Braeden Cootes' Chances to Crack the Vancouver Canucks Opening Night Roster Revealed
Photo credit: Kaja Antic/The Hockey News.
An NHL insider recently gave his take on top prospect Braeden Cootes' chances to earn a spot on the Vancouver Canucks opening night roster in less than two weeks.
The Vancouver Canucks are going to be forced to making some tough roster decisions in the next ten days leading up to their first game of the 2025-26 season on Thursday, October 9th against the Calgary Flames.
While the Canucks are juggling with the fact that some players, potentially even Vitali Kravtsov, could end up on the NHL's waiver wire in order to be assigned to the American Hockey League, the team is also keeping a close eye on some of their youngsters that may be in line for a spot on their opening night roster, one of whom is 2025 first round pick Braeden Cootes.
NHL insider gives his take on Braeden Cootes' chances to make opening night roster
Vancouver's training camp is just a little over a week old at this point and already, Braeden Cootes is leaving a strong impression on the team's coaching staff, including Assistant Coach Brett McLean.
"I had the chance to talk to him during one of the drills today and he was just excited, as you'd expect. He also stood out today. He had a really good day. Getting on pucks and he's obviously smart and creative in some of the drills. So he's not just out here excited to be here, he's here to make an impression and he's done that through the first two days." McLean said.
McLean isn't the only one impressed with Cootes so far, as NHL insider Cam Robinson went as far as saying that he believes the 18-year-old will earn a spot on the Vancouver Canucks' opening night roster in less than two weeks.
"Yeah, I do and I targeted him as one of the very few players, 18-year-olds, that had a legitimate chance of seeing you know, five, six, eight, nine games before maybe being kicked back, because of the circumstances. Vancouver is clearly light on centres. He has pro skills, despite being the biggest player, has great speed, he has great IQ, he's tenacious and you put those things together and they're going to look good in an NHL camp, right?" Robinson said.
Ultimately, Cootes being on the opening night roster is going to come down to two factors - will he give the Vancouver Canucks the best chance at getting off to a hot start to the 2025-26 season before being sent back to the Western Hockey League AND is he better than some of the options they have right now that are also pushing for an roster spot, such as Arshdeep Bains, Linus Karlsson, etc.?
At this point, it wouldn't be a shock to see the Sherwood Park, Alberta native in the lineup when Vancouver opens the season on October 9th, however, don't expect him to stay in the NHL all year long and after his ninth game with the Canucks, if he does end up on the opening night roster, he'll be assigned to the WHL's Seattle Thunderbirds.
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SEPTEMBRE 26 | 890 ANSWERS Braeden Cootes' Chances to Crack the Vancouver Canucks Opening Night Roster Revealed Will Braeden Cootes be on the Vancouver Canucks' opening night roster for the 2025-26 season? | ||
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| No | 317 | 35.6 % |
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