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Fans of 200-foot players with motors that never stop will be enamoured with Braeden Cootes. Cootes is definitely a high-floor, limited ceiling proposition for any team that calls out his name on draft day, but he’s as sure-fire an NHL player as they come this late in the round. He plays in a straight line and takes no shortcuts in handling all the small details on the ice. Should the Habs really want to take a home run swing on one of their picks in the first round, then selecting Cootes with the other pick is highly logical in guaranteeing that at least one of their picks plays in Montreal, albeit likely in an energy role for the team.

Bio

Centre
Shoots: Right
DOB: February 9th, 2007
Height: 6′0
Weight: 183 lbs

Rankings

Elite Prospects: 16
Future Considerations: 21
Daily Faceoff: 21
The Hockey News (Ferrari): 11
The Hockey News (Kennedy): 13
TSN (Bob McKenzie): 18
TSN (Craig Button): 22
NHL Central Scouting (N. American): 20
Sportsnet (Cosentino): 14
Sportsnet (Bukala): 15
Draft Prospects Hockey: 17
Smaht Scouting: 14
McKeen’s Hockey: 17
HabsWorld: 16

Statistics

Scouting Report

The report here is simple, Cootes works his butt off and teams find it difficult to find a matchup for a player who simply never stops. He’s the first one in the corner to win a puck battle, first one in front of the net, willing to take punishment to make plays there, first one to challenge bigger players in positioning battles. Sounds a little like a certain Brendan Gallagher that the Hab faithful have adored for years.

However, Cootes enters the draft a little more polished than Gallagher in that he’s already a very intelligent player which allowed him to amass 63 points in 60 games this season in the WHL. His intelligence has also allowed him to take fewer penalties. Considering his style of play, his 18 PIMs this season is quite impressive. He’s also defensively competent and that comes as an important tool for a player who still needs to work on his skating and gain strength to access the next level. Everything put together, he might be more of a hybrid between Gallagher and Zach Hyman.

Timeline

Of all the players available to the Habs at this rank, Cootes might have one of the shortest timelines. Give him a season where he works primarily on his strength and skating, and he’s pretty much there. He thinks the game like a pro, does things in straight lines, and never takes a shift off. The limited ceiling also means that he arrives at his finished product a little sooner. If the Habs want to cut bait on some of the veteran wingers on the bottom-6 when their contracts expire in the next few seasons, Cootes makes some sense for the Habs if he’s still available.