The Prince Albert Raiders are an absolute wagon, and Vancouver Canucks prospect Braeden Cootes is emerging as one of the driving forces behind them.
Cootes, who was traded midseason from the rebuilding Seattle Thunderbirds, is the top centre on a dominant Raiders team that finished the WHL regular season with a 52-10-6 record and a staggering plus-145 goal differential. Prince Albert has outscored Red Deer by a lopsided 10-1 margin through two games of its best-of-seven first-round playoff series, and Cootes is tied for the team lead with two goals and five points.
Here’s what we’ve seen from Vancouver’s top pick from last year’s draft in the WHL playoffs so far, and some bigger picture thoughts on his NHL trajectory.
How Cootes is shining offensively
Offensively, Cootes’ standout trait is shot. He already flashed an NHL-calibre release when we saw him at Canucks training camp, and it continues to be a major weapon in all situations, whether it be on the power-play, attacking off the rush, or as a slot threat off the cycle. Cootes’ shot isn’t meant to break radar guns or feel overly heavy; what makes it dangerous is how quick the release is and how he can elevate the puck over a goalie’s shoulders with such an effortless flick of his wrist.
In Game 1, he opened the scoring on the power-play by doing exactly that while attacking downhill from the right flank.
Cootes showed another impressive, quick release off the rush later in the game for his second goal in Game 1:
Cootes is an instrumental part of the Raiders’ first unit power-play from the right side. He’s responsible for a lot of his power-play unit’s offensive zone entries, as he’s the primary option to receive drop passes and plow through the neutral zone with his speed. He’s looked smooth and confident in his entries, leveraging not only his pace but also his sound decision-making and timing to dish the puck to a teammate as space closes on him.
At the NHL level, it wouldn’t surprise me if Cootes ends up filling more of a bumper role rather than playing the flank (unless it’s for the second unit), though. Playing the half-wall on an NHL team’s first unit power-play is usually reserved for superstar players. In Cootes’ case, I haven’t seen elite playmaking vision.
Furthermore, in Game 1, there were a couple of plays in which Red Deer aggressively pressured Cootes up high, forcing the puck out of the zone. Cootes doesn’t seem to have the special escapability or magician-like knack for problem-solving out of tight areas under heavy duress that most half-wall players on an NHL team’s first unit possess.
With that said, Cootes’ shot would be equally dangerous in the bumper spot of an NHL team’s power-play, plus his knack for winning loose pucks would be an asset for retrievals down low.
Cootes’ offensive projection leans more toward a future middle-six NHL outlook than toward truly high-end top-six production, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, his statistical comparables (which we’ll dive into later) tend to point toward that as the likelier outcome. Secondly, while Cootes has above-average speed and intelligence, I haven’t seen consistent signs of game-breaking creativity, deception, and defensive manipulation. He makes smart decisions with the puck, but he doesn’t have the deepest bag of maneuvers and tricks to break down a defence that’s already set.
He has displayed a couple of creative flashes — he made a lovely criss-cross play off the rush, which led to an assist in Game 2. Plays like this are encouraging:
However, for the most part, he’s more likely to make smart, predictable offensive decisions than to connect on many dynamic, game-breaking east-west plays. In fact, it would probably be helpful if he had a puck-dominant, playmaking winger to play with in the NHL because it would free Cootes up to find quiet ice in the slot and finish off chances. He didn’t convert on this opportunity in Game 1, but it illustrates my broader point of how he can get open and fire quick shots.
Why Cootes’ two-way game could make him a coach’s dream
Cootes is an extremely likable player because he offers a remarkably polished, detail-oriented game.
He never cheats for offence or blows the defensive zone early. He’s the first forward happily covering back at the point when a defenceman joins the rush or pinches up the wall, which is important for limiting odd man rushes against. He’s always involved in the play, and the puck seems to have a knack for finding him, which I interpret as a positive sign that he’s anticipating and reacting to developing plays, both defensively and offensively, very well.
Cootes relentlessly hounds the puck in all three zones to get it back. This isn’t always a common habit in junior; some top prospects play so many minutes and are so focused on creating offence that they conserve their energy when they don’t have possession. In the play below, Cootes loses the face-off but follows through instantly and essentially pins the Rebels in and denies a clean zone exit as a one-man forecheck. He forces a 50/50 battle, help arrives, and eventually his line spent the entire shift with offensive zone possession.
Cootes constantly breaks up plays with his ferocious back-checking as well. Impressively, he snatches all these pucks away from the opposition without recklessly chasing the play or putting himself out of position — he’s almost always above the play, which tells us that there’s a controlled, tactical aggression to his defensive play. Cootes has an excellent sense for when puck carriers are vulnerable and attacks full throttle with strong timing. He makes it look so easy on sequences like this:
In the NHL, Cootes won’t have as many of these freebies where he easily steals the puck away — NHL players are much better at sensing pressure and making a play before they’re vulnerable — but he should still be a disruptor with his speed, motor, and defensive intelligence.
Cootes is a valuable asset on breakouts because of how deep he comes in the defensive zone to support his defencemen. He’s diligent about always opening up as an option. Once he’s received the puck, he’ll make a decision based on the pressure — if he’s under duress, he’ll make a quick pass or chip to hit a linemate in stride, but if there’s space, he’s happy to carry it through the neutral zone and make a controlled play himself.
The only knock on Cootes’ two-way upside in the NHL is his size. He’s listed at 5-foot-11 and 183 pounds, which isn’t “small” in the traditional sense, but it does make him undersized for a centre. The prototypical shutdown center often has a long wingspan and a heavy frame to help win battles down low. For reference, there are only 16 full-time NHL centres listed below 6 feet and 200 pounds. This isn’t to say you can’t have two-way success as a slightly “undersized” centre — Vincent Trocheck, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, and Ben Kindel are success stories — but we’ll have to see how it affects Cootes, especially earlier in his career, when his body may not be as filled out.
It also means that the Canucks’ future No. 1 centre would ideally be a big body, because between Marco Rossi and Cootes, the team’s potential middle-six centre outlook doesn’t seem heavy on size.
What do Cootes’ statistical comparables look like?
It’s important to use both the eye test and data when evaluating prospects.
Cootes wrapped up the WHL regular season with 63 points in 45 games, which is 1.4 points per game; this is a solid improvement from his draft-year production (63 points in 60 games), though it’s not like he lit the WHL on fire offensively the way that Berkly Catton (Seattle’s No.8 pick in 2024), for example, did in his draft-plus-one season last year, when he piled up 109 points in 57 games.
To find statistical comparables for Cootes, I searched for other forwards drafted in the first round but outside the top five between 2011 and 2021 who scored between 1.1 and 1.6 points per game in their draft-plus-one season in the WHL, OHL, or QMJHL. To refine the search further, I excluded players who were 6-foot-4 or taller, or 5-foot-10 or shorter, because those size outliers aren’t as relevant to Cootes. I also excluded a couple of players whose draft-year production was far superior to Cootes’ because their pedigree/overall statistical profile wasn’t really comparable, despite similar draft-plus-one performance.
We ended up with 14 matches. The encouraging news is that 12 of these 14 players were, or are, top-nine NHL forwards, reinforcing the idea that Cootes has a high floor. Approximately a third of the total cohort turned into second-line calibre or better players.
Braeden Cootes D+1 Statistical Comps
Player
Draft
P/GP
Production
League
Connor Zary
No.24, 2020
1.6
24 PTS in 15 GP
WHL
Peyton Krebs
No.17, 2019
1.58
60 PTS in 38 GP
WHL
Dawson Mercer
No.18, 2020
1.57
36 PTS in 23 GP
QMJHL
Ridly Greig
No.28, 2020
1.5
32 PTS in 21 GP
WHL
Jared McCann
No.24, 2014
1.45
81 PTS in 56 GP
OHL
Brett Howden
No.27, 2016
1.4
81 PTS in 58 GP
WHL
Bo Horvat
No.9, 2013
1.37
74 PTS in 54 GP
OHL
Mark Scheifele
No.7, 2011
1.34
63 PTS in 47 GP
OHL
Ryan Suzuki
No.28, 2019
1.32
58 PTS in 44 GP
OHL
Curtis Lazar
No.17, 2023
1.31
76 PTS in 58 GP
WHL
Jason Dickinson
No.29, 2013
1.15
78 PTS in 68 GP
OHL
Phillip Danault
No.26, 2011
1.15
71 PTS in 62 GP
QMJHL
Scott Laughton
No.20, 2012
1.14
56 PTS in 49 GP
WHL
Vladislav Namestnikov
No.27, 2011
1.13
71 PTS in 63 GP
OHL
In a best-case scenario, Cootes could become similar to Bo Horvat, although significantly smaller in stature. The likeliest outcome based on these statistical comparables, though, is that he develops into the kind of two-way middle-six forward who would ideally be a third-line centre on a contending team. That would be a totally satisfactory outcome, assuming that Cootes continues on his current trajectory and becomes the type of player who provides value beyond just his offence.