Of all the storylines surrounding the Vancouver Canucks, Braeden Cootes making the opening night lineup may be the most surprising. He was drafted less than four months ago. He won’t be able to share a beer with his teammates in Canada until February, and it will be even more seasons after that before he can do so in the United States. The right-handed centre isn’t just young, he’s the youngest Canuck in a very long time.
The 70s and 80s were different
There’s one simple way to explain how much drafting and player development have changed since Vancouver was first awarded an NHL franchise in 1970, and that is to look at how many players jumped to the NHL immediately after getting drafted.
The Canucks’ first draft selection in every draft from 1970 through 1985 played in the NHL that same season. In many cases, this included their second-round selection as well. In the 1970s, there were 31 players. Part of the reason for this was that several players were already 20 years old when they were drafted.
Once the 80s rolled around, that total dipped significantly to 10. 1986 was the first Canucks draft where none of their draft picks played for the team in the subsequent season.
A trend was started in the 1980s and ramped up greatly in the 1990s, although it didn’t appear that it would be the case at first.
Utilization of the minor leagues
While it was increasingly common for recent draftees to wait a season developing with their peers, instead of joining the NHL ranks in the 1980s, all but two Canucks teams featured a player from the previous draft. Teams began preferring that all but their highest selections stay in junior or Europe. A few were assigned to the minors and played across the numerous leagues that existed.
As players in the 1980s were drafted at a younger age than in the 1970s, it was now normal to leave them in various development leagues. It had now become very uncommon to see teenagers in the NHL.
The 1990 draft
The 1990 draft went against the trend started in the 1980s and harkened back to the bygone 1970s. The three future Canucks yielded from this draft were the most since four appeared from the 1978 draft.
Petr Nedved, Shawn Antoski, and Gino Odjick all came from this 1990 draft and made their NHL debuts in the 1990-1991 season. Antoski spent the majority of the season with the Canucks’ minor league affiliate Milwaukee Admirals of the IHL. As did Gino Odjick, although his stay was shorter and ended up with more than half his total season in the NHL. Additionally, both Odjick and Antoski were overagers when drafted.
Of particular note from this draft was Petr Nedved, who made the team out of training camp as an 18-year-old. The fresh-faced teenager was scratched for the season opener but played in game two and suited up for 60 more games afterwards. The next 18-year-old to play for the Canucks will be Braeden Cootes when he makes his debut against the Calgary Flames on October 9th. Coincidentally, both Nedved and Cootes suited up for the Seattle Thunderbirds in the WHL. If the Canucks had a nickel for every time an 18-year-old former Seattle Thunderbird made the NHL squad out of training camp, they’d have two nickels, and it would be weird.
The 90s onwards
The next player to play in the NHL with this criteria was Larry Courville from the 1995 draft. His inclusion also feels like cheating. He was previously drafted by the Winnipeg Jets in 1993. That made him a double overager re-draft. He already had an additional two seasons of development time that other draft picks did not have.
The 2003 draft brought the developmental oddity that is Ryan Kesler. Kesler was drafted out of the NCAA, which was, and still is, common. However, he signed a contract forgoing his NCAA eligibility and reported to the AHL after his first training camp. At 18 years old, he made his professional debut with the Manitoba Moose. He also made his NHL debut at 19 years old that season, playing 28 games.
It should be pointed out that the entirety of the 2004-05 NHL season was wiped out by a lockout. No draftees had the opportunity to make their debuts.
If Cootes is ever nervous about debuting right after getting drafted, all he needs to do is seek solace from his captain. Quinn Hughes also played in the NHL the season after getting drafted. The difference between him and Cootes was that Hughes only joined at the tail-end of the season, playing five games. Regardless, Hughes was the first to make the jump so young, so fast in 15 years.
How did they play?
Using the 1990 draft class as the cut-off point, here’s how the six players who came before Cootes did in their debut seasons.
Not a lot of information to go on. Antoski, Courville, and Hughes only had a cup of coffee. Odjick was the prototypical enforcer and played that role perfectly. Kesler pretty evenly split his time between the NHL and AHL (28 NHL games and 33 AHL games) and was, impressively, able to keep his head above water defensively.
Once again, Petr Nedved is the closest comparison to Cootes in many ways. However, it’s impossible to use Nedved’s season and experiences when talking about Cootes. There’s a Tyler Myers-aged year gap between the two players.
Examples outside the organization
While not germane specifically to the Canucks, there are recent examples of players from the last five drafts who were selected in the middle to late first round, such as Cootes, and made their NHL debuts immediately. Here’s how their first seasons went:
In recent seasons, at least one forward from the middle of the first round has made the NHL right after being drafted. There are three flavours of players from this small list: those who played the entire season (Sillinger and Benson), those who only received a taste of the NHL (Kulich and Luchanko), and those who signed a contract at the end of the NCAA season (Nadeau). Luchanko, Benson, Kulich, and Sillinger all made their respective team out of camp. None of the Flyers, Sabres, or Blue Jackets made the postseason in any of these seasons.
Waiting and seeing
The most recent draft pick to play for the Canucks on opening night was Quinn Hughes in 2018. An 18-year-old has not made the organization out of training camp since Petr Nedved in 1990. As drafting and development strategies shifted, what was once a common occurrence has become exceedingly rare for NHL organizations.
Whether Cootes sticks with the Canucks for the entire season or returns to the Thunderbirds remains to be seen. Make no mistake, there is no in between here. The teenage centre is either with the Canucks for a brief cup of coffee or spends the entire season in the NHL. Either way, it will be fascinating to see how he adjusts to the NHL.
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