Just a few days after the Vancouver Canucks returned him to his WHL team, the Seattle Thunderbirds, Braeden Cootes appeared on Donnie & Dhali – The Team to discuss a variety of different topics.

It’s been a whirlwind of a 2025 year for Cootes, in a good way. He’s been busy with the various camps, and had his dreams come true after he was drafted. And that went even further when he made his NHL debut.

“Yeah, they’ve been pretty crazy,” Cootes replied when asked how the last few months have been for him. “A lot different than any other summers I’ve had, or anything like that. But, you know, getting drafted, going into development camp and then going to World Junior camp, and then going to Seattle, and then Vancouver training camp, and then preseason and some regular season games. So pretty busy, but that’s usually a good thing. So it’s been pretty cool.”

Cootes’s time in the NHL was short, but the fact that he even made it there as an 18-year-old was an impressive feat. However, for his development, it might have been the right decision – even Cootes thinks so.

“I was fine,” Cootes said following the roster move. “It was fun being up, playing with the guys and getting to play in the regular season. I mean, that’s been my dream since I was a little kid. But I was more than okay with it. It was probably best for me; getting to play more, getting the puck on my stick, you know, a lot more, scoring more goals, making plays and working on my skills. So, yeah, I was more than okay with it.”

However, the Canucks brass left him with some words of encouragement from his time in the NHL to take with him down in the WHL.

“They were very happy with how I played. They told me to come down here and dominate, play my game and keep working on everything. And, you know, try to keep getting better each day.”

After being drafted in the first round of the 2025 draft, this was Cootes’s first NHL training camp. As an 18-year-old, it can be difficult to gel with some of the veterans on the team. But Cootes shared that the Canucks leadership group welcomed him with open arms and credited his training camp line, Kiefer Sherwood, for treating him like a teammate from day one.

“We have a few older guys there that have been in the league for a long time and have been in Vancouver for a long time. Keifer Sherwood was one that was awesome to me. On the first day of training camp, he felt like my teammate. He was so easy to talk to. He was on my line, too. So obviously, that made it easier to get to know him right away. But, you know, there’s so many guys on the team that were great to me.”

Cootes will spend the rest of the 2025-26 campaign captaining the Thunderbirds, in hopes of developing enough to make the full-time NHL roster – a feat that he believes he isn’t too far away from achieving.

“I mean, I for sure still have work to do. There’s no question about that. But, I think I’m pretty close. I think just tuning up a few more things, getting faster, getting stronger. I mean, just getting older, too. Just in general, as a human being will help. Coming down here in Seattle and working each day to get better, playing good, winning games here, trying to drive the bus here with this team. There’s still tons of work to be done, but yeah, I think I can make that jump next year, and it’s on me to make sure I’m ready for it.”

Now, Cootes’s primary focus is on representing his country at the World Junior Championships in Minnesota.

“Yeah, that’s the number one goal right now,” Cootes shared about making Team Canada’s World Junior roster. “My number one goal was to stay with Vancouver, but then came back here, which was fine. Even in the summer, I had my mind on trying to make the team this year for World Juniors. Obviously, [it’s] not an easy team to make, you know, with Canada, because we’re so good. It’s been my goal, and I want to do that. I want to help them win, because we’ve been struggling recently, so it’s been not fun to watch. So, I want to help them out and win the gold medal.”

Cootes dominated the headlines for the Canucks’ 2025-26 training camp and preseason. Now, it’s time for Cootes to go down and dominate the WHL as captain of the Thunderbirds. The right-shot centreman shared he will make his season debut at some point this weekend when the Thunderbirds welcome the Prince George Cougars (Friday) and Wenatchee Wild (Saturday) to town.