{"id":206342,"date":"2025-10-11T21:42:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-11T21:42:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/206342\/"},"modified":"2025-10-11T21:42:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T21:42:07","slug":"edmonton-product-braeden-cootes-to-face-off-in-second-nhl-game-for-canucks-against-oilers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/206342\/","title":{"rendered":"Edmonton product Braeden Cootes to face off in second NHL game for Canucks against Oilers"},"content":{"rendered":"

When he was much younger than his 18 years, Braeden Cootes was one of those local kids lining up and waiting hours for Edmonton Oilers<\/a> autographs.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I think I was at West Edmonton Mall,\u201d said the Vancouver Canucks<\/a>\u2019 first-round draft pick, who grew up in Sherwood Park, hanging out with Oilers and SportsNet\u2019s play-by-play man Jack Michaels\u2019 son Tyler, going back to when they were in elementary school.<\/p>\n

So, yes, it is a small world, with Michaels calling the late NHL game Saturday along with partner Louie DeBrusk, whose son Jake, of course, plays for the Canucks.<\/p>\n

\u201cCootes was a linemate of my son\u2019s in atom hockey. He was a few months younger than Tyler. They\u2019ve played golf together for years. Great family,\u201d said Michaels.<\/p>\n

Cootes certainly has a soft spot for the Michaels clan.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve known Jack since I was seven years old. I played minor hockey with Tyler, like when we were eight or nine years old,\u201d said Cootes.<\/p>\n

The Michaels family was at Cootes\u2019 draft party at Game On sports bar in Sherwood Park with Braeden, his insurance-broker dad, Rob, and nurse mum, Julie, after the Canucks took the Seattle Thunderbirds centre 15th overall in late June.<\/p>\n

Again, small world.<\/p>\n

And, as Cootes played his first NHL league game against the team he grew up worshipping Saturday, with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins being one of his idols, ex-Oilers forward Evander Kane was also riding shotgun on his left wing, with Swedish shooter Jonathan Lekkerimaki on the right side.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe (Kane) was one of my favourite players on the Oilers. Now I\u2019m playing with him. Yeah, it is pretty cool. He\u2019s been great to me. He\u2019s obviously a big presence out there, gives me a lot of space,\u201d said Cootes, who is the first 18-year-old Canucks\u2019 first-rounder to make the NHL right after being drafted since Petr Nedved when it was held in Vancouver in 1990. Both played junior for the Seattle Thunderbirds.<\/p>\n

Is there a purpose there, putting Kane with Cootes?<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, maybe a little bit, but the game\u2019s really not like that anymore,\u201d said Canucks\u2019 coach Adam Foote, one of the toughest defencemen to play against in NHL history, a pillar on the Colorado Avalanche blueline and a Canadian Olympian in 1998, 2002 and 2006. \u201cNah, it just felt right. They throw the puck around pretty well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kane was in the NHL at 18, too, as the fourth-overall pick of Atlanta in 2009.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if I\u2019ve played with an 18-year-old since I was one,\u201d said Kane, 34, who will be playing his 932nd NHL game Saturday, while it\u2019s Cootes\u2019 second.<\/p>\n

\u201cBrings back some memories for sure. You realize how difficult it was to step in right away at 18 and you want to contribute as a first-round pick. In Braeden\u2019s case, what separates him and me was I was going to a bad team and we\u2019re a team (Canucks) that has some juice and can maybe take the pressure off a bit,\u201d said Kane.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving his first NHL game the other night (vs Calgary) in Vancouver, and now coming home, the pressure\u2019s continuing to mount for him, right?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot an easy task, but he\u2019s a real level-headed kid and he\u2019s continuing to get more comfortable,\u201d said Kane.<\/p>\n

There are no guarantees the 5\u201911\u201d, 183-pound right-shot C Cootes will stick with the Canucks because he\u2019s only a teenager. They can play him up to nine games before deciding if he should return to junior. A 10thgame means his three-year entry level contract kicks in.<\/p>\n

For now, he\u2019s done everything asked of him by Foote, who became a fan as the teenager navigated through camp.<\/p>\n

Does Foote remember back to his days as a kid, trying to find his way?<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t in the NHL at 18,\u201d he laughed.<\/p>\n

The decorated blueliner is slow-playing the youngster on a third line with Elias Pettersson as his No. 1 with Jake DeBrusk on his wing, and Filip Chytl in the second hole. The Canucks are without veteran C Teddy Blueger, who could be the 3C, when back. But, for now Cootes is living the dream.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a crazy couple of weeks. Just trying to take it all in. Trying to not worry about making mistakes. Trying to play my game, up to my standards \u2026 and I guess that was good enough in their eyes,\u201d said Cootes, who would have been sent back to junior during camp, but he wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Only four 2025 first-rounders made their teams. Mathew Schaefer, the first overall pick, is going to be a stud on the New York Islanders\u2019 blueline. The No. 2 selection, forward\u00a0Michael Misa also made the Sharks, and No. 5 forward Brady Martin was in Nashville\u2019s opening lineup. Cootes is the fourth youngest player in the league right now.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s man-strength in the NHL and Cootes is only 183 pounds. But there\u2019s lots of fire in his belly, he\u2019s got a high-end motor and he\u2019s quick to pucks, often out-thinking or out manoeuvering bigger people.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a gamer,\u201d said Oil Kings\u2019 GM Kirt Hill, who may well try and deal for Cootes at the January trade deadline, along with all the contenders if he\u2019s sent back to Seattle and the Thunderbirds are off-loading their talent for draft picks.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s (Cootes) is a smart hockey player. We\u2019re going day by day with him. It\u2019s a lot, right? We\u2019re not looking ahead to when the schedule gets tough or there\u2019s back-to-backs (to let him sit). Just day by day,\u201d said Foote.<\/p>\n

As a coach can you teach smart? Or are players just born with hockey IQ?<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a loaded question. That question can go in so many ways. You got an hour,\u201d shrugged Foote. \u201cThe way I would answer that is some kids learn all the way through. They pick it up quickly. You have to figure out what makes it work (with young players).\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey can be shown on the ice, some need video. They can all learn. Cootes just picks it up quickly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Was there a game plan for Cootes when drafted in the first-round? Like how many games would he get in camp? \u201cI don\u2019t know if there\u2019s ever a set plan. A lot\u2019s pencilled in with the salary cap and the money. You (media) all know that. He just kept going. We\u2019re keeping our eyes open, the door open and it\u2019ll all fall into place,\u201d said Foote.<\/p>\n

Kane, also on the Canucks\u2019 first PP unit as one of their four forwards along with Pettersson, Brock Boeser and DeBrusk, played an exhibition game against the Oilers in Vancouver but this is his first trip back for the real thing since his summer trade.<\/p>\n

After being at a lot of Oiler weddings in the summers (Connor McDavid<\/a>, Leon Draisaitl) and being to two Cup finals with his teammates, he\u2019s on the other side now after 68 playoff games in an Oiler jersey. He plays a hardscrabble game, now he has to do it against friends for the first time in league play.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot the game plan in our exhibition game against Edmonton but when the puck drops (league game) I think we\u2019ll get back to what we normally do. It might be a little more difficult to muster up (meanness) but I\u2019m sure we\u2019ll find a way.\u201d<\/p>\n

What kind of reception is he expecting Saturday night?<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully, pretty positively. A lot of great memories and moments in my tenure here,\u201d said Kane, who isn\u2019t sure if the fans will get on him because he\u2019s in an enemy jersey but usually booing is a sign of respect.<\/p>\n

If they don\u2019t, they don\u2019t care about you.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been booed plenty of times. We\u2019ll see tonight. But maybe they\u2019ll change it up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

How would he summarize his time as an Oiler?<\/p>\n

\u201cLong, deep playoff rounds, a lot of success on and off the ice (once in 2022 losing in the Western Conference final to Colorado and two trips to play Florida in the last dance),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously disappointing to not take at least one of those two Cup appearances but looking back, there were a lot of good memories.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When he was much younger than his 18 years, Braeden Cootes was one of those local kids lining…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":206343,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[127820,64,63,127824,97838,90687,7525,7522,18672,14689,3275,2369,70173,2755,127822,127823,30144,25925,6317,5791,575,14058,127821,85,2371],"class_list":["post-206342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-adam-foote","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-brady-martin","tag-braeden-cootes","tag-brock-boeser","tag-calgary-flames","tag-colorado-avalanche","tag-connor-mcdavid","tag-edmonton","tag-edmonton-oilers","tag-elias-pettersson","tag-evander-kane","tag-florida","tag-jack-michaels","tag-jake-debrusk","tag-leon-draisaitl","tag-michael-misa","tag-nashville","tag-new-york-islanders","tag-nhl","tag-ryan-nugent-hopkins","tag-seattle-thunderbirds","tag-sports","tag-vancouver-canucks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206342\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/206343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}