About to begin his first Training Camp with the Vancouver Canucks, Adam Novotny has already made a strong first impression.

To be honest, Novotny has been drawing positive attention ever since this summer’s development camp, where clips of him ripping pucks went viral. His performance in this weekend’s two Prospect Showcase games against the Seattle Kraken only added to the hype.

Novotny was all over the ice in Game 1, notching a highlight-reel goal, and then tripled his efforts in Game 2 with another goal and two assists while skating on the top line with Braeden Cootes and Brooks Rogowski.

It’s a dream first showing for the 24^th overall pick in this most recent draft, and it’s raised some questions about where Novotny might play this season.

For a moment there, it looked like the Canucks might have three options with him: the CHL, the AHL, or the NHL. After initially announcing that teams would be able to assign one 19-year-old first-round pick drafted out of the CHL to the AHL per season, the league changed its mind and recently announced that any 19-year-old first-round picks from the CHL could be assigned.

Novotny turns 19 on  November 13, and will spend the bulk of the 2026-27 season playing as a 19-year-old. But the NHL has decided that a player’s age at the start of the season counts, so Novotny is counted as an 18-year-old and is not eligible for the AHL yet. That option will be open to Cootes and Cootes alone this year.

For Novotny, then, it’s either playing in the NHL with the Canucks or back to the Peterborough Petes of the OHL.

Typically, someone who was just drafted in the latter half of the first round of the NHL Draft wouldn’t be close to ready for primetime. But Novotny, in particular, was drafted with a bevy of big-league-ready traits, including his heavy frame, his skating and puck protection abilities, his shot, and his dedication to two-way play. And, since putting on a Vancouver jersey, Novotny has only shown off how advanced these traits already are.

But does that equate to him making the team this year? Probably not.

The Canucks faced a similar decision with Braeden Cootes last preseason. At the time, Cootes was turning about as many heads as Novotny is now, and at the time, we wrote “Barring injury, there just isn’t much need for a Braeden Cootes audition with the Canucks this year.”

Of course, injuries did occur, including one to Teddy Blueger that opened the door for that Cootes audition. Cootes would play three games for the Canucks in the 2026-27 regular season before being returned to the Seattle Thunderbirds of the WHL.

The same thing could theoretically happen with Novotny this year. But as a winger, compared to Cootes’ position as a centre, the situation is different. Heading into last season, the Canucks only had so many centres on hand. They had a struggling Elias Pettersson, Filip Chytil, the aforementioned Blueger, Aatu Räty, and a Max Sasson who had yet to transition over to the wing. In other words, Cootes was already pretty high on the depth chart by default when he arrived, and so it wasn’t all that surprising that he leapfrogged his way onto the opening night roster.

But these current Canucks are loaded with wingers. Novotny would have to beat out a list that includes no less than Jake DeBrusk, Brock Boeser, Liam Öhgren, Linus Karlsson, Jonathan Lekkerimäki, Filip Chytil, Drew O’Connor, Brendan Gallagher, Paul Cotter, Sasson, and more. To sneak into the top-six, or even the top-nine, would take a lot.

If multiple injuries to wingers were to occur before Novotny got sent back down to the CHL, that might be different. But even then, there are other ways for the Canucks to use those opportunities. When it was Blueger injured, it made sense for Cootes to get that initial opportunity to cover, because there was no one else around to do it, really. But were a winger or two to get injured now, the Canucks have multiple wingers of some potential importance to the rebuild who could benefit from those extra minutes themselves, primarily Öhgren and Lekkerimäki.

What if Novotny comes into camp and cleanly outcompetes some of these names? At this point, given what we’ve seen from him, that’s definitely possible. But it probably still doesn’t change the equation much. Someone like Lekkerimäki, who ended the season and started the offseason with an injury, might be expected to have a slower camp. Even in a scenario where Novotny looks far better than Lekkerimäki, you probably still give Lekkerimäki the shot first, to see if he can rebound with more time. Novotny is going to be right back at next year’s camp to try the same thing over again, whereas Lekkerimäki could be seen to be running out of time.

There is the option of a cameo. If Novotny were to play nine games or fewer before being sent back down to the OHL, he’d still have one year of his entry-level contract “slide,” as Cootes did last year. But with so many other options on the table, there really doesn’t seem to be much need. Novotny is getting a fine enough cameo right now, and he’s already shown what he needs to, which is that he can be a big part of the Canucks’ rebuild moving forward. The now matters a lot less than what comes down the road for Novotny.

Plus, sending him back to the OHL isn’t necessarily a bad thing for his development. Thus far, Novotny has only played one season, and 58 total games, for the Petes, or on North American ice, for that matter. He’s not exactly a junior veteran. Compare that with Cootes, who had already played parts of three seasons with the Thunderbirds before being drafted by the Canucks, and one can see why there was an interest in giving Cootes a taste of the pro game that might not be the case for Novotny just yet.

There is plenty of room for growth and improvement in the OHL for Novotny. One would want to see him improve on his statline of 34 goals and 65 points in 58 games, at least to some extent, and especially on his playoff performance, where he only notched one assist in six postseason games. Novotny should also get a chance to star for Team Czechia at the World Juniors.

In other words, Novotny still has plenty to play for at the junior level. His excellent showing right now matters in the long run, but in the short run, it probably shouldn’t change anything.

Next year, when Novotny has the option of going to the CHL, AHL, or NHL, the decision will be much tougher. This year, it’s pretty clear that a return to juniors is the correct option.