As we round out the weekend, the draft board turns to an exciting center prospect in Braeden Cootes out of Seattle in the WHL.
Cootes has been having a pretty stellar season, finding a nice bit of success at just about every turn –he posted positive results through the regular season on a somewhat middling Thunderbirds team, and captained the Canadian team at the U18s on their way to a gold medal. He’s made a name for himself as an intriguing, quite complete player already at the junior level, and might well be just the type of player a team like the Flyers would be looking to target later in the first round as they look to bolster their pipeline down the middle.
Pre-draft rankings
No. 20 by NHL Central Scouting (NA Skaters)
No. 17 by Elite Prospects
No. 22 by TSN/Bob McKenzie
No. 28 by Daily Faceoff
Bio
DOB: February 9, 2007
Birthplace: Sherwood Park, AB, CAN
Position: C
Height: 6’0″
Weight: 183 lbs
Shoots: Right
Statistics
What’s there to like?
Above all, Cootes is a well-rounded player. Now, this might sound like a boring assessment, like the makings of a player whose potential fit in this organization doesn’t exactly excite, but the mix of skill he brings along with his responsible game does bring some more excitement. All the same, we’ll dig into the defensive game first here.
Cootes’s in-zone defense is really notable, the way he’s able to stick to his defensive assignment but doesn’t overcommit to it — that is, he stays with his man, but he’s constantly still scanning the zone and keeping engaged with the direction of play while the puck is away from them, ready to jump on a pass attempt. He gives himself options, in other words. And supporting that work nicely is the quick stick he brings, as he’s effective in chipping pucks away from opponents and getting play moving in the right direction. Even if he’s not the one to come away with the puck and start up that transition, he gets it into a good spot for a teammate to pick up. There’s a lot of patience in his play, in the way that he’s able to check and release and then regroup to get back after the puck. It shows a high level of hockey sense that he’s sort of constantly reevaluating his situation for the right play, and not getting drawn into making a panic play either at or with the puck.
His checking game on the whole is quite well developed, and he brings not just good raw speed but good pace in this regard. There’s also a relatively low level of risk in his game, because he plays it so smart. He’s not an overly physical player, but he picks his spots well, and has shown some strength in battles along the boards and below the goal line. On top of that, he’s a strong skater overall, good on his edges, and his top end speed is pretty notable, but even more so is his sort of short distance, in-zone quickness, which gives him even more of an advantage as a forechecker.
There’s also some notable offensive upside here, in Cooter’s game. The point totals don’t totally blow you out of the water (though over a point per game is nothing to sniff at) they’re still more than respectable when you take into account the fact that he did it on a sort of middling Seattle team. He has a really excellent ability to create passing lanes, which is an asset in the defensive zone to create breakouts to be sure, but also in the offensive zone to set up quality chances for his teammates. We mentioned his strength below the goal line in the defensive zone, and that comes across in the offensive zone too, and he’s able to come away from battles with the puck and get it into dangerous areas for chances. He’s more of a setup guy, has a real strength for funneling pucks to the middle of the ice, but there’s some individual offense there too — he has a good shot, with a quick release and good bit of power, so he can set up and find some success as a shooting threat as well.
What’s not to like?
One of the big questions here — no pun intended — is the size question. Cootes brings decent size, but he’s not huge, and might still be considered undersized (at 6’0) for an NHL center, at least by some. Now, this on its own might not be a big red flag in isolation, but the bigger concern in a more practical sense will be how he’s able to add more strength to help him in his physical battles, which can be a bit of a weak point.
On the whole though, there aren’t really any big holes in Cootes’s game, and it’s rather more an issue of him continuing to work on things that he’s already reasonably good at. That is, for one, he’s already a strong skater, but there’s room for improvement, and getting more power in his stride would go a long way. Additionally, he’s already shown well as a confident puck carrier, but he has a tendency to skate himself into trouble at times, so he’ll have to keep working at choosing his spots a little better. It’s a matter of tinkering with his game to put him in a better position as he continues to move up the levels of play, but nothing’s in need of overhauling.
How would he fit in the Flyers’ system?
From a purely positional standpoint, the addition of another center like Cootes would be a huge boost to the Flyers, as this is still a position of pretty desperate need both at the NHL level currently and within the pipeline. But, stylistically, too, there’s a lot to like about the fit. With the attention to detail he brings, the well-rounded, hard working style of play, it feels like he’s exactly the type of player that the Flyers would like to see in the mix.
Now, some might be concerned about a perceived lack of size down the middle with him and Jett Luchanko looking to find roles in their top-9, but that sort of comes down to personal preoccupation. For whatever it’s worth, we don’t share that concern and instead find more value in the speed and mobility that they both would bring.
Also, come on, how funny would it be to have another Coot[e]s in the system?
Could the Flyers actually get him?
The range of projections for where Cootes will likely go isn’t too wide-ranging, and he’s largely settled in to that back third of the first round. Now, certainly there are a lot of ways that the pieces can fall in that range, depending on how the middle of the round falls, but it’s pretty safe to say that there’s a good chance that Cootes could be an option for the Flyers for with one of their later in the round picks, but it’s not a certainty.
What scouts are saying
“I had a bit of a revelation a few weeks back while speaking with a devoted subscriber of the project where a lot of the things I really love and a lot of the things people question about Braeden Cootes are similar to the chatter about Marat Khusnutdinov all those years ago. Undersized and not the most productive guy playing centre, Cootes is still an easy case to see playing in the middle of an NHL lineup somewhere. The analytical profile isn’t great, but where it’s good, it’s very good. His speed and off-puck anticipation go hand in hand to make a great defense-first centre who carries the puck very well and has a skill level that he can deploy at a high pace of play. I think there’s a good floor to his future, but I do want to see more out of him. Quicker decisions through his passing, another step of quickness to evade and escape pressure, and more attempts to drive into the middle of the ice for scoring chances, but he has some really impressive moments with a combination of talents that a smart team should recognize could play a competitive role down a lineup regardless of his size.”
—Will Scouch, scouching.ca
“Cootes plays a heavy, north-south game with a nonstop motor, providing size, grit, and reliability in all three zones. He’s the type of player who wears opponents down with relentless forechecking, excels in puck battles, and doesn’t take shifts off. His right-handed shot adds a layer of utility, especially in faceoff situations and special teams deployment. Though he won’t drive offense in the same way more skilled pivots might, his defensive awareness and ability to play in high-effort matchups make him a strong candidate for a shutdown or energy role at the next level.
“Cootes is a two-way right-shot center with a blend of grit, skill, and compete. He’s an all-situations pivot who can play a tenacious game, is usually the first to arrive on loose pucks, and is willing to go to the hard areas of the offensive zone — not shy to plant himself in front of the opposition’s net. He doesn’t take too much time getting there, either, instead driving to the blue paint with his stick down on the ice for passes or deflections. Cootes zips passes with intention, and doesn’t second-guess his initial instinct when making a dish. He shows quick decision making when presented with little time and space in the offensive zone, and has a good sense of where his teammates are, or are going to be, on the attack. He has the ability to draw defenders in close to him before making a pass, though he doesn’t have dynamic stickhandling ability.”
—Aaron Vickers, FCHockey
One player departs, another joins the mix. We’ll stick around in the WHL for a little while longer, and welcome speedy winger Cameron Schmidt out of Vancouver:
“Schmidt possesses game-breaking skill. He’s like a lightning bolt — in a second, he can generate a high-danger chance. An example of this came in the third. He snuck into open ice, took a breakaway feed, flashed deception with his eyeline and body, and nearly scored on a forehand pop. Just after, Schmidt deked around a defender, baiting a shot, and nearly roofed a backhand effort. The biggest issue is that lightning doesn’t strike consistently, and without puck touches, his game disappears in the background. The speed he can push is impressive — he had a tap-by rush where he exploded up the boards, deked to the backhand, and ripped an in-stride wrister. Beyond the mentioned plays, that was about all of his contributions in this game. He was light on the forecheck and had some pacey moments, but his game was extremely quick-strike and individualistic, devoid of building plays and connections. With his size concerns, his projection requires a lot of conviction. He’s likely more of a B-grade if he fails to rack up offensive chances — high upside, but extreme uncertainty.”
–Daniel Gee, Elite Prospects
