Could Braeden Cootes Become a Bigger Part of the Canucks This Season?
There is an interesting little question sitting in front of Braeden Cootes as the Vancouver Canucks get ready for another season. A year ago, Cootes came out of training camp and earned himself an NHL roster spot. He only played three games with Vancouver before heading back to junior, but those three games mattered. They gave the Canucks a look at what their 2025 first-round pick might become — and gave Cootes a taste of what the NHL actually feels like.
Now the question is whether that taste turns into something more substantial.
Cootes Has Already Had a Taste of the NHL.
Cootes was the No. 15 pick in the 2025 NHL Draft, so nobody in Vancouver expects him to disappear into the prospect pile. He was drafted because the Canucks saw something they liked, and his brief NHL appearance last October gave him an early opportunity to show that he wasn't overwhelmed by the jump.
According to Thomas Drance of The Athletic, Cootes is likely to see more NHL games during the 2026-27 season. That doesn't necessarily mean he's going to play 60 or 70 games. He's still eligible to play in the AHL or return to junior, so Vancouver has some options with his development.
Related: What Was the Canucks' Biggest Rebuild Move?
The Canucks Don't Have to Rush Him.
There can be a temptation with a first-round pick to get the player into the NHL as quickly as possible. Sometimes that's exactly the right thing to do. Sometimes it isn't.
Cootes doesn't need to prove everything this season. What the Canucks really need to figure out is where he develops best. If he earns an NHL job in training camp, great. If he spends part of the season in Vancouver and part of it in the AHL or junior, that's fine too.
The important thing is that the Canucks keep moving him forward. And three NHL games last season may have helped with that. He now knows what the speed feels like. He knows how quickly mistakes get punished. He knows what it takes just to stay in a shift. That's valuable experience for a young player.
Maybe This Is the Year Cootes Starts to Belong.
The Canucks are rebuilding, but they're not rebuilding forever. At some point, the young players they've drafted have to start becoming NHL players. Cootes could be one of those players.
The interesting part of this season won't necessarily be how many goals he scores or how many points he produces. It might simply be watching whether those three NHL games from last October become the beginning of something.
If Cootes earns another opportunity in Vancouver and then turns it into something more permanent, the Canucks will have taken another small step forward. Sometimes that's how a rebuild starts to become a team.