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Canucks Prospect Showcase Notebook: The Novotný-Cootes-Rogowski line steals the show
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Photo credit: © @Canucks on Twitter/X
Tyson Cole
Sep 13, 2026, 22:25 EDT
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After what was a disappointing result on Saturday night, the Vancouver Canucks prospects bounced back in a big way in Game 2 on Sunday afternoon.
Head coach Ryan Papaioannou made some adjustments to his lines, and they clearly worked.
The top line of Adam Novotný, Braeden Cootes, and Brooks Rogowski was too much to handle for the Seattle Kraken’s prospects in this one. When asked what went into the decision to put this trio together, Papaioannou replied, “I mean, I think probably something that we all wanted to see, and everybody in the stands included. So give those guys a look together, and whether they had a successful game or not, I think it was fun just to watch.”
And fun it was. This line got the scoring started in the first period, and by the end of the game, that line accounted for three of the Canucks’ five goals en route to a 5-2 victory over the Kraken.
Unfortunately, we don’t have as many takeaways as Game 1 because, well, it was really just a one-line show.

1. There was no stopping the Novotný-Cootes-Rogowski line

To start, the trio were getting used to playing together. But that didn’t take long to turn into chemistry, as Novotný took a Rogowski pass just inside the blueline, faked the shot, switched the angle on his shot and fired a shot far side on Nikke Kokko.
Fast forward to the second period and the line really started to get cooking. After watching Bennett Schimek and Gabe Chiarot score two quick goals, this line wanted in on the action. With all the momentum on their side, Novotný shovelled a silky backhand pass by the Kraken defender and onto the tape of Rogowski, who used his long reach to fire a cross-crease pass over to Cootes for a one-time tap-in to extend the Canucks’ lead to three.
Later in the period, Novotný had one of the best plays of the game. The full extent of the work he did along the wall is not shown in the clip below, but to paint the picture, Novotný went into the corner with speed, won the puck battle, fought off an extra defender, and still managed to exit the corner with the puck. He then passed the puck out of danger to the point, where Alonso Gosselin wired a shot past the Kraken netminder for the Canucks’ fourth goal of the period and Novotný’s third point of the night.
Even in the third period, they were dangerous and kept threatening the Kraken. When two first-round picks and a player selected with the first pick of the second round get stacked on a line together, fans expect big things, and they pulled through. Novotný led the line in scoring with one goal and two assists, Rogowski had two assists, and Cootes had the lone goal. All three players were named the three stars of the game.
Next stop for these guys? Canucks training camp next week in Penticton. It’s one thing to look good against other prospects, but how will they look against professionals in an NHL environment? Regardless of how they do there, the future looks bright with these three after what they showed at this year’s prospect showcase.

2. Ilya Safonov’s opportunity to drive his own line

In Game 1, Ilya Safonov was paired on a line with Cootes and Bennett Schimek. The trio looked great, but Safonov was then trusted to drive his own line. But how did he do? The answer: just fine.
Perhaps the term “drive” isn’t the correct one to use, because he wasn’t much of a play driver at all. That was Schimek. To be fair to Safonov, being an offensive play driver has never really been his game. However, as a 25-year-old with six years of professional experience in Russia, Safonov should be able to kind of do whatever he wants offensively against these younger prospects. And we just didn’t see that from him in this contest.
Again, that isn’t his game. Safonov is more of a defensive role player. He’s got the prototypical size and does the little things right that NHL teams covet, but projecting him as anything higher than a fourth-line defensive specialist may be a bit too ambitious for what we saw from him this weekend.

One-offs

  1. I mentioned Bennett Schimek as a player to watch in this game, and boy did he come through with a nifty goal in the second period.
  2. Winger Gabe Chiarot played centre for this game. He won a few draws, looked fairly comfortable in the middle, and got rewarded with a goal.
  3. Yaroslav Bryzgalov flashes another strong shift. He’s done something in back-to-back games now that piqued my interest.
  4. Although he played just one period, Aku Koskenvuo was lights out. He made multiple impressive saves. But after playing professionally last year, this was sort of expected.

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