{"id":540576,"date":"2026-04-04T16:57:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T16:57:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/540576\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T16:57:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T16:57:19","slug":"braeden-cootes-gets-a-bigger-opportunity-with-the-canucks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/540576\/","title":{"rendered":"Braeden Cootes gets a bigger opportunity with the Canucks"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t \"Vancouver <\/p>\n

Photo credit: Bob Frid-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Braeden Cootes gives Adam Foote one more reason to watch Prince Albert closely after his Brad Hornung Memorial Trophy nomination.<\/p>\n

That award doesn’t go to a passenger. It goes to a player who can produce, stay disciplined, and drive games without taking himself out of the play.<\/p>\n

For Vancouver, this lands at the right time. The Canucks need signs that their next wave has real bite, and Cootes keeps giving them one.<\/p>\n

He finished the regular season with 24 goals and 63 points in 45 WHL games split between Seattle and Prince Albert. That kind of jump after a midseason move gets attention fast.<\/p>\n

The trade to Prince Albert didn’t slow him down. It sharpened the picture, because he put up 14 goals and 26 assists in 28 games with the Raiders.<\/p>\n

Now the playoffs are adding more heat to it. Through the first four games of Prince Albert’s opening-round series, Cootes scored 2 goals and 6 points while the Raiders built a 3-1 lead.<\/p>\n

This is the kind of prospect run Vancouver needed<\/p>\n

Cootes was already a big piece of the pipeline as Vancouver’s 15th overall pick in the 2025 draft. What’s changed is the way the season has tightened his case.<\/p>\n

It’s not just the raw offense. A sportsmanship nomination tells you he’s handling major minutes without drifting into bad penalties or sloppy decisions.<\/p>\n

That matters for a center. Vancouver don’t need another junior scorer who has to be protected every shift. They need a player who can be trusted in traffic, on draws, and away from the puck.<\/p>\n

The Prince Albert stop has helped that case too. In a playoff push, Cootes hasn’t been tucked away on the margins. He’s been right in the middle of a contender that believes it can chase the 2026 Memorial Cup.<\/p>\n

That’s why this nomination carries weight beyond a nice headline. It backs up the idea that Cootes is moving from promising prospect to one of the first names Vancouver fans should track every night.<\/p>\n

And for a Canucks organization still trying to build out its next core, that’s the real story here. Braeden Cootes isn’t just having a strong junior season. He’s forcing his way into the bigger conversation.<\/p>\n

Previously on Vancouver Hockey Daily<\/p>\n

POLL<\/p>\n

22 MINUTES AGO|12 ANSWERS<\/p>\n

Braeden Cootes gets a bigger opportunity with the Canucks<\/p>\n

Has Braeden Cootes become the Canucks’ top prospect ?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Photo credit: Bob Frid-Imagn Images Braeden Cootes gives Adam Foote one more reason to watch…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":540577,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5128],"tags":[3528,61877,661,894,5,4,9369,2554,893,27,5313],"class_list":{"0":"post-540576","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-vancouver-canucks","8":"tag-adam-foote","9":"tag-brad-hornung-memorial-trophy","10":"tag-braeden-cootes","11":"tag-canucks","12":"tag-hockey","13":"tag-nhl","14":"tag-prince-albert-raiders","15":"tag-seattle-thunderbirds","16":"tag-vancouver","17":"tag-vancouver-canucks","18":"tag-vancouvercanucks"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116347500561423689","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540576","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=540576"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540576\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/540577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=540576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=540576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=540576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}