Canucks sign 2025 first-round pick Braeden Cootes to three-year ELC
The Vancouver Canucks have agreed to terms on a three-year, entry-level contract with 2025 first-round draft pick Braeden Cootes, the club announced Wednesday afternoon.
Cootes, 18, collected 26 goals and 63 points in 60 games with the WHL’s Seattle Thunderbirds during the 2024-25 regular season. The 5’11” center added two goals and eight points in six games with Seattle in the 2025 WHL playoffs.
The Canucks selected Cootes with the No. 15 overall pick in the draft last month, and now, he’s under contract with them for three years — with the potential for his ELC to slide in each of the next two seasons.
Now that he’s signed a professional contract with the Canucks, Cootes is ineligible to follow in the footsteps of many of his peers and leave the WHL for the NCAA.
General Manager Patrik Allvin announced today that the #Canucks have agreed to terms with forward Braeden Cootes on a three-year, entry-level contract.
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) July 9, 2025The Thunderbirds originally selected Cootes with the No. 10 overall pick in the 2022 WHL Prospects Draft. A product of the Yale Hockey Academy system, Cootes made his WHL debut with Seattle in the 2022-23 season and was named captain of the Thunderbirds ahead of his draft year.
Cootes also played with Team Canada at both the 2024 Hlinka Gretzky Cup and the 2025 U18 World Juniors. He captained the team at the U18s and scored six goals and 12 points in seven games, finishing fourth in tournament scoring.
Hailing from Sherwood Park, AB — just outside of Edmonton — Cootes is now the top center in a Canucks prospect pool that also boasts winger Jonathan Lekkerimaki, defenseman Tom Willander, and goaltender Arturs Silovs.
The Canucks finished the 2024-25 season with a record of 38-30-14 in 82 games, good for just 90 points and fifth place in the Pacific Division. They failed to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs after making it all the way to Game 7 in the second round the previous year.