A Vancouver Canucks spokesperson didn’t have any updates Sunday afternoon on the injury status of first-round draft pick Braeden Cootes, who left Saturday’s prospects game against the Seattle Kraken in Everett with an undisclosed ailment.
Cootes wasn’t in lineup for the rematch later on Sunday, either, between the Canucks and Kraken prospects at the Seattle practice facility. The Canucks are streaming the game on their website for free, although there’s no play-by-play call.
Seattle won the first game 5-3. The Canucks announced on their social media after the second period that Cootes, 18, who was the No. 15 overall selection in June, wouldn’t be returning for the third period. They didn’t get into specifics of what was bothering him.
Manny Maholtra, who’s the coach of Vancouver’s AHL Abbotsford Canucks affiliate, is running the bench for the prospects this weekend and he pointed to “precautionary reasons” for pulling Cootes when he spoke to reporters after Saturday’s game.
“Don’t want to push anything so he left the game. We’ll re-evaluate and see how he feels tomorrow,” Malhotra said Saturday night.
Cootes, who was the Seattle Thunderbirds’ captain last season and is expected to return to the WHL club this season, went to Team Canada’s world junior summer camp in Minnesota but didn’t take part in the exhibition games there due to an undisclosed injury. Canada coach Dale Hunter told NHL.com’s Adam Kimelman then that Cootes was sidelined with “light stuff, not heavy stuff,” and Kimelman referred to the right-shot forward as missing action because he was “banged up.”
Cootes also missed Seattle’s training camp. He told Postmedia earlier this month that he was fine and he did play in a Thunderbird exhibition game before joining up with the Canucks for these prospects games.
Canucks training camp opens Thursday in Penticton.
Cootes was skating on the prospects’ top line Saturday, playing between 2022 first rounder Jonathan Lekkerimäki and the 6-foot-6 Vilmer Alriksson. On Sunday, Riley Patterson was promoted to the No. 1 line in Cootes’ place. Prospects invite Aaron Obobaifo, who’s getting ready for his third season with the Vancouver Giants, was added to the lineup.