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Five Canucks under 25 who will shape the team's future

The future of the team is mostly not on the roster — it's with players who will soon be there, but aren't yet and won't even be in their prime for a few years.

Published Sep 25, 2026  •  5 minute read

Zeev Buium celebrates after scoring a goal against the Los Angeles Kings in April. Photo by Derek Cain /Getty Images

If there is one clear sign that tells you the Vancouver Canucks are in a rebuild, it’s the truth of the task they are about to undertake.

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The future of the team is mostly not on the roster — it’s with players who will soon be there, but aren’t yet and won’t even be in their prime for a few years.

Let’s begin with a guy who is here and sure feels like a future captain:

The star piece in the Quinn Hughes trade is always going to be looked to in terms of, what is he now? And what will he be?

Buium has shown glimpses of his promise. He is a great skater and puck handler. But he’s also just 21 and still growing. Strength is the top development need for defencemen, and he looks stronger this year, but has got to learn how to play stronger.

Playing for Adam Foote’s chaotic system was not good for him. It wasn’t good for any of the young defencemen, and it is going to be a big thing to watch in the Manny Malhotra regime. His system is busy and active, and it won the Abbotsford Canucks the Calder Cup.

You would think Buium will thrive in such a system.

He’s also a natural with the fans.

“I remember being a kid meeting Anže Kopitar for the first time,” he said, beaming. Growing up in southern California, he played for the Junior Kings program, which was based at the NHL Kings’ training centre in El Segundo. That meant he saw NHLers all the time and built up quite the stick collection.

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Now he is happy to do the same for kids he sees on the street or outside the arena.

“I just know what taking the time meant to me, and I want to give that back.”

There is no doubt Cootes is close. For the second straight year, he has had a strong training camp. Now 19, you can see that he’s stronger and more agile. He has excellent hockey smarts, now it’s about putting the whole package together.

Canucks GM Ryan Johnson said he is looking forward to Cootes getting big minutes in the AHL with the Abbotsford Canucks. The style of play in the AHL is generally chaotic, and Johnson believes that getting used to that will do big things for Cootes in the long run.

“When you come back to a more structured and predictable NHL, you’re that much better for it,” said Johnson, who served as GM of the Canucks’ minor league team from 2017. “He’s 19 years old. I gave him a bunch of examples of players that are a year older than him who (were sent down to the minors), had success, got one call up, and never went back. And that’s how, not just with Braeden, but with all of our guys coming up … how I want that process to look like.”

Not far behind Cootes is the son of the head coach, who is at Boston University this season.

He grew up in Vancouver. This is as much a home town for him as any place is. His father hopes Caleb will be a key player for the team.

Of course, that will bring some challenges, but those are a future Canucks problem.

Malhotra is a smooth centre, with a solid frame and lots to commend him already. Manny has spoken of what it was like having his son around the team when Caleb was little and Manny was still a player on the team.

“You dream. There’s pipe dreams of your son playing in the National Hockey League,” he said in June after Caleb was picked third overall by the Canucks. “We had a lot of kids in the room at that time, coming in after (practices) and playing mini sticks in the locker room, and just taking in that whole NHL experience. Being able to share that with them, that was special.”

And now they will share it in a new way.

A sensational winger. It’s clear that he’s got a big, big upside.

His energy is infectious. There is no doubt how much he loves playing the game.

He got to skate with Cootes at training camp and said he learned a lot from the centre, given it was his second camp and Cootes got into NHL games last year.

That is, after all, what Novotny wants for himself.

“Obviously, a lot of positive things from him,” Novotny said during training camp of what it was like skating in drills with Cootes. “It’s a great experience to get some NHL games. Every guy’s dream. And it’s just great to be around him.”

He skated well enough in camp that you wondered if the Canucks were tempted to send him to the AHL, instead of back to the OHL. He is now in Peterborough, where he should dominate.

“Play my game. I’m not trying to think about one plan, like where I’m going to be back in Peterborough in a couple days, or whatever. I’m here right now. I’m trying to show up, and if I’m going to get a chance in a game, I’m just going to play my best, and then we will see what’s going to happen.”

The big former baseball pitcher surprises many with his deft puck skills. He is a second-round pick, and more and more second-round picks are turning into make-or-break draft picks for rebuilding teams.

He wasn’t good enough to be in the first round, but a second-rounder still has top-end qualities. With the Michigander, there is his size, his skating, and his vision.

He is still growing into his frame, but he’s got a very good chance of becoming an interesting depth centre for the rebuilding Canucks.

HONOURABLE MENTION — Alexei Medvedev admits that his 2025-26 season with the London Knights didn’t go as well as he had hoped, and he knows this is a big year for him. He was the top goalie prospect going into the 2025 draft because of his athleticism and his long limbs. He still has those, but he’s got to rediscover confidence in himself.

pjohnston@postmedia.com

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