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Surrey’s Sourdif among A-list ‘Players to Watch’ for NHL Entry Draft in Monteal next June

The right-shot forward has eight goals and nine assists with Vancouver Giants this season
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Justin Sourdif in action with the Vancouver Giants last season. (Photo: Giants/WHL)

Surrey’s Justin Sourdif is on NHL Central Scouting’s updated “Players to Watch” list for the 2020 NHL Draft.

The Vancouver Giants forward is projected as a first-round pick at the draft in Montreal next June.

On Thursday (Nov. 14), the Western Hockey League announced Sourdif among 52 WHL players on the draft “watch” list.

Sourdif, who grew up in the Boundary Park area of Surrey, is among five WHL players given an “A” rating, indicating first-round draft potential.

Other “A”-rated players on the list include Prince Albert Raiders defenceman Kaiden Guhle, Moose Jaw Warriors defenceman Daemon Hunt, Brandon Wheat Kings defenceman Braden Schneider and Kamloops Blazers forward Connor Zary.

Lucas Svejkovsky, Sourdif’s teammate on the Giants, is among 36 WHL players given a “C” rating as a potential fourth- or fifth-round pick in the NHL Entry Draft next spring.

CLICK HERE to see the “Players to Watch” list.

Last August in the Czech Republic, Sourdif played on a Team Canada squad that won the silver medal at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup hockey tournament, after a 3-2 loss to Team Russia.

One of just two B.C.-based players on the team, the right-shot Sourdif was given some first-line minutes by coach Michael Dyck, his bench boss with the Giants during the WHL season, and finished with a goal and one assist in five tourney games.

His play at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup helped get Sourdif noticed with NHL scouts.

“This tournament obviously is a great showcase for guys in their draft year, but it’s not the be-all, end-all,” Sourdif told the Now-Leader after the tourney ended. “Some guys on the Hlinka team last year weren’t picked at all (in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft), so you know it all depends on consistency and how you play throughout the year, so whether you played well at the Hlinka or even made the team, that doesn’t really matter. It’s what you’ve been doing lately.”

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This season with the Giants, Sourdif has eight goals and nine assists in 18 games (as of Nov. 14), and is 38th among the league’s top point-scorers.

At 24th is fellow Surrey product Luka Burzan, a Brandon Wheat Kings forward picked 171st overall by Colorado Avalanche in last spring’s NHL Entry Draft, held in Vancouver.

RELATED STORY: Rocky Mountain high: Surrey’s Burzan picked in NHL draft by Colorado Avalanche.



Tom Zillich

About the Author: Tom Zillich

I cover entertainment, sports and news stories for the Surrey Now-Leader, where I've worked for more than half of my 30-plus years in the newspaper business.
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