Braeden Cootes
2025 NHL Draft Eligible
Position: C, Shoots: R
H/W: 6-Foot-3, 183 pounds
Date of Birth: 2007-02-09
Cootes is the type of prospect that you need to watch closely, while also understanding the nuances of his situation, in order to properly appreciate, because simply looking at his stats will never tell the full story. As a true heart-and-soul kind of player and a natural leader, the impact that he leaves both on and off the ice cannot be measured in goals and assists alone, though his numbers in those departments are both still highly respectable. Mix in the ability to play center in all situations and the ease with which he earns the trust of coaches and the overall result is someone who is surely being coveted highly by NHL scouts.
The young captain of the Seattle Thunderbirds (and youngest in the entire WHL) got his first taste of The Dub in the 2022-23 season, dressing for seven games as an underage player and spending more time with the team beyond that. That same T-Birds squad won the 2023 league championship and featured a few players who have already appeared in the NHL, along with others who had also been drafted at that time or went on to be selected that summer. While it's impossible to say for sure how much that unique environment actually influenced Cootes, it must have been undeniably beneficial to some degree, and he now carries himself with a confident, polished maturity that the vast majority of players his age lack.
It's fair to say that Cootes isn't the flashiest or most exciting player, especially in comparison to others who are projected to get picked in the 1st round of the 2025 NHL draft. That doesn't make him any less capable of being a difference-maker for whatever team he plays for, though, in countless ways that matter even if they aren’t easily measurable. He does a lot of other kinds of legwork that helps lead to wins, and his young and outgunned Seattle team — who are still paying the price for their 2023 championship — probably wouldn't have come close to making the playoffs this year without him as their most trusted forward and leading scorer.
It’s not hard to envision Cootes one day becoming an instrumental part of an NHL team’s successful playoff run, and that will be hard for scouts and GMs to resist.
Skating
Overall, Cootes does a fairly reasonable job of getting around the ice, but it's not exactly pretty to watch much of the time. He's good at keeping his feet moving and playing on his toes, with occasional bursts of acceleration and flashes of shiftiness. At the same time, though, he lacks the natural proficiency of movement that a lot of other top prospects have. His footwork isn't the most fluid or clean, and there is work to be done with how he uses his edges. This should be a big focus for him in his ongoing development, because if he can improve his skating far enough it could lead to him reaching another level in his game, but if there's little to no improvement moving forward it might really hurt him at the professional levels.
Here is a good look at Cootes’ skating, both his acceleration and top speed. His legs are churning quickly, but there’s a bit of heaviness in each push and he’s not getting a lot of extension. While he’s able to win the race against the defender in this clip, he’ll need to keep making improvements in this area if he wants to have similar success in the NHL.
Another good snapshot of his skating here. Incredible amounts of hustle, some explosiveness into the given space in front of him, and you can see how the players on the other team are putting a priority on him, knowing that he’ll leave them in the dust if they don’t respond without hesitation.
In this clip you can see some of the limitations with his lateral movement. You’d like to see him be a little more crisp in how he’s trying to shake off the penalty killers. A little more deception with his feet might have given him more time and space to pull off the attempted toe drag.
It’s worth highlighting his crossovers in particular and noting where there is still room for improvement. Ideally, his feet would be crossing over further and more fluidly, which would allow him to build up more speed for when he’s ready to turn up the ice.
Grade: 50
Shot
Cootes's goal-scoring is far from his strongest attribute and will never be his calling card at higher levels of hockey, but opposing defenders would be wise to not underestimate it. While he's not much of a shot creator or a high-volume shooter, he certainly knows how to finish with aplomb. Get the puck on his stick between the dots with a bit of time and space and he can pick holes in or around goalies. He also has quite a nose for the net, with the potential to be an above-average NHL scorer when it comes to tips, getting to rebounds first, and tallying greasy goals in whatever other ways that he can.
Heck of a goal here from Cootes. He times his toe drag perfectly, uses only a little bit of space to elevate, and wires the shot bar and down. That’s an expert-level finish.
This is what it looks like when you give Cootes a shooting lane along with too much time and space. Definitely not recommended.
This shot might have ticked slightly off the defender’s stick, but nevertheless, just look at how much velocity he gets out of that release. Goalies can get caught by surprise when such a dangerous shot comes with such minimal follow-through.
This is what you might call a “Cootes Special”: attentive to the play, goes aggressively to the net, fights hard to win the loose puck and then shovels it in, all before the opposing players can properly react.
This play is a bit simple and straightforward, but it does a good job of showing his instincts around the net, such as the way that he’s able to get to rebounds first because he sniffs them out so well.
Grade: 55
Skills
Much like his shooting ability, Cootes can be dangerous as a puck-handler and playmaker, albeit not on the most consistent basis. He can occasionally deke through opposing defenders both on the rush and deep in the cycle, and he can thread important passes through thick traffic. He's able to make plays off of his backhand better than most of his peers. Sometimes he runs into trouble corralling pucks and getting them under control under motion, which limits his effectiveness when it comes to driving play up the ice. And don't discount how much of his success in this area stems from his dog-on-a-bone mentality, where he is fierce with his stick keeping the puck protected or trying to immediately win it back.
Here’s one for the highlight reel. Excellent job by Cootes to receive the pass behind his body, swing it forward in one motion so that he can protect it from the defender on his right, and then make a brilliant pass as soon as the shot option is taken away from him. Multiple impressive parts all linked together in the span of a few seconds.
Absolutely beautiful dangles by him here to navigate the puck between the two opposing defenders. That’s a nice, snappy shot off his backhand, too.
This clip is similar to the one directly above it, but this time he’s in motion when he knifes between the two defenders. There’s only a small window of opportunity for him to get the puck into the spot where he wants it.
This is a textbook saucer pass. You couldn’t pull it off much better than Cootes does here, and he’s rewarded with a goal when the puck is returned back to him.
There’s nothing especially egregious about the mistake in this clip, but it’s one part of a larger trend, including both failed pass receptions and mishandled pucks, often without pressure affecting him. Luckily, though, they’re much less common than the times when he handles and moves the puck cleanly and crisply. Chalk it up as an area in need of some improvement, as opposed to a full-blown area of concern.
Grade: 55
Smarts
As mentioned earlier, Cootes plays older than his age. You can tell that he really "gets it" as a hockey player, understanding the nuances and small details of the sport better than most others. It’s rare to see him make wrong decisions or reads, even when play is moving quickly or he’s under a lot of duress. His timing and awareness play a large role in his ability to contribute offensively, and there are times where, if you watch him closely enough, you can even tell from afar just how fast he is at processing his surroundings.
This is a very heady play by Cootes. Just watch how he patiently times his saucer pass, waiting for the defender to get flat and for his teammate to reach a more dangerous position near the net.
Lots of different little things to like about this clip: the steal and immediate second move to evade the forechecker, the way he quickly scans and shoulder checks to see where his teammates are around him, the decision-making about when to directly engage or challenge players on the other team. While there’s nothing that happens that’s necessarily flashy, most shifts in the NHL involve minutiae like this, which is an essential part of controlling the flow of play and putting players in positions where they can actually capitalize on small breakdowns.
Cootes is dangerous in tight spaces, and a big reason why is because of his moment-to-moment anticipation. He completes this nifty no-look pass because he correctly calculates that the teammate behind him is probably going to be moving deeper in the slot next.
Cootes likes to play fast, and that’s mostly a good thing, though it does get him into trouble sometimes. Here, he tries to make a quick pass to keep the play moving up ice, but he fails to notice that his intended target is heading off for a line change. If he would have taken an extra beat he might have noticed the problem and picked a different play with the puck that didn’t result in an icing.
Grade: 55
Physicality/Compete
This is by far his single strongest and most appealing attribute, as Cootes is quite the warrior. He's utterly fearless and is often the first player to enter an existing fray, even when he's at a size disadvantage, which is common. There's a real hardened edge to how he plays, and you can tell that he genuinely enjoys getting into the grill of his opponents to get a competitive advantage over them. His best hockey comes when his engine is running a little hot, which will be an asset in a tight playoff series. There are limitations to this side of his game, though, as his average size and lack of strength hinder his ability to throw hits and win physical battles.
Nobody would ever accuse Cootes of being a soft player. Despite getting sent chaotically flying into the Red Deer net with a heavy blindside hit his first reaction, before he’s even up to his feet, is to go after the guy who tagged him.
Despite not being overly big or strong, Cootes sure knows how to work with what he has. He’s always willing to initiate contact and battle for body positioning, like he does in this clip.
You can throw a check on Cootes, but there’s no guarantee that you’re going to come out of the situation on top.
Something that helps Cootes be effective with his physical play is how much he exerts himself. Sometimes players will throw hits because they know they’re supposed to, without actually putting much force into them. Not Cootes, though. When he throws a hit, he’s usually trying to be thorough and genuinely follow through with it.
Here are two different examples that show where Cootes can be limited in this area. Right idea both times, and it’s clear that he’s trying to play hard, but he ends up getting the worst of the collisions because he’s at a physical disadvantage in comparison to his targets.
Grade: 57.5
OFP: 54.375
A note on the 20-80 scale used above. We look at five attributes (skating, shooting, puck skills, hockey IQ and physicality) for skaters and six for goalies (athleticism/quickness, compete/temperament, vision/play reading, technique/style, rebound control and puck handling). Each individual attribute is graded along the 20-80 scales, which includes half-grades. The idea is that a projection of 50 in a given attribute meant that our observer believed that the player could get to roughly NHL average at that attribute at maturity.