Three Giants are on the NHL's draft watch list. Two of them play in Langley this month
A Saskatchewan centre, a rookie goalie from Edmonton and a Slovak defenceman you won't see at the LEC yet: who the scouts flagged, what the letter grades mean, and the November home games to catch them.
Every October, NHL Central Scouting publishes a first long list of the teenagers its scouts want to keep watching before the following June’s draft. On October 26 the 2027 edition came out, and the Vancouver Giants had three names on it. Two of them are on the ice at the Langley Events Centre most weekends. Here’s who they are and what the letter beside each name means.
Reading the letters
The list sorts players into five tiers. An A means the scouts see a possible first-round pick. B is second or third round, C fourth or fifth, W sixth or seventh, and LV is “limited viewing”, for players who’ve been hurt. It is a watch list, not a ranking, and it gets redone at midseason and again before the draft, so a C in October can be a B by April or drop off entirely. Fifty-four players who came up through the WHL made this first cut, five of them with an A. None of the Giants’ three is in that top tier, and most of the 54 aren’t either: 17 of them carry a C.
Blake Chorney, centre: C
A left-shot centre from Nipawin, Saskatchewan, listed at 6’0" and 200 lb, in his second full season with the Giants. When the list came out he was second in team scoring with 13 points in 13 games (five goals, eight assists), and the team pointed to a seven-game run of 10 points and a plus-10 rating as the stretch that got him noticed. Last season he had 20 points in 64 games, so the jump is real. A C rating puts him in the fourth-or-fifth-round conversation for now.
Oliver Bryks, goaltender: W
A 6’3" rookie from Edmonton in his first WHL season. He won his first start, the home opener on September 19, stopping 25 of 27, and by October 26 had a 3-1-1 record, a 2.59 goals-against average and a .893 save percentage. Goalies are usually the slowest to climb these lists, and a W (sixth or seventh round) for a first-year netminder is a foot in the door rather than a verdict. If he’s in the crease on a night you go, you’re watching a first-year goalie the league is already tracking.
Oliver Botka, defence: B
The highest grade of the three belongs to the player you can’t see here. Botka, from Martin, Slovakia, was the Giants’ pick at 70th overall in the 2026 CHL Import Draft, which gives the club his CHL rights. For now he’s playing pro at home for HK Nitra, where he had an assist in eight games when the list came out. Whether he comes over to Langley is up to him and the club; until then he’s a name to file away.
Where to see them
Chorney and Bryks are at the LEC, 7888 200 Street, for these November home games:
- Sunday, Nov 1 vs. Prince George, 4 pm
- Friday, Nov 6 vs. Tri-City, 7 pm
- Saturday, Nov 7 vs. Moose Jaw, 7 pm (Minor Hockey Night)
- Tuesday, Nov 10 vs. Spokane, 7 pm
- Saturday, Nov 14 vs. Penticton, 7 pm (also Métis Night)
Single tickets are sold through the Giants’ site, parking is free, and if you’re bringing the kids our family-night guide covers seats, bag rules and the getaway on 200 Street. Starting goalies are only announced on game day, so Bryks is never a sure thing; Chorney, barring injury, is.