Tracking down some notable ex-Giants
Benson soars with Condors, Ronning recovering from injury, Manning signed with IceHogs
Vancouver Giants fans don’t have trouble finding info on Milan Lucic, Brendan Gallagher, Evander Kane and other former standouts from years gone by now playing in the NHL.
But with players in the minors and suiting up abroad, the degree of difficulty goes up.
Here’s an update on what some former Giants of note are doing now:
TYLER BENSON (2013-18)
He’s age eligible to be back with the Giants this season as a 20-year-old, but the Edmonton Oilers opted to assign their 2016 second-round draft pick to their AHL Bakersfield Condors affiliate, and Benson has fit right in. The left winger is second in scoring on the Condors with 35 points, including six goals. And Giants fans will take notice that Benson, the No. 1 pick in the 2013 WHL bantam draft who had assorted injury trouble in his time with Vancouver and played just 183 of a possible 288 regular-season games over his four full-time seasons with the club, has suited up for all 44 games that Bakersfield has had to date. He’s one of just two players to have done that with Bakersfield this year.
TY RONNING (2013-18)
Ronning, 21, has not played with the ECHL’s Maine Mariners since suffering a lower-body injury in a Jan. 18 game. The team is listing the New York Rangers’ 2016 seventh-round selection as dayto-day. The right winger has nine goals and 19 points in 22 games with Maine so far this season. The Rangers signed Ronning last March, in the midst of him setting a Giants’ single-season record for goals (61). He’s one of six players from that round who have inked a deal with their draft team. Ronning started the season with the Rangers’ AHL Hartford Wolf Pack team but was sent down a level to Maine after producing one goal in eight games with Hartford. The son of Vancouver Canuck fan favourite Cliff Ronning is second all-time in goals (127) and fourth in points (218) with the Giants.
DARIAN SKEOCH (2016-18)
The 21-year-old defenceman went the USports route when he graduated from the WHL at the close of last season and joined the Carleton Ravens, a team in Ottawa which also includes one-time Giants winger Dakota Odgers, 22. Skeoch has two goals and six points in 22 games with Carleton, who are 16-5-5 so far this season. Carleton, who are coached by former NHLer Shaun Van Allen, is No. 8 in this week’s USports national rankings.
BRENNAN RIDDLE (2018)
Acquired from the Lethbridge Hurricanes at the trade deadline last year in exchange for forward Brad Morrison, Riddle is a rookie defenceman this season with the University of Regina Cougars. Regina’s struggling, sitting last in the eight-team Canada West with a 4-21-1 record heading into this weekend’s regular-season finale two-game set against the UBC Thunderbirds. Riddle, 21, has two goals and seven points in 25 games.
BRAD MORRISON (2017-18)
Acquired in the summer from the Prince George Cougars for a 2018 second-round bantam draft pick and then traded away for Riddle, Morrison parlayed a tremendous playoff with Lethbridge (16 goals and 37 points in 16 games) into a free-agent contract with the Los Angeles Kings in May. The Kings have him with their AHL Ontario Reign team and, heading into a Wednesday visit to the San Diego Gulls, Morrison had nine goals and 15 points in 35 games. Morrison, who just turned 22, was a 2015 fourthround selection of the New York Rangers but they opted against signing him.
NEIL MANNING (2006-12)
The Giants all-time leader in games played (310) has had himself a busy season. After four years at UBC and two years in an Italian league, the 27-year-old rearguard signed an AHL contract with the Rockford IceHogs, the farm club of the Chicago Blackhawks, in August. Rockford assigned him to the ECHL’s Indy Fuel and Manning played well enough there that he was picked to the ECHL All-Star game. Before he could play in the game, though, he opted out of his deal to sign with a German team, EC Kassel Huskies. He had four assists in his first seven games with his new team.
CODY FRANSON (2002-07)
The rearguard, who was one of the keys in Vancouver’s 2007 Memorial Cup triumph, signed a free-agent deal with Avangard Omsk of the KHL in August. When you include two stops with the Nashville Predators, he had bounced between five NHL teams the previous nine years. As of Wednesday morning, Franson, 31, was seventh in scoring among defencemen in the KHL, thanks to his 27 points — including five goals — in 50 games.
CAIN FRANSON (2010-14)
Cody’s little brother, who is sixth all-time in goals (89) on the Giants, is in his fifth and final season with the University of Calgary Dinos. This Franson, a 25-year-old forward, had six goals and 13 points in 15 games this year. For a second straight year, he was part of the USports allstar team that played against Team Canada as part of their preparations for the world juniors. The Dinos are 18-6-2 on the season and are the No. 5 team in the current USports national rankings.
TREVOR COX (2015-16)
The 23-year-old forward, who finished his final season of junior eligibility with Vancouver after a trade with the Medicine Hat Tigers, is part of an Alberta Golden Bears squad that holds down the No. 1 spot in the current USports national rankings. Alberta, who are 22-3-1 on the season, are also the reigning national champions. Cox’s Alberta teammates include defenceman Clayton Kirichenko, 22, who, as luck would have it, was the player who Vancouver traded to Medicine Hat to land Cox. The Giants also sent a 2018 second-round bantam pick to the Tigers in that Oct. 28, 2015 swap. Alberta also features former Giants centre Riley Kieser, 25. Cox, who’s in his third season with Alberta, has 24 points, including seven goals, in 23 games.
DALTON SWARD (2009-15)
Sward, 25, who’s third alltime in games played (294) on the Giants behind Manning and Craig Cunningham (295), is in his fourth year of USports competition with the Lethbridge Pronghorns. Lethbridge carries an 8-16-2 record into the final weekend of the regular season but has grabbed the sixth and final playoff spot in Canada West.
Sward, a forward, has four goals and nine points in 26 games. His teammates with Lethbridge include former Giants defenceman Blake Orban, 25, and Jeff Rayman, 22.
JON BLUM (2005-09)
The 30-year-old defenceman got a late start to the year, signing with the KHL’s Dinamo Minsk in November. He has three goals and nine points through 29 games. He was part of the American team at the Pyeongchang 2018 Olympic Games. Blum is the Giants all-time leader in assists (155) and was part four 100-point teams, including the 2007 Memorial Cup side.
GILBERT BRULE (2002-06)
The 32-year-old centre was part of the Canadian team at the Pyeongchang 2018 Olympics. He, too, is in the KHL, playing with Sibir Novosibirsk, where he’s produced 21 points, including seven goals, in 25 games. It’s his sixth KHL team in the past five seasons. Brule (2002) is one of two first overall bantam draft selections in the Giants’ 18 years of existence, with Benson the other. Brule (sixth overall, Columbus, 2005) is one four Giants picked in the first round of the NHL Draft, along with Kane (fourth overall, Atlanta, 2009), Blum (23rd overall, Nashville, 2007) and Mark Fistric (28th overall, Dallas, 2004). Current Giants defenceman Bowen Byram is expected to join that group in June, when the NHL Draft is held at Rogers Arena.
LANCE BOUMA (2005-10)
Bouma, who’s from the Giants glory years like Blum and Brule, signed with Swiss team Geneve-Servette as a free agent in August but played in just three games there before requiring season-ending knee surgery. The 28-year-old forward had seven years of NHL action on his resume, most of it with the Calgary Flames.
GARET HUNT (2004-08)
Hunt, 31, was expected to play his 679th ECHL regular-season game on Wednesday when his Jacksonville Icemen visited the Orlando Solar Bears.
The league record is 859, set by Sam Ftorek is his stint in the circuit from 1998-2018. Hunt, a winger, already has the league mark in penalty minutes, carrying 2,595 into his game Wednesday. Through 45 games this season, Hunt has four goals, 12 points and 197 penalty minutes.
His teammates in Jacksonville include centre Wacey Rabbit, 32, who was a key trade addition for the 2007 Memorial Cup team.
JAMES HENRY (2006-12)
Henry, 27, had 41 points including 11 goals, in 46 ECHL games with the Adirondack Thunder heading into a Wednesday visit to the Florida Everblades. It’s his sixth year in the league and his career high in points in 54, which he set in 65 games with the Thunder two years ago and then equalled in 72 games with Adirondack last season.