Braeden Cootes appears set to begin his first AHL season on a line with a familiar mix of experience and new blood.
At Abbotsford Canucks practice this week, Vancouver’s 2025 first-round pick has been skating with veteran Ben Berard and college free agent addition Bennett Schimek. Abbotsford is expected to unveil its season-opening roster Friday morning, and the club opens the regular season in Calgary on Saturday.
The schedule doesn’t leave much room to settle in slowly. Abbotsford also visits the Colorado Eagles on Oct. 9-10 before returning home for its opener on Oct. 17 against the Coachella Valley Firebirds at Rogers Forum.
Cootes, 19, was taken by Vancouver with the No. 15 pick in the 2025 NHL Draft and was reassigned to Abbotsford last week. Under the new rules, he can be a full-time AHL regular this season. Before this year, players under 20 who didn’t make their NHL team had to go back to their junior clubs.
The right-shot centre, originally from Sherwood Park, Alta., appeared in three games with Vancouver last season before being sent back to the WHL’s Seattle Thunderbirds.
Berard, 27, is entering his fifth season in the minors. The Duncan native signed a one-year extension with Abbotsford last April after a season in which he led the team with 20 goals and finished second in points with 37.
Schimek, 23, signed a one-year deal for 2026-27 with Abbotsford last March after finishing his senior season at Arizona State. He then spent the rest of the year with Abbotsford on a professional tryout and posted five goals and 11 points in 13 games.
Vancouver general manager Ryan Johnson has made patience a priority since taking over this summer, and he said the organization wants Cootes focused on development rather than shuttling between leagues.
“My conversation with Braeden was very complimentary of everything - how he’s approached it mentally, physically, how he’s handled everything,” Johnson told reporters. “Braeden is going to go to Abbotsford and - you guys are going to hate me for this - but there’s no timeline.
In Other News...
Canucks Home Opener Puts Their Oilers Game Plan To The Test
The Canucks return to Rogers Arena for their first home game of the season with the same opponent and, likely, the same look that worked the last time out. Vancouver is expected to stick with the lineup from its recent win, with Kevin Lankinen back in goal as the club tries to carry that road success into an early-season divisional test against Edmonton. It is the kind of matchup that can say a lot about where a team stands in October, especially when the other side is bringing a few changes of its own.
Edmonton will be without Zach Hyman and will turn to Devon Levi in net, giving this rematch a slightly different feel even before the puck drops. The game will air on Sportsnet Pacific, with Pierre Lambert and Michael Markovic scheduled to referee, but for Vancouver the bigger question is whether the same formula that worked once can hold up again in front of a home crowd now expecting a stronger start. [Read more 🡒]
Canucks Fans Have A Fair Kevin Lankinen Scoring Debate
The season opener against Edmonton produced more than the usual early-year nerves for Vancouver, because one of the first goals on the Canucks board turned into a rules debate. Kevin Lankinen got a piece of the play when he deflected a shot that wound up on Paul Cotters goal, and Vancouver went looking for the goaltender to be credited for the setup. It was the kind of detail that only matters if you care about the fine print, but those are exactly the sorts of moments that can spark a useful conversation about how the NHL keeps score.
For skaters, assists can be awarded in a fairly straightforward chain of events, but goaltenders live under a different standard. In this case, the league did not agree with Vancouvers request, holding to the line that a goalie has to intend to pass the puck to receive an assist. It leaves the Canucks with an interesting edge-case to file away, and it also raises the broader question of whether the NHLs scoring rules ought to make a little more room for the way goaltenders actually help create offense. [Read more 🡒]
Former Canucks Defender Gets Another Chance After Rough Ending
Derek Forbort is getting another look in professional hockey after a difficult run with Vancouver, where the veteran defenceman spent parts of the 2024-25 and 2025-26 seasons working through injuries while still helping steady the penalty kill. The former Canucks blueliner has since moved on from that stretch and is trying to keep his career rolling after stops with several NHL teams since the Los Angeles Kings drafted him in 2010.
Now 34, Forbort is on a new path in the American Hockey League, where he will try to prove he still has something left to offer. For a player whose value has long come from defensive reliability and special-teams work, the next challenge is clear enough: show he can stay available and effective, then see whether the door back to the NHL opens again. [Read more 🡒]