Giants forward Thorpe signs three-year, entry-level contract with Montreal Canadiens

Montreal, Que.- Nineteen-year-old Vancouver Giants forward Tyler Thorpe has put pen to paper on a three-year, entry-level contract with the Montreal Canadiens.

The contract will take effect at the start of the 2025-26 season and Thorpe will join Montreal’s AHL affiliate for the remainder of the season on a professional tryout.

“I can’t thank everyone in the Giants organization enough, let alone the guys who brought me in here originally,” Thorpe said. “If you’re telling seven-year-old me that I was signing an NHL contract at 19, I would have said ‘there’s no way.’ Now that it’s becoming a reality, it’s remarkable.”

The 6-foot-4, 215-pound winger is coming off a promising season that saw him bury tally a career-best 27 goals (including two game-winners) and 25 assists for 52 points in 68 games.

Thorpe finished third on the Giants in goals and was second among all WHL skaters with six shorthanded tallies.

He’s put up back-to-back 20-plus goal seasons with the G-men and hit a major milestone this year by surpassing the century mark with 102 career points (54G-48A) and set a personal high with a four-assist outing against the Portland Winterhawks on December 8, 2024.

The Richmond, B.C. product also has three points (1G02A) in nine playoff appearances.

Montreal selected the towering forward with the 130th overall pick in the fifth round of the 2024 NHL Draft.

Thorpe broke into the WHL as an undrafted free agent with the Giants in 2022-23.

“On behalf of the entire Vancouver Giants organization, we want to congratulate Tyler Thorpe on signing his entry-level contract with the Montreal Canadiens,” Giants General Manager Barclay Parneta said. “We are incredibly proud of Tyler and the hard work he’s put in to reach this point. He’s earned this opportunity and we believe he still has a tremendous amount of upside in his game. The best is yet to come.”

Thorpe is already en route to la belle province to join the AHL-leading Laval Rocket.