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Five Giants at NHL rookie camps

Surrey’s Matt Barberis attending NHL rookie camp with Vancouver Giants
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Vancouver Giants defenceman Matt Barberis is attending the Vancouver Canucks rookie camp. He is one of six Giants invited to various NHL rookie camps. Gary Ahuja Langley Times file photo

Five members of the Vancouver Giants are off to NHL rookie training camps around the league.

Giants captain Tyler Benson will attend his second camp with the Edmonton Oilers. The forward was a second round pick of the Oilers in the 2016 NHL draft and has signed with the NHL club.

Ty Ronning — Vancouver’s leading scorer in the 2016/17 WHL season — will also attend his second camp with the NHL club which drafted him in 2016, the New York Rangers. The Rangers chose the winger in the seventh round.

And four other members of the Giants will attend various NHL camps as free agents.

Forwards Brad Morrison and Brendan Semchuk will attend camps for Calgary and Washington, respectively, while defenceman Matt Barberis is going to camp with the Vancouver Canucks.

A sixth member of the Giants, Dylan Plouffe, was scheduled to attend rookie camp with Florida, but the Panthers cancelled the camp because of Hurricane Irma.

Ronning and Morrison are both in their over-age season, meaning they could conceivably land contracts and play in the American Hockey League.

As a 19-year-old, Benson can only play in the NHL or he must return to major junior with Vancouver.

The same holds true were Semchuk or Barberis to make enough of an impression to land a contract offer.

The rest of the Giants squad will hit the ice at the Langley Events Centre this weekend as the team hosts Prince George, Victoria and Everett in pre-season action.