Picking in the middle of the draft order can be a game of wait and see, especially when it takes an hour to get through six selections. The draft’s presentation aside, the wait was worth it for the Vancouver Canucks, who ultimately kept their 15th overall pick and selected one of their primary targets, right-hand centre Braeden Cootes.

Cootes has been a high-end prospect his whole hockey career. He was a star at Yale Hockey Academy, taking home MVP at the John Reid Memorial Tournament – a hotbed for scouts and practitioners of the sport. His play ultimately led to a top-10 selection in the 2022 WHL Bantam Draft.

After a successful draft-minus-one season, Cootes returned to a Seattle Thunderbirds team that was in the middle of turning over talent, with him at the forefront.

Named co-captain with fellow Canucks prospect Sawyer Mynio, Cootes was the youngest to hold the title in the WHL this past season, taking over the reins completely with Mynio’s move to the Calgary Hitmen. It was a considerable amount of responsibility for a player who turned 18 years old in February.

While that may be a bit shocking, it isn’t if you know how Cootes operates on the ice. His reputation as a responsible and dangerous two-way forward isn’t just scout or team speak; it’s the reality.

As the nexus point for a majority of play-driving with the Thunderbirds, he faced difficult minutes against the league’s top centres and was heavily featured on both special teams. He did this all while leading a roster that didn’t have much production beyond a couple of near point-per-game players.

While Cootes’ season was strong considering the context, his production — 63 points across 60 games — understates his actual ability. This is a player that quickly caught the attention of scouts in the public sphere, particularly for the dynamic flashes that racked up across his games.

Already an impressive skater, better than the NHL league average, Cootes’ ability to blend speed, deception, and an array of different handles led to advantage creation all season. Seemingly always sprinting and leveraging his speed, quick route adjustments crippled opposing defender’s gaps, taking every bit of open ice he could find. He targets defensive triangles, slips pucks through gapped-up defenders, and even changes his pace to put defensive skaters off balance.

Typically, when scouting players who exhibit these kinds of dynamic flashes, the ability in prospects only grows over time, especially as they learn to leverage their tools more effectively and become more physically mature. It’s an exciting pattern that Cootes displays consistently across his draft year. He has an excellent feel for the game, processing defenders’ actions, attacking weak sides and vulnerabilities.

The details don’t stop there. Cootes’ scoring touch and shooting skill suggest the upside is much higher than his 26 goals suggest. First, he creates deception through a curl-and-drag wrist shot — something he employs at every chance. Shooting off your inside foot spells disaster for planted defenders, clogging lanes and goaltenders reading shot releases.

From there, Cootes is also a bright supporting player off the puck, timing activations into lanes and two-touching snap-shots off the reception with ease. His release is quick, hard to read, and he hits spots with precision. It would be shocking not to see a breakout here when it comes to scoring when you consider how versatile and detailed he is already.

The area where the Alberta product suffers is attacking off the wall. Much of the time, one of the major gripes with young players centres around perimeter play and an unwillingness to move pucks into the middle of the ice. Luckily, Cootes is willing – even daring in his attempts.

Nevertheless, it’s his execution that seems to crumble. He often tries to do too much, a clear microcosm of his do-it-all role. He will even tunnel into working low-percentage handles, missing easy supporting options, instead, flying into mismatches and outnumbered situations.

The willingness means that this will ultimately improve over time, but Cootes must start incorporating give-and-go, hand-off playmaking more frequently to make these attacking sequences effective. The best players board-to-middle attackers use support and rely on returns to access the slot.

Cootes’ playmaking has its bright spots, however. In most of his other on-puck moments, he’s a pretty active scanner, finding the best options, often rolling out from below the goal line. He adjusts his hands to open up new lanes, slips, hooks, and backhands pucks, often through tight and fast-closing seams.

Even with his detailed offensive game, Cootes’ ability to win puck battles and retrievals off the forecheck is an elite part of his makeup.

The hard skills that he possesses are wild. His higher-end motor allows him to fearlessly and relentlessly attack defenders like a Mario Kart Red Shell honing in on a target. He slams into opponents, pushing proactive contact to win superior, inside positioning, checking sticks in the same moment. He simply outbattles most, even those who are bigger and stronger, creating panic and misplays.

The next developmental step will be creation out of these moments. Cootes is too willing to throw away newly won pucks with low-percentage hope passes. Finding supporters and playing a bit slower off the turnover may be the play to convert more second-chance offence.

The aforementioned hard skills go hand-in-hand with Cootes’ defensive game. At times, it seemed like the Thunderbirds sent him on missions to smother opposing star players.

Beyond winning physical battles, across tape and live viewings, it’s clear Cootes is a brilliant zone defender who predicts and proactively intercepts passes. Cootes is simply ahead of the play during most of his shifts under sustained pressure. He doesn’t typically overshoot or run around, but more timing his aggression to check passing lanes at the right moment.

After cutting the tape for this article, I had over ten minutes of defensive stops that I condensed into a shorter segment. It’s a remarkable part of his game, one that only aids Cootes’ projectability to the NHL.

It’s easy to look at Cootes’ measurables, forechecking and production and think depth player in the NHL. Still, when you dig into the tape, you find an extremely well-rounded game from both an offensive and defensive perspective, with flashes of dynamism, a strong set of tools, and a tireless motor that impacts every facet of the game.

I think it’s fair to question if he can play the same way at the NHL level, given his 6-foot-0 frame, but he has everything to overcome that hurdle, much like a Vincent Trocheck or Seth Jarvis – two players he’s already bigger than. If things swing right developmentally, a second-line centre projection isn’t out of the question. Even then, an impact mid-six player is incredible value at 15.

Cootes will return to the Thunderbirds next season, where I expect a breakout offensive season. Much of his team consists of 2007-born players who will all improve over the summer, but he’ll remain the focal point of the organization. If they add more talent to the mix, look out.

Considering who was available when Vancouver picked, prioritizing a centre of Cootes’ style is a defendable decision, especially if you believe in the projection. For the Canucks, Cootes could very well have been the intersection between the best available player and the prospect pool’s need, which is enormous for the organisation if things play out the way they envision.