Vancouver Giants centre Blake Chorney is starting to get on NHL teams’ radar, and the early conversations are already pointing to the same thing: he does a little bit of everything.
That’s the part of the game Chorney has built himself around. The 17-year-old from Nipawin, Sask., says he’s long studied Sidney Crosby, not just for the points, but for the complete package.
“Watching Crosby, you see that he wins faceoffs, he makes plays in the d-zone,” Chorney said. “At the NHL level, that’s what they need and want. I’m building my game on that basis.”
Crosby’s name carries obvious weight. The Pittsburgh Penguins star went into Wednesday with 1,774 career points after moving past Marcel Dionne for No. 6 on the NHL’s all-time list. But for Chorney, the appeal is the way Crosby impacts every part of the ice, and that’s the model he’s trying to follow.
The Giants have been using Chorney that way, too. Vancouver took the 6-foot, 204-pound left shot in the first round, 10th overall, in the 2024 WHL Draft, and he’s now being used in all situations.
He’s on the half wall on the No. 1 power play unit, though that group moves around constantly when it’s clicking. He also kills penalties and gets trusted late in games, whether the Giants are protecting a lead or trying to find one.
The production has followed. Chorney had three assists in Friday’s 5-3 loss to the Tri-City Americans, then came back with three goals and an assist in Saturday’s 10-3 win over the Moose Jaw Warriors. That pushed him to eight goals and 21 points in 19 games this season, after he put up eight goals and 20 points in 64 games as a rookie last year.
“He plays with poise. His plays with vision.
He plays fast. He gets to the middle of the ice and he can shoot it when he gets the chance,” Vancouver leading scorer Mathis Preston said.
“He’s a hybrid - a power forward who has skill as well. He’s getting a lot better all the time and hopefully he can keep playing some good hockey for us here.”
Chorney hasn’t said how many NHL teams have reached out, but he did note that the contact has come from area scouts and that he has not spoken with a general manager yet.
“It’s exciting. Growing up, watching NHL games and different NHL teams, and now you’re getting interviewed by teams,” Chorney said.
“Watching games, sometimes I feel like I’m a player and sometimes I feel like I’m a fan. Watching Canucks games has been pretty cool.”
NHL Central Scouting listed Chorney as a C-rated player last month, which projected him as a possible fourth- or fifth-round pick. But that list was set before his latest surge, and the fact that teams are already interviewing him suggests he could climb well beyond that. Players who are being interviewed this early are often in the third round mix at minimum.
Chorney made his own goals clear right after that watch list came out.
“The work starts now. I want to be A ranked at the end of the year, to be honest,” he told Giants play-by-play man Nathan Kanter.
“I’ll keep working toward that. I’ll keep working on my game.”
The Giants, meanwhile, entered Wednesday at 10-6-1-2 and third in the Western Conference after a 4-2 loss Tuesday at the Langley Events Centre to the first-place Spokane Chiefs, who were 13-2-0-1.
Vancouver had stretches where it looked more connected and more energetic than it did in that result, and it also put 18 shots on goal in the third period while hitting a post and a crossbar. Still, Spokane has been the WHL’s class so far, and the Chiefs were ranked No. 3 nationally on Tuesday, behind only the Guelph Storm and Val-d’Or Foreurs.
“We got a chance to see where we are at,” Giants general manager and coach Michael Dyck said. “Against a team like that, it’s always pretty tight and you have to earn what you get. They play as five, they don’t give up too many opportunities as far as unforced errors.
“For us, we can look at it as glass half full. There are things we need to clean up, but the nice thing is that it’s only November.”
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