{"id":527825,"date":"2026-03-28T16:43:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T16:43:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/527825\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T16:43:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T16:43:15","slug":"canucks-cootes-shows-game-breaker-knack-in-raiders-playoff-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/527825\/","title":{"rendered":"Canucks: Cootes shows ‘game-breaker’ knack in Raiders playoff opener"},"content":{"rendered":"

Article content<\/p>\n

Braeden Cootes\u2019 actions are matching his words.<\/p>\n

Article content<\/p>\n

The Vancouver Canucks<\/a>\u2019 top prospect talked earlier this week about how the Prince Albert Raiders are aiming to win the WHL title this spring, and on Friday the 19-year-old centre put together a dominate showing in the Raiders\u2019 4-1 win over the visiting Red Deer Rebels in Game 1 of their opening round series.<\/p>\n

Article content<\/p>\n

Cootes had two goals and one assist, recorded six shots and was 12-of-19 in the faceoff circle.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a game-breaker,\u201d Raiders head coach Ryan McDonald told the Prince Albert Herald.<\/a> \u201cYou watch how he hunts, whether it\u2019s on the forecheck, whether it\u2019s on the track. He possesses pucks underneath, has just an absolute tremendous release, and got himself inside the dots for a couple of really good looks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Raiders defenceman Brock Cripps added: \u00a0\u201cHe\u2019s really smart, easy to play with. He gets open for you, and when you\u2019re open, he finds a way to get the puck to you. It\u2019s nice to play with him. Great player.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Cootes said: \u201cJust playing to win, honestly. I was doing whatever it took to win. Just trying to keep the puck in their end, not giving them much, and just separate ourselves there at the end so they couldn\u2019t pull the goalie and get a chance to tie it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Article content<\/p>\n

Prince Albert (52-10-5-1) are the top seeds in the Eastern Conference. Game 2 against the \u00a0Rebels (26-36-4-2) is tonight in Prince Albert. The series shifts to Red Deer on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The Raiders acquired Cootes just ahead of the Jan. 8 trade deadline in a blockbuster deal with the Seattle Thunderbirds. Seattle received four players and four WHL Draft selections, including two first rounders.<\/p>\n

Cootes said this week<\/a>: \u201cWe want to win it all. Obviously, we have our goals and hopefully we\u2019re set to achieve them.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Canucks picked Cootes in the first round, No. 15 overall, in last summer\u2019s NHL Draft, coming off his 26 goals and 63 points in 60 regular season games with Seattle. The Thunderbirds went six games with the top seeded Everett Silvertips in the first round of the playoffs, and Cootes had two goals and eight points in that series.<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

\"Braeden <\/p>\n

Canucks: Prospect Braeden Cootes doesn’t mince words, says Prince Albert Raiders aim ‘to win it all’<\/p>\n

<\/a> \"Top <\/p>\n

Canucks prospect Braeden Cootes has already impressed his new WHL GM<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Share this article in your social network<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Article content Braeden Cootes\u2019 actions are matching his words. Article content The Vancouver Canucks\u2019 top prospect talked earlier…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":527826,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5128],"tags":[894,5,4,893,27,5313],"class_list":{"0":"post-527825","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-vancouver-canucks","8":"tag-canucks","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-vancouver","12":"tag-vancouver-canucks","13":"tag-vancouvercanucks"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116307809956989083","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=527825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527825\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/527826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=527825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=527825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=527825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}