Shortly after selecting Braeden Cootes with the 15th overall pick of the 2025 NHL Entry Draft, Vancouver Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin met with assembled media at Rogers Arena. Here’s what he had to say.

“Braeden Cootes, captain in Seattle, our guys were very excited about him leading up to the meeting today, and we had a couple of guys that we were hoping were gonna be available at 15. You never know when you’re picking there, but when we were getting closer to the pick, Braeden was a guy the scouting staff was definitely very excited about, and so am I, to get a right shot centre, captain of Team Canada’s, gold medal team… I believe there is upside for him to be a middle six centre.”

Allvin added that Cootes’ demeanour — especially for an 18 year old — stood out to him early on in conversations. Cootes is the youngest captain in the WHL, and led the Seattle Thunderbirds in scoring this past season with 63 points in 60 games.

“I think that [leadership qualities] along with the position where he plays, being a right-shot centre, which is extremely hard to get in the league. And for a young player like him, what he brought to the team in Seattle and, and around Hockey Canada, too — he’s an impressive young man. So definitely for us, we felt that we have, a lot of good younger defencemen in our, in our system, so adding forwards, and centres was important for us.”

Allvin made it clear that it certainly didn’t hurt that Cootes is coming out of a program as prestigious as the one the Thunderbirds have built.

“They have a lot great history of NHL players coming out of that program and, and Braeden being a captain, a leader of that team, that excited my staff. How he played and how prepared, and the consistency, I think that’s something in that program that they from the top are teaching those young players.”

“He’s built thick. He’s a thicker kid, strong on the puck, heavy down low, good skater, relentless, and I think those are attributes that will translate into the National Hockey League.”

One thing Allvin made abundantly clear is that the Canucks absolutely love Braeden Cootes, the person.

“The more our scouts got to know the person Braeden is, the more they got to like what he had to bring and his core values, how he interacts with and how he treats his teammates, and being part of the community down there in Seattle, watching him around, Team Canada as well. Obviously, my scout’s job is, is through the process on and off the ice and making sure we’re aware of what, personalities we’re bringing in here and and easier for our development staff to start working with with Braeden here right away. Mikael Samuelsson and Mike Komasarek are down in LA and will get to know our all our picks over the next couple of days.”

Watch Allvin’s availability in full below: