Thanks to Braeden Cootes, Petr Nedved’s name keep re-entering chats about the Vancouver Canucks.
Cootes made it one step closer to becoming the first 18-year-old to open the season with the Canucks since Nedved back in 1990-91 when he made it through what looks to be the last batch of cuts before Vancouver has to enter their 23-man opening night roster with the NHL head office Monday at 2 p.m.
Vancouver reassigned defencemen Tom Willander and Victor Mancini to their AHL affiliate in Abbotsford on Sunday afternoon, leaving the big club at 24 players, including left winger Nils Höglander (ankle surgery), who’s going to be placed on injured reserve when that comes into effect.
The Canucks could make a trade before they open the regular season Thursday at home against the Calgary Flames. They could change their minds and call somebody up from Abbotsford. That’s all at play. Monday is just one particular deadline. But the plan very much seems to be to have Cootes in the mix, thanks to the mature, two-way game he’s shown through training camp and the pre-season.
“I wouldn’t say surprised,” Cootes said Sunday when asked about his feelings about still being with Vancouver. “I’m obviously honoured that I’m still here and very grateful, but I believed I could do it. I’m just trying to work as hard as I can.
“I’m just trying to control what I can control and take everything day by day. I’m just trying to earn another day.”
Vancouver Canucks Braeden Cootes at team practice at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, September 25.
The right-shot centre, who was the No. 15 overall pick in this summer’s NHL Draft, was skating on a line Sunday with veteran Evander Kane and Jonathan Lekkerimäki.
As much he’s been lauded for being defensive diligent, Cootes also has shown offensive flair. He had 26 goals and 63 points in 60 WHL regular season games with the Seattle Thunderbirds last season. Nedved, as it happens, was drafted by the Canucks out of Thunderbirds program, too, going No. 2 overall in 1990.
Only six players from last year’s draft class saw NHL action last season and No. 1 overall pick Macklin Celebrini was the lone full-time player, with the centre from North Vancouver getting in 70 games with the San Jose Sharks. There were four players from the 2023 draft who stuck full time that first season, and just two of them were 18 year olds — Connor Bedard, the centre from North Vancouver who was picked No. 1 by the Chicago Blackhawks, and Zach Benson, the winger from Chilliwack who was the Buffalo Sabres’ pick at No. 13.
Kane, the former Vancouver Giants star from east Vancouver, was a season-long regular as an 18-year-old in 2009-10 with the Atlanta Thrashers after having been the No. 4 overall pick that summer.
“He’s been great to me and Lekki,” Cootes said. “He’s been patient with us, always being positive, giving us little ideas. And he’s also creating space for us in games, because he has obviously such a big presence and is such a good player.”
Cootes can play nine games with the Canucks before the first year of his entry-level contract is triggered. If he’s sent back before a 10th game, his contract slides to next season, giving the club an extra year before they need to sign him to a new contract. Cootes can be sent back this season after playing 10 or more games, although it doesn’t happen often. Giants fans might recall 19-year-old centre James Wright rejoining the team in 2009-10 after 48 games that season with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Trevor Linden made the opening night roster with the Canucks in 1988-89 as an 18-year-old. Daniel and Henrik Sedin both turned 20 in the early part of their NHL rookie seasons in 2000-01. The same goes for Elias Pettersson in his freshman campaign in 2018-19. Quinn Hughes was 19 when he played his first five games with the Canucks at the end of that same season.