Braeden Cootes is known for a multitude of sharp hockey skills. It’s why he was picked 15th overall by the Vancouver Canucks in the 2025 NHL Draft. The Seattle Thunderbirds captain has been widely discussed for his leadership qualities, even drawing comparisons to former Canucks captain Bo Horvat for his character and two-way play. While his leadership and ability to play up and down the ice are essential, there’s another aspect to his game that Cootes also likes working on.
“I love to shoot pucks,” he said after the first day of the Canucks’ development camp last week. “It’s a pretty fun thing to work on, that’s for sure. Back in my gym and in Edmonton, we’ve got a pretty nice shooting area there that I like to work on a lot.”
Cootes’ appreciation of shooting practice is evident in the player he models his game most after — Brayden Point. The Tampa Bay Lightning forward has scored more than 40 goals in the past three seasons including a 51-goal season back in 2022–23. Even so, Cootes has more than just Point whose game he looks up to. A crop of the NHL’s youth also skate at the same place that Cootes does. The Canucks draft pick listed Olen Zellweger (Anaheim Ducks), Kirby (Montréal Canadiens) and Colton Dach (Chicago Blackhawks), and Kaiden Guhle (Montréal Canadiens) as a few who he has shared the ice with.
“There’s a lot of guys that are good players that you can, even just from a distance, look at how they’re shooting, how hard they work,” he said. “A lot of good players that I can learn from and watch them.”
Watching other players work on their skills has been beneficial for Cootes, who broke out offensively for the Thunderbirds in 2024–25 by scoring 26 goals and 37 assists in 60 regular season games. Fans got to see his skills firsthand at development camp last week, when he scored on a partial break during Thursday’s prospect scrimmage. When it comes to working on these skills, particularly in preparation for the NHL-level, Cootes cited a couple of things he’s been utilizing.
“Deception, different ways, watching video,” he explained. “I haven’t really shot on an NHL goal yet, but I’m sure I will in a couple months, and I’ll get a good standard on what that’s like, obviously, and then kind of go from there as well. Just trying to learn different things, new things, to score more.”
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Cootes credits watching other players — skaters and goaltenders — as part of the process he uses to develop his shot. One particular thing he likes to be aware of are “trends” in how some of the NHL’s goals are scored.
“You look at [Connor] Hellebuyck, about six-foot [four] — it’s pretty hard to shoot high sometimes. Goalies don’t want to go down either, it’s a lot more effort. If you show a little bit of deception, or you can freeze them for a bit, and then go five-hole. But that low glove, low far side, that’s a pretty new common thing in the NHL, where guys are shooting. Just trying to pick up on different trends that you can learn from.”
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