If you’re looking for some Vancouver Canucks-centric playoff hockey to follow this spring, you can find it in the Canadian Hockey League.

Braeden Cootes, Vancouver’s 2025 first-round pick, and Gabe Chiarot, their 2025 sixth-rounder, are set to kick off their respective conference finals this weekend.

Both teams carry strong rosters, capable of making long runs toward this year’s Memorial Cup in Kelowna, B.C. Their series begins Friday night.

Kicking things off in the eastern time zone, Gabe Chiarot and the Kitchener Rangers will face the Windsor Spitfires after a 4-1 series win over the Soo Greyhounds.

Chiarot has carved out a steady role on Kitchener’s third line, contributing two goals and five points in nine playoff games as a grind-you-down energy player.

The Rangers, who sit at 8-1-0 in the postseason, now face a Spitfires team that enters the series with a perfect 8-0-0 playoff record to set up one of the most compelling matchups of the spring.

In the WHL, Cootes and the Prince Albert Raiders will take on the Medicine Hat Tigers after sweeping the Saskatoon Blades in four games.

The Raiders enter the series with an 8-1-0 playoff record, but they’ll face an equally dominant Tigers squad that has matched that mark on the other side of the bracket.

Cootes has been a key driver for Prince Albert throughout the postseason, co-leading the team with five goals while sitting second in scoring with 11 points through nine games.

Meanwhile, Medicine Hat features a high-end group of talent, including 2026 draft-eligible twin forwards Liam and Markus Ruck, as well as defenceman Jonas Woo, the younger brother of former Canuck Jett Woo. It also features one of the league’s most dominant defenders in Bryce Pickford, who finished the regular season with 45 goals and 83 points from the backend.

After two clean series, this one could prove to be a formidable battle.