a big standout in both games I saw. A very agile skater with good size, he made an impact at both ends of the ice. He was great on retrievals, displaying good speed that allowed him to win races even against faster top prospects like Canada&#8217;s Tynan Lawrence. Consistently stood out with the puck on his stick. Able to to get the puck off the boards and start a breakout. Frequently jumped in on rushes or carried the puck up himself. Able to use spin moves to create space and get the puck up ice. Quick hands and feet to make plays off the blue line&#8230;his raw tools and offensive upside are extremely exciting especially since he still appears to be growing and is closing in on 6-foot-2. \u2013 Janik Beichler<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h4>Daily Faceoff<\/h4>\n<p>&#8220;I hadn\u2019t seen much of Botka\u2019s game before this tournament, but count me in as a fan. The 17-year-old put up good numbers against U-20 competition this season, and he has looked like one of the most mature options on the Slovak blueline. He makes smart, calculated decisions with the puck while eating a ton of ice time.&#8221; \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailyfaceoff.com\/news\/2026-u-18-world-championship-higlight-top-standouts-from-quarterfinals-scouting-reports-preston-suvanto\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Steven Ellis<\/a><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The full list of 2026 CHL Import Draft selections can be found <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/chl.ca\/draft\/chl\/2025\">by clicking here.<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Botka is a smooth-skating left-shot defenceman that is eligible for the 2027 NHL Draft.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":442,"featured_media":88674,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1488],"tags":false,"class_list":["post-88668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","category-1488","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/62\/2026\/06\/30102559\/HJ6KH4BWAAA7bXW-e1782840432810.jpg",938,529,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":0,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/442"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88668"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88668\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88685,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88668\/revisions\/88685"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":88660,"date":"2026-06-30T08:48:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T15:48:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/?p=88660"},"modified":"2026-06-30T12:01:41","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T19:01:41","slug":"giants-select-right-shot-d-man-floris-with-9th-pick-in-chl-import-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/article\/giants-select-right-shot-d-man-floris-with-9th-pick-in-chl-import-draft","title":{"rendered":"Giants Select Right-Shot D-Man Flori\u0161 with 9th Pick in CHL Import Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Ladner, B.C. \u2013 <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Vancouver Giants selected 2008-born defenceman <strong>Jakub Flori\u0161\u2019<\/strong>\u00a0(Bratislava, SVK) with the 9th overall pick in the 2026 Canadian Hockey League Import Draft on Tuesday morning.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Flori\u0161\u2019, 18, was drafted by the Nashville Predators in the fourth round of the NHL Entry Draft this past weekend, 106th overall.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Good size, big two-way defenceman that can skate,&#8221; Giants Head Coach and General Manager Michael Dyck said. &#8220;Obviously he&#8217;s going to be a big, big part of our team moving forward.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eliteprospects.com\/player\/873343\/jakub-floris\"><b>CLICK FOR FLORIS&#8217; ELITE PROSPECTS PROFILE<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The 6-foot-3, right-shot blueliner has played the last two seasons in Finland. During the 2025-26 season, Flori\u0161\u2019 recorded 10 goals and eight assists for 18 points in 38 games for Lukko U20, ranking fourth among all defencemen in the Finnish U20 league in scoring.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">During the 2024-25 season, he tallied 25 points in 37 games (8G-17A) for Lukko U18.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Internationally, Flori\u0161\u2019 recently represented Slovakia at the 2026 IIHF U-18 World Championships, where he tallied four points (2G-2A) in seven games.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Here&#39;s a look at Predators fourth-round pick Jakub Floris (No.  106). He&#39;s a 6-foot-3 defenseman with some offensive upside. Played well for Slovakia at the 2026 U-18 Worlds. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/WpRTragS5G\">pic.twitter.com\/WpRTragS5G<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Russell Vannozzi (@RussellV_MSP) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/RussellV_MSP\/status\/2070927712458264656?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 27, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Jakub Flori\u0161 outperformed Adam Goljer at the [U-18] tournament, displaying more aggressive defence while matching his counterpart in terms of puck-moving ability,&#8221; Elite Prospects scout David St. Louis said in a game report from May 13. &#8220;He escaped pressure, dragging forecheckers with him to pass back into space to his partner. And he constantly knocked opponents out of the play in this game, separating them from the puck&#8230;The tools look NHL projectable, especially his skating and physical ability, and the flashes of puck-moving potential only add to his projection. A potential bottom-pairing NHL defender.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Giants also hold the 70th overall pick in the CHL Import Draft. They will pass on their third round pick.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>More from the Scouts<\/h3>\n<h4>Elite Prospects<\/h4>\n<div class=\"page\" title=\"Page 1610\">\n<div class=\"section\">\n<div class=\"layoutArea\">\n<div class=\"column\">\n<p>&#8220;Flori\u0161\u2019 appeal comes mainly down to the physical tools. He\u2019s a projectable skater who achieves ideal depth and has plus-level four-way mobility, regularly able to chain together end-to-end rushes and catch up on attackers when they try to beat him wide&#8230;Flori\u0161 generates reliable value on both sides of the ice. He\u2019s a proactive defender who leverages his tool advantage to pinch aggressively, force dump-ins by gapping up early, and has the frame to battle effectively down low. When the play turns the other way, he\u2019s rushing to support it if not leading it. Interestingly, Lukko utilized him on the bumper spot on the power play, which played a big part in his high goal total.&#8221; \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eliteprospects.com\/nhl-draft-guide\/2026?position=D\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2026 NHL Draft Guide<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h4>Daily Faceoff<\/h4>\n<p>&#8220;You usually know what you\u2019re getting from Flori\u0161 every time he hits the ice. He\u2019s a well-rounded blueliner who won\u2019t wow you with his offensive game but can shut you down defensively. His skating is impressive and I love how physical he is along the boards. He plays a suffocating style that gives you little room to work with.&#8221; \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailyfaceoff.com\/news\/2026-nhl-draft-rankings-final-top-120-steven-ellis-mckenna-reid-stenberg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Steven Ellis<\/a><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The full list of 2026 CHL Import Draft selections can be found <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/chl.ca\/draft\/chl\/2025\">by clicking here.<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Flori\u0161 was selected by the Nashville Predators in the fourth round of the 2026 NHL Entry Draft.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":442,"featured_media":88663,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1488],"tags":[{"term_id":1865,"name":"Jakub Flori\u0161","slug":"jakub-floris","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1865,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":2,"filter":"raw","term_order":"0"},{"term_id":1728,"name":"IIHF U18 World Championship","slug":"iihf-u18-world-championship","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1728,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":13,"filter":"raw","term_order":"134"},{"term_id":1649,"name":"Slovakia","slug":"slovakia","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1649,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":4,"filter":"raw","term_order":"213"},{"term_id":1390,"name":"CHL Import Draft","slug":"chl-import-draft","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1394,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":11,"filter":"raw","term_order":"519"}],"class_list":["post-88660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","tag-jakub-floris","tag-iihf-u18-world-championship","tag-slovakia","tag-chl-import-draft","category-1488","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/62\/2026\/06\/30084739\/jakub-floris-e1782834482997.jpg",1638,1092,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":0,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/442"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88660"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88660\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88684,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88660\/revisions\/88684"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":88649,"date":"2026-06-29T14:47:38","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T21:47:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/?p=88649"},"modified":"2026-06-29T15:08:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T22:08:22","slug":"6-current-giants-at-nhl-development-camps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/article\/6-current-giants-at-nhl-development-camps","title":{"rendered":"6 Current Giants at NHL Development Camps"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Langley, B.C. <\/b>\u2013 Six members of the Vancouver Giants 2025-26 roster have earned invitations to NHL development camps, which begin this week.<\/p>\n<p>Three were drafted this past weekend in Buffalo: <a href=\"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/players\/29532\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Ryan Lin<\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/players\/29463\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Mathis Preston<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<b><a href=\"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/players\/29393\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Joe Iginla<\/a>.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Lin, 18, <a href=\"https:\/\/media.d3.nhle.com\/image\/private\/t_document\/prd\/wa2ez24kexvncob8euua.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">will join the San Jose Sharks<\/a> for their camp after they made him the 21st overall selection on Friday. Sharks camp runs from June 30 until July 2. The schedule can be found <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhl.com\/sharks\/news\/sharks-announce-2026-development-camp-schedule\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The right-shot defenceman has tallied 110 career points in 114 games over two seasons with the Giants and was named a Western Conference second team all-star this past season after tallying 57 points in 53 games.<\/p>\n<p>Preston, 17, <a href=\"https:\/\/media.d3.nhle.com\/image\/private\/t_document\/prd\/islkqkhoy4nc4icru99z.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">will join the Anaheim Ducks<\/a> for their camp after being picked 50th overall by them over the weekend. Ducks development camp begins on June 29 and runs until July 1. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhl.com\/ducks\/news\/ducks-announce-2026-development-camp-roster-and-details\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Click here<\/strong><\/a> for the camp schedule.<\/p>\n<p>The second-round draft pick recorded 12 points (4G-8A) in 10 games with Vancouver after being acquired in a mid-season trade from Spokane. He has 93 career points in 105 games split between the Giant and Chiefs.<\/p>\n<p>Iginla, 17, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhl.com\/flames\/news\/flames-prospects-attend-2026-development-camp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">will join the Calgary Flames<\/a> for development camp, after they made him a third-round pick on Saturday. The 5-foot-10 forward finished his second full WHL campaign in 2025-26 with 31 points (15G-16A) in 59 games split between the Edmonton Oil Kings and Giants.<\/p>\n<p>Joining Iginla in Calgary will be Giants forward\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/players\/29533\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Brett Olson<\/strong><\/a>, who is a free agent invite. Olson doubled his point total from his 16-year-old rookie season, finishing 2025-26 with 30 points (11G-19A). He was the only Giant to suit up in all 68 games last year.<\/p>\n<p>Flames camp runs from July 1-3. The schedule can be found <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhl.com\/flames\/news\/flames-prospects-attend-2026-development-camp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Rounding out the Giants development camp attendees are two 2025 NHL Draft picks:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/players\/29290\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Burke Hood<\/strong> <\/a>and\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/players\/29211\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Will Sharpe<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Hood, 19, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhl.com\/islanders\/news\/islanders-announce-2026-development-camp-roster\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">is back at New York Islanders camp<\/a> after he was a sixth-round selection last summer. Hood has played in 42 games in each of his first two seasons in Vancouver, collecting a 37-31-7-1 record, 3.48 goals-against average and .901 save percentage.<\/p>\n<p>Sharpe, 19, is attending his second <a href=\"https:\/\/media.d3.nhle.com\/image\/private\/t_document\/prd\/q3ff7qfyn2ziyqvxdpce.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Los Angeles Kings development camp<\/a> after he was their seventh-round pick last summer. Sharpe was a mid-season trade acquisition by the Giants and has 84 career points in 185 games. Kings camp runs June 29 through July 2. The camp schedule can be found <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhl.com\/kings\/news\/la-kings-announce-2026-devleopment-camp-roster\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Burke Hood, Will Sharpe, Ryan Lin, Mathis Preston, Joe Iginla and Brett Olson will attend NHL Development camps this week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":442,"featured_media":88650,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1488],"tags":[{"term_id":1822,"name":"Will Sharpe","slug":"will-sharpe","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1822,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":3,"filter":"raw","term_order":"40"},{"term_id":1820,"name":"Mathis Preston","slug":"mathis-preston","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1820,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":24,"filter":"raw","term_order":"42"},{"term_id":1819,"name":"Joe Iginla","slug":"joe-iginla","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1819,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":10,"filter":"raw","term_order":"43"},{"term_id":1646,"name":"NHL Development Camp","slug":"nhl-development-camp","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1646,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":3,"filter":"raw","term_order":"215"},{"term_id":1625,"name":"Burke Hood","slug":"burke-hood","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1625,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":28,"filter":"raw","term_order":"236"},{"term_id":1553,"name":"Ryan Lin","slug":"ryan-lin","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1553,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":62,"filter":"raw","term_order":"307"},{"term_id":1554,"name":"Brett Olson","slug":"brett-olson","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1554,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":18,"filter":"raw","term_order":"308"},{"term_id":122,"name":"nhl draft","slug":"nhl-draft","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":123,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":70,"filter":"raw","term_order":"1312"}],"class_list":["post-88649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","tag-will-sharpe","tag-mathis-preston","tag-joe-iginla","tag-nhl-development-camp","tag-burke-hood","tag-ryan-lin","tag-brett-olson","tag-nhl-draft","category-1488","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/62\/2026\/06\/29143133\/6-Giants-at-Development-Camps-Wide-Web.jpg",1920,1080,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":0,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/442"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88649"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88649\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88653,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88649\/revisions\/88653"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":88644,"date":"2026-06-29T12:07:29","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T19:07:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/?p=88644"},"modified":"2026-06-29T12:07:54","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T19:07:54","slug":"88644-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/article\/88644-2","title":{"rendered":"2026 NHL Draft Recap: Vancouver Giants"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Buffalo, N.Y. \u2013<\/strong> The Vancouver Giants hockey club is proud to congratulate <a href=\"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/players\/29532\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Ryan Lin<\/strong><\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/players\/29463\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Mathis Preston<\/strong><\/a> and <b><a href=\"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/players\/29393\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Joe Iginla<\/a> <\/b>on getting drafted to the NHL this weekend.<\/p>\n<p>The trio of picks is the most in one draft since 2018, when the G-Men saw Milos Roman, David Tendeck and Alex Kannok Leipert all get selected. The Giants haven&#8217;t had three picks in the first three rounds since 2007, which was also the only time in franchise they have had more than three players get selected. That season, <strong><a class=\"in-cell-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eliteprospects.com\/player\/11597\/jonathon-blum\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jonathon Blum<\/a><\/strong> went in Round 1, <strong><a class=\"in-cell-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eliteprospects.com\/player\/10481\/michal-%C5%98epik\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Michal \u0158ep\u00edk<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>went in Round 2, while <strong><a class=\"in-cell-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eliteprospects.com\/player\/12505\/spencer-machacek\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Spencer Machacek<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0<strong><a class=\"in-cell-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eliteprospects.com\/player\/11592\/tyson-sexsmith\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Tyson Sexsmith<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>both went in Round 3.<\/p>\n<p>Lin, Preston and Iginla are the 41st, 42nd and 43rd Giants to be selected in the NHL Draft in the team&#8217;s 25-year history.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Lin<\/strong> (Richmond, B.C.) <a href=\"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/article\/giants-defenceman-ryan-lin-selected-21st-overall-by-san-jose-sharks\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">was selected by the San Jose Sharks<\/a> with the 21st overall pick.<\/p>\n<p>Only four other Giants have been selected with a higher pick in franchise history: Samuel Honzek was selected 16th overall (2023 \u2013 Calgary), Bowen Byram (2019 \u2013 Colorado) and Evander Kane (2009 \u2013 Atlanta) were both selected fourth overall, and Gilbert Brule (2005 \u2013 Columbus) was selected sixth overall.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Pick 21 is a good one. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/aotx6gJShN\">pic.twitter.com\/aotx6gJShN<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SanJoseSharks\/status\/2070690635833860270?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 27, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>During the 2025-26 Western Hockey League season, Lin led the Giants in scoring with 57 points in 53 games, on 14 goals and 43 assists. The 5-foot-11 defenceman ranked 4th amongst all WHL skaters in average ice-time per game (25:58). His 1.08 points-per-game were the third-highest by a Giants defenceman in franchise history, trailing only Jonathon Blum (1.29 in 2008-09) and Mazden Leslie (1.09 in 2024-25).<\/p>\n<p>Lin was originally selected by the Giants with the 6th overall pick in the 2023 WHL Prospects Draft.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Preston<\/strong> (Penticton, B.C.) <a href=\"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/article\/vancouver-giants-forward-mathis-preston-selected-by-anaheim-in-2nd-round-of-nhl-draft\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">was selected by the Anaheim Ducks<\/a> with the 50th overall pick.<\/p>\n<p>He becomes the 12th Giant ever to be selected in the top-50 picks of an NHL Draft.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The moment Mathis Preston became a member of the <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/AnaheimDucks?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@AnaheimDucks<\/a>! <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/WHLGiants?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@WHLGiants<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/hashtag\/FlyTogether?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#FlyTogether<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/hashtag\/NHLDraft?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#NHLDraft<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/vRMrEAYC7E\">pic.twitter.com\/vRMrEAYC7E<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Western Hockey League (@TheWHL) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/TheWHL\/status\/2070902702608204233?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 27, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>During the 2025-26 Western Hockey League season, Preston recorded 12 points (4G-8A) in 10 games with Vancouver and 32 points in 36 games with the Spokane Chiefs. The 5-foot-11 right-shot forward missed significant time due to a lower-body injury that he suffered on January 10, but returned in time to deliver a standout performance for Canada at the 2026 IIHF U-18 World Championship, where he recorded two goals and four assists in five games.<\/p>\n<p>Preston was acquired by the Giants from the Chiefs in January, and was originally the 3rd overall pick by Spokane in the 2023 WHL Prospects Draft.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Iginla<\/strong> (Lake Country, B.C.) <a href=\"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/article\/joe-iginla-selected-by-flames-in-3rd-round-of-2026-nhl-entry-draft\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">was selected by the Calgary Flames<\/a> with the 65th overall pick, picked by\u00a0the same team his father, Jarome, spent the majority of his career with.<\/p>\n<p>The 5-foot-10\u00a0forward finished his second full WHL campaign in 2025-26 with 31 points (15G-16A) in 59 games split between the Edmonton Oil Kings and Giants. He was recovering from an injury at the time of the midseason trade to Vancouver, but heated up at the end of the year, with seven points (3G-4A) in his final 10 games.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Special delivery!<\/p>\n<p>Former <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/hashtag\/Flames?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Flames<\/a> captain Todd Simpson surprised Joe Iginla with his 2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/hashtag\/NHLDraft?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#NHLDraft<\/a> jersey \ud83e\udd79 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/zOVhc2RIrp\">pic.twitter.com\/zOVhc2RIrp<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/NHLFlames\/status\/2070930797914431783?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 27, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Iginla was originally the 12th overall pick by the Edmonton Oil Kings in the 2023 WHL Prospects Draft.<\/p>\n<p>The Giants congratulate Ryan, Mathis and Joe on this incredible accomplishment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The trio of picks is the most in one draft for the Giants since 2018.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":442,"featured_media":88646,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1488],"tags":false,"class_list":["post-88644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","category-1488","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/62\/2026\/06\/29120410\/NHL-Draft-Recap-Web.jpg",1920,1080,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":0,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/442"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88644"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88644\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88648,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88644\/revisions\/88648"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":88635,"date":"2026-06-27T11:18:04","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T18:18:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/?p=88635"},"modified":"2026-06-27T13:34:25","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T20:34:25","slug":"joe-iginla-selected-by-flames-in-3rd-round-of-2026-nhl-entry-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/article\/joe-iginla-selected-by-flames-in-3rd-round-of-2026-nhl-entry-draft","title":{"rendered":"Giants Forward Joe Iginla Selected by Flames in 3rd Round of 2026 NHL Entry Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Buffalo, NY<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u2013 The Vancouver Giants are thrilled to announce that 17-year-old forward<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Joe Iginla (Lake Country, B.C.) has been selected by the Calgary Flames with the first pick of the third round in the 2026 NHL Entry Draft, 65th overall.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Iginla is the third Vancouver Giant selected so far in the 2026 NHL Draft, joining Ryan Lin (21st overall, San Jose) and Mathis Preston (50th overall, Anaheim). Iginla is drafted to the same team his father, Jarome, spent the majority of his career with.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The 5-foot-10<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">forward finished his second full WHL campaign in 2025-26 with 31 points (15G-16A) in 59 games split between the Edmonton Oil Kings and Giants. He was recovering from an injury at the time of the midseason trade to Vancouver, but heated up at the end of the year, with seven points (3G-4A) in his final 10 games.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Special delivery!<\/p>\n<p>Former <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/hashtag\/Flames?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Flames<\/a> captain Todd Simpson surprised Joe Iginla with his 2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/hashtag\/NHLDraft?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#NHLDraft<\/a> jersey \ud83e\udd79 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/zOVhc2RIrp\">pic.twitter.com\/zOVhc2RIrp<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/NHLFlames\/status\/2070930797914431783?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 27, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/players\/29393\/\"><b>CLICK FOR IGINLA\u2019S WHL BIO<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cOn behalf of the Vancouver Giants, we congratulate Joe and his family on his selection by the Calgary Flames in the NHL Draft,\u201d Giants Assistant Coach Wacey Rabbit said. \u201cJoe was a welcome addition to our team at the trade deadline and finished the season playing some of his best hockey. He&#8217;s a highly competitive player with tremendous character and a bright future ahead. We know this is a special moment for Joe and his family, and it&#8217;s a fitting place for him to begin his NHL journey. We&#8217;re excited to continue supporting his development.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Iginla was originally the 12th overall pick by the Edmonton Oil Kings in the 2023 WHL Prospects Draft.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Internationally, Iginla has played for Canada at the U-17 World Challenge, winning a Silver Medal.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The 2026 NHL Entry Draft continues today from Buffalo. You can follow along <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhl.com\/events\/draft-coverage-central\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">here<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h4><b>WHAT THE SCOUTS SAY:<\/b><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cHe\u2019s got competitiveness, he\u2019s got hockey sense and he\u2019s a really driven athlete.\u201d \u2013 <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jason Bukala, live on the Sportsnet broadcast<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cHe is more of a details-based player who leverages his physical game and effort to make a difference. A retrieval machine, Iginla outworks opponents in battles, establishes the forecheck, and regularly extends the cycle, playing a linear but hard-working style. From off-the-catch wristers to cycle extension plays, Iginla has many of the habits a prospect needs to succeed in the NHL \u2013 he\u2019s far ahead of the curve when it comes to those details..Long-term, Iginla still looks like a future professional player, most likely in a checking, motor-based role. At 5-foot-10, that archetype may be more difficult to achieve, but as a team, we believe he has more offence to unlock at the WHL level.\u201d<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u2013<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eliteprospects.com\/nhl-draft-guide\/2026\"> <i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Elite Prospects Draft Guide<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h4><b>NOTES:<\/b><\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Iginla is the 43rd Giants player to ever be drafted to the NHL.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Iginla is the seventh Giant ever selected by the Calgary Flames, the most of any NHL team<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Vancouver Giants have had at least one player selected in the NHL Draft in 21 of their 25 years of existence<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Joe Iginla was selected by the Flames, the team his father, Jarome, spent the majority of his career with.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":442,"featured_media":88637,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1488],"tags":[{"term_id":1819,"name":"Joe Iginla","slug":"joe-iginla","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1819,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":10,"filter":"raw","term_order":"43"},{"term_id":122,"name":"nhl draft","slug":"nhl-draft","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":123,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":70,"filter":"raw","term_order":"1312"},{"term_id":333,"name":"vancouver giants","slug":"vancouver-giants","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":334,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1464,"filter":"raw","term_order":"1794"}],"class_list":["post-88635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","tag-joe-iginla","tag-nhl-draft","tag-vancouver-giants","category-1488","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/62\/2026\/06\/27111541\/Joe-Iginla-Flames-Web-Wide.jpg",1920,1080,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":0,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/442"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88635\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":88628,"date":"2026-06-27T10:31:54","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T17:31:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/?p=88628"},"modified":"2026-06-27T13:29:54","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T20:29:54","slug":"vancouver-giants-forward-mathis-preston-selected-by-anaheim-in-2nd-round-of-nhl-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/article\/vancouver-giants-forward-mathis-preston-selected-by-anaheim-in-2nd-round-of-nhl-draft","title":{"rendered":"Vancouver Giants Forward Mathis Preston Selected by Anaheim in 2nd Round of NHL Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Buffalo, NY<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u2013 The Vancouver Giants are thrilled to announce that 17-year-old forward<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Mathis Preston (Penticton, B.C.) has been selected by the Anaheim Ducks with the 50th overall pick in the 2026 NHL Entry Draft.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Preston becomes the 12th Giant ever to be selected in the top-50 picks of an NHL Draft.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Pure joy. I&#8217;m super excited,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/TheWHL\/status\/2070953124672512406\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Preston said to the media<\/a> after getting picked. &#8220;Heard nothing but great things [about Anaheim]. Great place to play and super fun to watch. I&#8217;m so excited and so thankful.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">During the 2025-26 Western Hockey League season, the 5-foot-11 right-shot forward recorded 12 points (4G-8A) in 10 games with Vancouver and 32 points in 36 games with the Spokane Chiefs. He missed significant time due to a lower-body injury that he suffered on January 10, but returned in time to deliver a standout performance for Canada at the 2026 IIHF U-18 World Championship, where he recorded two goals and four assists in five games.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/AnaheimDucks?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@AnaheimDucks<\/a> select Mathis Preston with the 50th overall pick \ud83e\udd29 Preston was the 33rd-ranked prospect on our final 2026 NHL Draft rankings \ud83d\udd25<\/p>\n<p>Read more about his game here: <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/fqNCB8j0zM\">https:\/\/t.co\/fqNCB8j0zM<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/fbDqgYob0j\">pic.twitter.com\/fbDqgYob0j<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Elite Prospects (@eliteprospects) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/eliteprospects\/status\/2070897804092793272?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 27, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/players\/29463\/\"><b>CLICK FOR PRESTON&#8217;S WHL BIO<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cOn behalf of the Vancouver Giants, we congratulate Mathis and his family on his selection by Anaheim in the NHL Draft,\u201d Giants Assistant Coach Wacey Rabbit said. \u201cMathis is an immensely talented player with the work ethic to match. He made an immediate impact when he returned to our lineup in March and carried that momentum into a strong performance with Canada at the U-18 World Championship. We think he has the opportunity to be a top WHL player for us next season, and we look forward to continuing to foster his development alongside the Ducks.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Preston was acquired by the Giants from the Chiefs in January, and was originally the 3rd overall pick by Spokane in the 2023 WHL Prospects Draft.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The moment Mathis Preston became a member of the <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/AnaheimDucks?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@AnaheimDucks<\/a>! <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/WHLGiants?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@WHLGiants<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/hashtag\/FlyTogether?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#FlyTogether<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/hashtag\/NHLDraft?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#NHLDraft<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/vRMrEAYC7E\">pic.twitter.com\/vRMrEAYC7E<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Western Hockey League (@TheWHL) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/TheWHL\/status\/2070902702608204233?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 27, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Internationally, Preston has represented Canada four times, most recently at the 2026 IIHF U-18 World Championship, where he won a Bronze medal. Preston also won Bronze at the 2025 Hlinka Gretzky Cup, Gold at the 2024 U17 World Challenge (Canada White) and played for Canada at the 2023 Youth Olympic Games.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The 2026 NHL Entry Draft continues today from Buffalo. You can follow along <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhl.com\/events\/draft-coverage-central\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">here<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h4><b>WHAT THE SCOUTS SAY:<\/b><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cAnother guy I thought was going to sneak into the first round. Love his two-way energy\u2026He ended the season on a high note representing Canada at the U-18 worlds. Energy, compete, two-way guy, can play up and down the lineup, [can] rip a puck from the weakside flank on the power play. I really love his character. I\u2019m really happy for him as well. He book-ended his season. He was really good at the Hlinka Gretzky [Cup] last summer and then he was really good for Canada at the Worlds. A little uneven in between, but speed, tenacity and this: he knows how to put the puck in the net.\u201d \u2013 <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jason Bukala, live on the Sportsnet broadcast<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cMathis Preston is the king of upside in this class&#8230;When you watch him on the ice, though, he&#8217;s a high-paced, high-skill winger who is like a knife through butter in transition at times. Preston is always looking to make an impact offensively, using his snappy shot and slick passing to generate scoring chances. He has all of the potential in the world to be one of the most effective offensive players in this draft class. While he has fallen down many lists, his ability to be a true game-breaker is too enticing in my opinion.\u201d \u2013 <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Tony Ferrari (<\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/thehockeynews.com\/news\/latest-news\/2026-nhl-draft-rankings-ferraris-final-cut-has-a-new-no-1\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Hockey News<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">)<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cHe\u2019s an undeniably talented player who could become a top-six threat down the line. Preston has a remarkable shot and often wastes no time firing in the back of the net from the slot. It\u2019s NHL-ready right now \u2013 something very few 17\/18-year-olds can claim. Preston consistently finds open space, but he can also create those opportunities with his skating. He\u2019s fast, can start and stop on a dime and can often skate himself out of dangerous situations.\u201d <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u2013 Steven Ellis (<\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailyfaceoff.com\/news\/2026-nhl-draft-rankings-final-top-120-steven-ellis-mckenna-reid-stenberg\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Daily Faceoff<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">)<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cPreston is one of the fastest skaters in the draft class, combining fully-extended strides with rapid-fire crossovers to blaze around defenders. With hands that match, he dangles opponents, often in creative ways, and masks his release with quick handling. Speaking of his shot, it too is lethal. Preston fires with power and precision at full speed, without even breaking stride. He requires no wind-up, fires off the catch, and doesn\u2019t need much to find a corner\u2026If Preston keeps developing his change-of-pace game, playmaking, and inside play, he could become a second-line scorer.\u201d \u2013<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eliteprospects.com\/nhl-draft-guide\/2026\"> <i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Elite Prospects Draft Guide<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h4><b>NOTES:<\/b><\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Preston is the 42nd Giants player to ever be drafted to the NHL.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Preston was selected with the exact same pick (50th) as Giants great Milan Lucic was 20 years ago<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Preston becomes the first ever Vancouver Giant to be selected by the Anaheim Ducks<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Vancouver Giants have had at least one player selected in the NHL Draft in 21 of their 25 years of existence<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Preston was the 50th overall pick on Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":442,"featured_media":88632,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1488],"tags":[{"term_id":1820,"name":"Mathis Preston","slug":"mathis-preston","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1820,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":24,"filter":"raw","term_order":"42"},{"term_id":122,"name":"nhl draft","slug":"nhl-draft","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":123,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":70,"filter":"raw","term_order":"1312"},{"term_id":333,"name":"vancouver giants","slug":"vancouver-giants","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":334,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1464,"filter":"raw","term_order":"1794"}],"class_list":["post-88628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","tag-mathis-preston","tag-nhl-draft","tag-vancouver-giants","category-1488","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/62\/2026\/06\/27104629\/Preston-Anaheim-Ducks-1-scaled-e1782585284452.jpg",2560,1438,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":0,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/442"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88628"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88628\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88638,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88628\/revisions\/88638"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":88623,"date":"2026-06-26T20:10:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T03:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/?p=88623"},"modified":"2026-06-26T21:12:30","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T04:12:30","slug":"giants-defenceman-ryan-lin-selected-21st-overall-by-san-jose-sharks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/article\/giants-defenceman-ryan-lin-selected-21st-overall-by-san-jose-sharks","title":{"rendered":"Giants Defenceman Ryan Lin Selected 21st Overall by San Jose Sharks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Buffalo, NY<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u2013 The Vancouver Giants are thrilled to announce that 18-year-old defenceman<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ryan Lin (Richmond, B.C.) has been selected by the San Jose Sharks with the 21st overall pick in the 2026 NHL Entry Draft.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;For me this day is about [my family],&#8221; Lin said to Ailish Forfar live on the Sportsnet broadcast after getting drafted. &#8220;They&#8217;ve done everything to help get me here. I couldn&#8217;t thank them enough. What a dream this is.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Sharks traded up from pick 27 to 21 in order to select Lin.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Just to know they traded up and really wanted me \u2013 that feels good for sure,&#8221; Lin added.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Only four other Giants have been selected with a higher pick in franchise history: Samuel Honzek was selected 16th overall (2023 \u2013 Calgary), Bowen Byram (2019 \u2013 Colorado) and Evander Kane (2009 \u2013 Atlanta) were both selected fourth overall, and Gilbert Brule (2005 \u2013 Columbus) was selected sixth overall.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Suited up in teal. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/FMXURMZjZr\">pic.twitter.com\/FMXURMZjZr<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SanJoseSharks\/status\/2070693213527249199?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 27, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">During the 2025-26 Western Hockey League season, Lin led the Giants in scoring with 57 points in 53 games, on 14 goals and 43 assists. The 5-foot-11 defenceman ranked 4th amongst all WHL skaters in average ice-time per game (25:58). His 1.08 points-per-game were the third-highest by a Giants defenceman in franchise history, trailing only Jonathon Blum (1.29 in 2008-09) and Mazden Leslie (1.09 in 2024-25).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/players\/29532\/\"><b>CLICK FOR LIN&#8217;S WHL BIO<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cOn behalf of the Vancouver Giants, we\u2019d like to congratulate Ryan and his family on his selection by San Jose in the NHL Draft,\u201d Giants Assistant Coach Wacey Rabbit said. \u201cRyan played an important role on our team over the past two seasons, bringing reliability, competitiveness and leadership to our defence corps. We\u2019re proud of everything he has accomplished and congratulate him on this well-deserved recognition.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The moment Ryan Lin became a member of the <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SanJoseSharks?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@SanJoseSharks<\/a>. \ud83e\udd88<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/WHLGiants?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@WHLGiants<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/hashtag\/NHLDraft?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#NHLDraft<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/rdSHsLRHyw\">pic.twitter.com\/rdSHsLRHyw<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Western Hockey League (@TheWHL) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/TheWHL\/status\/2070689824668033182?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 27, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Lin was originally selected by the Giants with the 6th overall pick in the 2023 WHL Prospects Draft.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Internationally, Lin has represented Canada five times already, most recently at the 2026 IIHF U-18 World Championship, where he won a Bronze medal. Lin also won Bronze at the 2025 Hlinka Gretzky Cup, Gold at the 2025 U-18 Men\u2019s Worlds, Gold at the 2024 U17 World Challenge (Canada White) and played for Canada at the 2023 Youth Olympic Games.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Round two of the 2026 NHL Entry Draft begins tomorrow (Saturday) morning from Buffalo at 8 a.m. PT. You can follow along <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhl.com\/events\/draft-coverage-central\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">here<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><b>WHAT THE SCOUTS SAY:<\/b><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cLin does almost everything at a high level, executes the small things extremely well and plays the game with a rare quality, maturity and detail for a D his age. He steers play with his quiet efficiency, feel for the game, puck-moving, A-level hockey IQ, good skating\u2026a great stick offensively and defensively, and head-on-a-swivel defensive play and reads&#8230;he\u2019s just an excellent all-around modern defenseman who gets it, and I think there\u2019s some Josh Morrissey\/Jared Spurgeon in him. I think he\u2019s a phenomenal player who plays the game the way it&#8217;s meant to be played.\u201d <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u2013 Scott Wheeler (<\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/7301063\/2026\/06\/03\/nhl-draft-2026-ranking-gavin-mckenna-ivar-stenberg\/\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Athletic<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">)<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cLin is a transitional defenceman and power play quarterback. He added more of a \u201cshooting\u201d approach to his game offensively this season, producing 14G-43A in the process.\u201d <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u2013 Jason Bukala (<\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportsnet.ca\/nhl\/article\/scouts-analysis-ranking-the-top-80-prospects-for-the-2025-nhl-draft\/\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sportsnet<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">)<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">&#8220;Defensively, Lin already looks like an NHL defender. Combining high-end mobility, stick work, and physicality, he makes the tricky stops look routine. He defends the middle with intent, using every defensive skill possible to push opponents to the perimeter, where he then darts into a physical breakup\u2026Skating back for loose pucks, Lin shoulderchecks, initiates contact, and then makes a quick escape, but not after drawing pressure first. With clever short-range plays, he gets pucks through the forecheck and then jumps into the rush\u2026Though he\u2019s a couple inches short of average NHL height for defencemen, Lin is about as easy a projection as there is. He\u2019s likely to become a top-four, two-way defenceman who plays both special teams.\u201d \u2013<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eliteprospects.com\/nhl-draft-guide\/2026\"> <i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Elite Prospects Draft Guide<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n<h4><b>NOTES:<\/b><\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Lin becomes just the seventh Giants player ever to be drafted in the first round. The others are: Samuel Honzek (2023 \u2013 Calgary, 16th overall); Bowen Byram (2019 \u2013 Colorado, 4th overall); Evander Kane (2009 &#8211; Atlanta, 4th overall); Jonathon Blum (2007 \u2013 Nashville, 23rd overall); Gilbert Brule (2005 &#8211; Columbus, 6th overall); Mark Fistric (2004 \u2013 Dallas, 28th overall).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Lin is the 41st Giants player to ever be drafted to the NHL.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Lin becomes the third Vancouver Giant ever to be selected by the San Jose Sharks, after Colton Roberts (2024) and Tyson Sexsmith (2007)\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Vancouver Giants have had at least one player selected in the NHL Draft in 21 of their 25 years of existence<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Giants <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/seasontickets\/\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">season tickets <\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">are NOW ON SALE! Call the Giants Office at 604.4.GIANTS (+1 (604) 444-2687) or contact the Giants at: sales@vancouvergiants.com.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Giants captain Ryan Lin joined Ivar Stenberg, Keaton Verhoeff and the San Jose Sharks on Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":442,"featured_media":88627,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1488],"tags":[{"term_id":1553,"name":"Ryan Lin","slug":"ryan-lin","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1553,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":62,"filter":"raw","term_order":"307"},{"term_id":122,"name":"nhl draft","slug":"nhl-draft","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":123,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":70,"filter":"raw","term_order":"1312"}],"class_list":["post-88623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","tag-ryan-lin","tag-nhl-draft","category-1488","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/62\/2026\/06\/26211216\/Lin-Sharks-2-scaled.jpg",2560,1708,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":0,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/442"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88623"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88623\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88626,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88623\/revisions\/88626"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl-giants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}]