The Vancouver Canucks will have an 18-year-old in the lineup for the first time in 35 years.
Will Braeden Cootes stick around for the entire season though? The odds are stacked against him.
Among recent NHL centres who made their respective teams out of training camp, most of them did not stick around for the entire season.
One of them happens to currently be on the Canucks as well.
Filip Chytil made the New York Rangers’ opening-night roster after being drafted 21st overall in 2017. He lasted two games before he was sent to the AHL.
Last year, Jett Luchanko made the Philadelphia Flyers roster out of camp. He was sent back to the OHL after four games.
However, sometimes these 18-year-olds defy the odds.
Canucks head coach Adam Foote played with one of those rare exceptions. And, at practice on Tuesday, he drew a comparison between Cootes and his former teammate.
“With a guy like Cootes, there’s always the next play, the next job, and moving your feet to the next position,” Foote said on Tuesday. “He’s been good at it, and that helps him with the physical part, because he’s usually in better body position.”
“He’ll let his brain, his body, defend, kind of like [Ryan] O’Reilly defended like that for a long time.”
Ryan O’Reilly helped the St. Louis Blues win the Stanley Cup in 2019. (Winslow Townson/Imagn Images)
O’Reilly made the Colorado Avalanche out of camp ahead of the 2009-10 season, after being drafted 33rd overall in 2009. He played 81 regular-season games for the Avalanche that season, recording eight goals and 26 points.
Foote played with O’Reilly during his last two seasons in Colorado before retiring in 2011.
“People in Colorado were concerned about [O’Reilly’s] feet. And I’m not saying Cootes is slow. I’m saying, giving an example, he defended with his body, his brain, his positioning. And Cootes is pretty smart, where he’s been defending as well with getting above pucks, and getting above players.”
O’Reilly, now with the Nashville Predators, is entering his 17th NHL season. He won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP back in 2019, when he helped the St. Louis Blues win the Stanley Cup.
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