Prince Albert, Sask.- Welcome to PA-radise, Braeden Cootes.
The East Division-leading Prince Albert Raiders landed the 2025 Vancouver Canucks first-round pick in a massive trade with the Seattle Thunderbirds.
The deal sees Prince Albert bring in Cootes, a fourth and sixth-round pick in the 2026 WHL Prospects Draft and a conditional second-round pick in 2028.
Seattle will receive forward Ethan Bibeau, the rights to Knox Burton, Tripp Fischer, Diego Gutierrez, a first and second-round pick in the 2026 WHL Prospects Draft, a third-round pick in 2027 and a first-round pick in 2028.
Cootes is fresh off winning bronze for Canada at the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship in Minnesota.
The 6-foot, 183-pound centreman has 10 goals and 13 assists for 23 points in 17 games for the T-Birds this season.
Since being selected by Seattle with the 10th overall pick in the 2022 WHL Prospects Draft, Cootes has piled up 50 goals and 72 assists for 122 points in 148 games, in addition to eight points (2G-6A) in the 2025 WHL Playoffs.
Cootes has captained the team since 2024-25, when he was only 17 years old.
On the international stage, he’s also captured gold at the 2025 IIHF U18 World Championship, where he captained Canada and bagged 12 points (6G-6A) in seven games to be named one of his country’s top three players, and finished first at the 2024 Hlinka Gretzky Cup.
https://twitter.com/TheWHL/status/1992432581913329771
Vancouver selected the Sherwood Park, Alta. product with the 15th overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft.
On October 9, 2025, Cootes became the third-youngest player to ever debut for the Canucks at just 18 years old.
He earned three games in the NHL before being returned to the WHL for the remainder of the 2025-26 campaign.
Heading south is 19-year-old Ethan Bibeau.
The 6-foot-1, 192-pound forward from Winnipeg, Man. has one goal and four assists for five points in 15 tilts with the Raiders in his sophomore WHL season.
Bibeau was drafted by Prince Albert with the 120th overall pick in the sixth round of the 2022 WHL Prospects Draft.
He’s accumulated 25 points (10G-15A) in 81 outings and registered one assist in 11 games in the 2025 WHL Playoffs.
https://twitter.com/TheWHL/status/1997498026433089970
The 2023 WHL Champion Thunderbirds will also acquire the rights to three drafted players.
Tripp Fischer, who was chosen 52nd overall in the third round of the 2025 WHL Prospects Draft, captured the CSSHL U15 Championship in 2024-25 and competed for Alberta at the 2025 WHL Cup.
The 15-year-old from Lloydminster, Alta. has put up 16 points (4G-12A) in 18 games with the AEHL’s U18AAA Lloydminster Lancers.
Six-foot-3, 190-pound forward Knox Burton has 26 points (16G-10A) in 18 games with the CSSHL’s Pilot Mound Academy as a 16-year-old.
The 2024 111th overall pick (fifth round) also earned a call-up to the MJHL’s Selkirk Steelers, where he netted an assist in two appearances.
2027 NHL Draft-eligible Diego Gutierrez, a 6-foot-2, 187-pound defenceman, was chosen with the 31st overall pick in the second round of the 2024 WHL U.S. Priority Draft.
