If you’re a regular reader of CanucksArmy, or if you’re just somebody who is familiar with our semiannual ranking of the top 20 Vancouver Canucks prospects, then a lot of what you’re about to read might be information you already know.

But with Adam Novotny signing a three-year entry-level contract with the Canucks on Tuesday afternoon, we thought it’s as good a time as ever to go over what’s next for the 18-year-old winger after signing his ELC.

The Canucks owned two first-round selections at the 2026 NHL Draft. The first, their own at 3rd overall, which they used to select Caleb Malhotra, who immediately became their number one prospect. They used the second, at 24th overall courtesy of the Minnesota Wild and the Quinn Hughes trade, to select Czech winger Adam Novotny.

Novotny came in at third overall, one spot behind Braeden Cootes, in our summer ranking of the Canucks’ top prospects. The upside is real with Novotny, who many draft experts projected to go higher in the first round. Last season with the OHL’s Peterborough Petes (Novotny’s first season in North America) he led his team in points, scoring 34 goals and adding 31 assists for 65 points over 58 games. Novotny is a bigger body who understands that good things happen when you get to the middle of the ice. Combine that with an absolutely lethal shot, and Novotny becomes one of the most intriguing prospects the Canucks have had in quite some time.

He’s also now the first Canucks 2026 draft selection to sign an entry-level contract.

Novotny will be at Canucks training camp in Penticton next month, and if July development camp was any indication, he could be an early standout in the camp environment. Can he stand out to the extent of Braeden Cootes and earn a spot on the NHL roster out of the gate before returning to junior before reaching nine games? That’s a lofty goal, but nobody was talking about the possibility of Cootes doing it when he pulled off the feat just last year.

What’s more likely for Novotny is that he’s eventually cut from Canucks training camp and returned to Peterborough to play out his second year in the OHL. Don’t get it twisted — there are things that Novotny needs to work on in his game, like committing to plays without hesitation and sharpening his decision-making.

He’ll turn 19 years old in November, and if he puts together a strong OHL season, it wouldn’t be much of a surprise at all to see 2026-27 be Novotny’s last in junior. He’ll also be a big part of Czechia’s World Junior team, giving Canucks fans another chance to watch him in a different setting this winter.

Like Braeden Cootes, Novotny isn’t going to play collegiate hockey, meaning that in 2027-28, it might be time for him to take on a tougher challenge. It’s expected that Cootes will mostly play in the AHL this upcoming season, thanks to the new rules allowing teams to have one 19-year-old on their AHL roster. We’d expect that Novotny will follow a similar path to Cootes, and that after this season, he’ll make the jump to pro hockey and begin his journey as an Abbotsford Canuck.