Giants First Round Selections

While many are watching the NHL playoffs despite the fact that the Canucks finished last with a record of 25 wins, 49 losses, 8 OTL, 2 SHL, 2 S0 finishing with a dismal 58 pts through 82 games the Vancouver Giants are adding to their roster.

Locally the WHL Giants brass made key selections in the recent 2026 Bantam WHL Draft selecting a pair by selecting both a “D” from the Delta Academy in the third selection as well as a power forward from the Okanagan Rockets with their fourth selection.

While many hockey fans continue to question any trade selection made by any team for them it’s only a guessing game first cause they think they know and understand the wants and needs of the team they cheer on.

Making moves to climb up the standings finishing higher than the previous season, personally I know that the Giants scouts attend various games watching future WHL stars to improve their team’s roster.

Let’s not forget that the Giants have managed to have four players playing in this season’s playoffs and the most notable being Cranbrook’s Bowen Byram who finished the 82 game season with 11 goals, 31 assists for a new career high with a +15

The Giants started moving their second pick to the Wenatchee Wild in exchange for the third overall pick in 2026, a first-round pick in 2030, a second-round pick in 2027 and a second-round pick in 2028. 

Trades don’t come easy considering they had other teams wanting to trade up for their selection but the move sees them select 5’ 9” Eli Vickers who played for the Delta Academy U15 squad who led all U15 prep “D” finishing with 22 goals, 40 assists for 62 points in 30 games.

In a recent conversation with Giants Head Scout Terry Bonner he mentions “First and foremost, Eli Vickers is a real fine young man and does everything really, really well making plays…and he’s second to none in his work ethic for the game. His awareness is really good. He angles, contains and finishes checks really well [and has] good gap control. He just plays hard.”

We should also note that as a left shot he finished fifth among all U15 skaters in point finishing with 98 points in 65 games which is second most all time among defensemen.

With the fourth in the first round they selected Brayedn Jagnauth played for the U18 AAA Okanagan Rockets who was named the U18 player of the year in the BC Elite Hockey League. 

This past season he managed to produce 58 points (32G-26A) in 34 games managing to add nine (9) goals and nine (9) assists in six playoff games, helping the Rockets win back-to-back U18 Championships as a young 14-year-old.

Giants Director of Scouting Kelly Kursteiner mentioned “We really felt that he was one of the top forwards available in the draft, so we’re really excited to get him in that spot with him being an elite level player and does some highly skilled things as well as being a great skater with lots of scoring ability.”

He managed to lead the BCEHL with 32 goals while noting that his 58 points ranked second overall helping the Rockets to the TELUS Cup National Championship where they advanced to the semifinal with  6 goals, 5 assists in seven games.

As of press time the second round of the 2026 WHL Prospects Draft takes is on-line

with the Giants having the 26th overall pick, 33rd overall pick and 49th overall pick, plus additional picks in Round 7 and beyond.

Given the selections they have it’ll be not just an interesting camp in August but also an exciting season of Vancouver Giants hockey.