Cootes’s first shift came two minutes into the game.

Derek Forbort picks up the puck behind the net, while Cootes circles up ice and collects the outlet pass. Cootes shows a little deception, skating on the left side toward Yegor Sharangovich. With his head up, he waits until the moment Morgan Frost cheats over to the left side, which leaves Evander Kane open on the right wing. Once that happens, he cuts to the middle and springs Kane into the offensive zone, who gets a shot off on the rush.

A pretty nice first pass and touch of the puck at the NHL level, rook.

On his second shift, Cootes displays some of his poise in the defensive zone.

Skating back to their own zone, both Canucks defencemen swarm the puck carrier, and Cootes does a good job covering them as a rover behind them. Tyler Myers gets his stick on the pass, but deflects it into a dangerous position. Thankfully, Cootes is there to turn and pick up the puck before Frost can get a handle on it. But it’s what he does after that which is impressive.

Cootes tips the puck with his backhand to protect from a poke-checking Frost. Then, with minimal time as another Flames forechecker is pressuring him, Cootes times the outlet pass perfectly to get the puck out of harm’s way. In doing so, Cootes knows he has to wait a little longer, absorb the hit to make the play, and then the Canucks clear the zone.

The Flames carry the puck up the ice with numbers. Cootes races back and picks up Sharangovich on the far side. Cootes ties Sharangovich up heading to the net front. What we really like is how Cootes propped his stick under Sharangovich’s left arm, preventing the Flames forward from getting his stick on the ice for a possible easy tap-in.

However, that backfires, as Sharangovich tugs on Cootes’s stick to restrict him from chasing Frost behind the net. But Cootes still manages to be the first player between Frost and the net in hopes of getting his body in front of any shot attempt.

Cootes not getting outmuscled at the net front against NHL talent is unlike most 18-year-olds.

He would play just two more shifts in the first period, his last coming with four minutes to go.

To start the second period, Cootes saw some power play time. He skated on the second unit with Filip Chytil, Conor Garland, Jonathan Lekkerimäki and Filip Hronek. Cootes even got a shift with Brock Boeser and Jake DeBrusk when Elias Pettersson went to the locker room. The youngster won an offensive zone faceoff, which led to a Hronek shot on goal.

Later in the frame, Cootes and the Canucks were back on the power play.

After covering for Garland on the left flank, Cootes heads to his position at the goal line – and the rookie knew his assignment. When the pass came to him, the puck was off his stick as quickly as it was on it, firing a one-touch pass to the bumper spot for Chytil. The Canucks love this move, going back to the Bo Horvat days, and the rookie nearly pulled it off. However, he sent it a little out of Chytil’s reach. But the kid had the right idea!

The lines continued to juggle to start the third period, with Cootes skating with Kane and Sherwood. His first shift didn’t come until 3:30 minutes into the period.

Cootes lost the offensive zone faceoff, but he didn’t quit there. After a good forecheck from Sherwood on Jake Bean, Cootes chased after the loose puck. Once he realized he wouldn’t win the race to the puck, Cootes sneaks behind Bean and Sherwood, anticipating whoever got the puck would send it behind the net, where Cootes would be all alone.

Sherwood gets possession and fires a backhand pass around the boards, but Cootes can’t corral it. But Cootes’s continued pressure nearly caused a turnover behind the net.

You won’t be able to see it in a clip because Sportsnet showed a different camera angle, but Forbort sent a pass along the left wall in the defensive zone, where Cootes is waiting just inside the blueline. Frost comes to apply pressure on the 18-year-old, who is able to handle the bouncing puck just enough to get it out of harm’s way and onto the stick of Kane heading through the neutral zone.

The kid demonstrates incredibly quick decision-making, especially when he’s under pressure.

This was more of something funny we noticed.

Cootes’s role on the power play was to work the net front. However, standing at 5’11”, Cootes isn’t necessarily the most effective screening option. Instead, he was used as a tap-in option, and had a unique stance – one that Canucks fans should certainly recognize.

Anyway.

With Forbort pinching up in the offensive zone, Cootes comes back and covers on defence. The Flames dump the puck in the zone, where Cootes picks up the puck. And instead of rushing the play and forcing a quick pass, Cootes slows the play down, takes the puck behind the net and allows his team to re-group before finding his winger for the outlet pass.

It’s easy for a young kid to get nervous and rush his decisions, especially in the defensive zone, but not Cootes.

Here’s another quick display of Cootes showing poise with the puck in the defensive zone. He follows the play into the defensive zone, picks up the loose puck, protects the puck along the boards with his body and sends a back pass to the defender for a zone exit.

After a defensive zone loss, Cootes gets tangled up with Frost in the dot. Quickly shedding the tie-up, Cootes heads to his point of defence in the zone and perfectly reads the Flames’ defenceman’s eyes and intercepts a pass to Joel Farabee in the slot. The Canucks would clear the zone and head the other way, all because of the 18-year-old’s high hockey IQ.

We don’t really want to leave you on a sour note, but since this is a shift-by-shift breakdown, it’s important to show you why he received a minus rating the night.

I will preface this by saying that this was not his fault.

Cootes applies good pressure along the wall, but couldn’t find the puck. Thatcher Demko disrupts Farabee enough to knock the puck off his stick, and Bains has a clear lane to exit the zone. Instead, he attempts a pass to Sherwood, who wasn’t looking, and they turn the puck over at the blueline. The Flames retain the offensive zone, and after a few quick passes, Frost fires a prayer toward Demko that squeaks through him and gets the Flames on the board.

Again, not really Cootes’s fault, but we must show it.

There wasn’t much not to like about Cootes’s game. However, there were some things to point out.

The pass comes to Cootes as the Canucks are exiting the zone. He has a bit of a disadvantage because he has to slow down to pick up the puck, which allows the Flames forward to catch up to him. He makes that quick pass to get the puck off his stick, but it results in a neutral zone turnover.

There wasn’t much space for Cootes to make a play, but sending it off the left wall past the Flames defender is a safer option than a risky pass over the middle.

For the most part, the 18-year-old held his own against NHL talent. But at just 183 lbs, there are going to be times when he gets muscled off the puck as he did here in the neutral zone.

As he develops, he will get bigger and stronger, and this won’t happen often. However, that’s likely one of the reasons he finishes the season captaining the Seattle Thunderbirds in the WHL.

Cootes was held without a point for the first time in a Canucks uniform, but that was to be expected when the regular season rolled around.

Did he wow anybody offensively in his NHL debut? No, but he did come as advertised. Cootes was quick on his skates and sharp in his decision-making, while being defensively sound and patient with the puck in his own zone.

Who knows how many games Cootes will get at the NHL level, but Adam Foote confirmed that we will see him on Saturday night in his homecoming back to Alberta against the Edmonton Oilers.