PENTICTON — Braeden Cootes is getting used to living out of a suitcase.
The 19-year-old centre knows it’s up to him to prove that he deserves a spot in the Vancouver Canucks’ lineup. And until the team makes a decision on where he’ll play this season, Cootes will be calling a hotel near Rogers Arena home.
He’s taking the living situation day by day, but has unpacked his clothes, knowing his stay could be lengthy.
“I don’t like to get things too wrinkled,” he said. “I’m not a very good folder or anything like that. So I do put it in the closet. I try to be clean.”
The opportunity to earn a place on an NHL roster is worth an extended hotel stay, Cootes added.
“There’s no place I’d rather be, that’s for sure,” he said. “I’m not complaining.”
The Canucks are turning to their young talent as they launch into a rebuild this season. Cootes is one of 12 players 21 years old and younger that the team brought to training camp in Penticton, B.C., this week.
Vancouver has other prospects in the system, too, including Caleb Malhotra, who the team selected third overall in June’s draft. The 18-year-old centre isn’t at training camp as he starts his freshman year at Boston University.
Head coach Manny Malhotra — Caleb’s dad — knows many of the up-and-coming players in camp this week are eager to impress, and cautioned that he and his staff don’t want to get “star struck” by a short-term performance.
“Obviously, with the quality of players around them, they’re going to do a lot of good things,” he said. “But the mindset being, it’s not about just right now and making a team. We’re looking towards the future. What’s that player look like in two or three or four years? And where are they best suited to develop that game to be ready in that time frame?”
The Canucks want to be patient with their prospects, with general manager Ryan Johnson telling reporters on Wednesday that he doesn’t want to see players yo-yoing between the American Hockey League and NHL.
Malhotra has said players will dictate which team they end up on by showing what they can do in training camp — a philosophy Cootes agrees with.
“That’s how it always should be,” he said. ”I mean, at the end of the day, if I’m ready, I’m ready, if I’m not, I’m not. It’s up to me to make that happen. It doesn’t just get gifted to you. So if I go out and play well, I’m sure I’ll have a shot. But that’s on me.”
After getting action in three NHL games last season, Cootes returned to the Western Hockey League, putting up 10 goals and 13 assists over 17 games with the Seattle Thunderbirds before getting dealt to the Prince Albert Raiders.
In Saskatchewan, he tallied another 14 goals and 26 assists over 28 regular-season contests, and added seven goals and 16 assists across 20 playoff games.
Now the five-foot-11, 183-pound forward from Sherwood Park, Alta., believes he’s ready to cement his spot in the Canucks’ lineup.
“I’ve obviously got to play well,” Cootes said. “I learned it’s a hard league. It’s not easy. So I’m gonna take things day by day, try to get better, and not have too high of expectations. At the end of the day, I’ll just be myself and just play my game and see what happens ultimately.”
Vancouver has also brought in some veteran talent to help guide their up-and-coming players, signing feisty forward Brendan Gallagher and bruising defenceman Luke Schenn in free agency.
For Schenn, showing the next generation how to play in the NHL is simply a continuation of the kindness he received early in his career.
“When I was a young guy, I had a great mentors and guys who I played with,” he said. “I’m dating myself here, but I played with Tomas Kaberle for a few years, and then Kimmo Timonen in Philly. And I just remember how they treated me, and their wisdom and veteran presence, and how they rubbed off on me.
“And now it’s kind of roles reverse, where you get to maybe mentor someone else. As much as you feel like you’re maybe mentoring someone, I feel like I’m the lucky guy who gets to play with these young up-and-coming guys here.”
Schenn’s latest protege appears to be Zeev Buium, the star rookie defenceman Vancouver received in a blockbuster trade for captain Quinn Hughes in December.
While the Canucks stumbled through the rest of the season and finished at the bottom of the NHL standings, Buium emerged as a bright spot, with three goals and nine assists over 45 games for his new team.
The performance earned him an eight-year, US$75-million extension that will kick in during the 2026-27 season.
It’s a deal Buium is looking to live up to as a new campaign begins.
“I just want to show them that they made the right decision, and just build on my everyday game,” he said. ”It’s obviously going to be process — there’s going to be highs, there’s going to be lows, and just try to stay as consistent as possible. For me personally, I just want to do the best I can, and help bring this place to where we want to go.”
That means both shutting down an opponent’s top line and contributing offensively, Buium added, and there’s a lot Schenn can teach him all over the ice.
“I think he’s been a guy who’s literally been in every possible situation, I think as a player, and I’ve been able to learn a lot from him off the ice,” he said.
“He’s kind of taken me under his wing a little bit. So that’s been pretty awesome. And just to be out there with him, I think it’s just the little things that he notices, especially defensively … It was a huge help for me, just having that presence. And he kills plays so well, and just those veteran things that I’m trying to get better at every day.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2026.
Gemma Karstens-Smith, The Canadian Press
