VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Canucks used their first-round draft pick Friday to address critical needs for leadership and a top-six centre. Just not for next season – or probably the next three or four.

After trying for two months to use their pick to trade for a top-six centre who could fill some of the crater left by J.T. Miller’s departure last season, the Canucks were unable to overcome market forces the skyrocketing salary-cap has created and instead selected Seattle Thunderbirds captain Braeden Cootes with the 15th pick of the National Hockey League Draft.

The youngest captain in the Western Hockey League, Cootes instantly becomes one of Vancouver’s top forward prospects, possibly second to 2022 first-rounder Jonathan Lekkerimaki, the 20-year-old winger who split this past season between the Canucks and their Calder Cup-winning American Hockey League team. 

“I mean, today’s obviously my last day being an Oilers fan,” Cootes, 18, said when asked about his upbringing in the Edmonton suburb of Sherwood Park. “But yeah, you know, I liked the Canucks. They’re a team that I love watching. I love watching (Quinn) Hughes play, J.T Miller when he was there. Obviously, it’s pretty cool now being a Vancouver Canuck so close to home as well. And being on the West Coast is awesome.

“Me growing up in Edmonton, I know everything about a Canadian market, and the expectations and all that. It’s no surprise to me. I’m so excited to be a Vancouver Canuck.”

A point-per-game, two-way centre in Seattle, Cootes also captained the Canadian team that won the Under-18 world championship in May. He led Canada with six goals and 12 points in seven games.

Sportsnet analyst and former NHL scouting director Jason Bukala called Cootes a “future captain” for the Canucks after his selection was announced in Los Angeles at the decentralized entry draft.

It was evident in Cootes’ eight-minute Zoom call with reporters that he is articulate and comfortable with leadership. As a two-way centre, he seems just what the Canucks need.

The problem is the organization needs it next season.

Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin was elated to get Cootes, but using the pick means the team must pivot to other options to fulfill president Jim Rutherford’s end-of-season pledge to acquire a top-six centre in trade.

Those players are rarely inexpensive to acquire. But in most years, offering a middle first-round pick would be enough to initiate a transaction. 

The NHL, however, has entered a new era with the end of pandemic-related salary-cap suppression and the start of historic escalation in spending limits.

After increasing just $6.5-million-US over the last four years, the salary cap jumps $7.5-million next season (to $95.5 million) and will spike to $113.9 million by 2027-28.

Combined with standings parity, this avalanche of cash to spend on players has almost every team believing it can make the playoffs next season. Everyone is trying to add good players, not relinquish top players for futures.

The New York Islanders’ trade earlier Friday was an outlier, as they sent defenceman Noah Dobson to the Montreal Canadiens for a package that included two first-round picks.

At least it was encouraging for the Canucks that the Islanders revealed themselves as potential sellers because if Montreal could get Dobson, might Vancouver find traction in trade talks for top centre Mat Barzal, who is from here?

“I’ve been aggressive for a couple of months here,” Allvin told reporters at Rogers Arena about his trade mission. “But I think the reality, you look around the league, most of the teams are looking for roster players. Usually you can see some (draft) transactions regarding roster players with first-round picks, but that was not the case this year. 

“I think that’s an indication of the parity of the league, the cap is going up, and (there are) a lot of good teams around here. So we’ll see here, be creative and see if there are ways to find a centre-iceman here over the next couple of days.”

The Canucks’ failure so far to execute a trade for immediate help in no way diminishes Cootes as a prospect.

Allvin wisely declined to name an NHL comparable for the player Cootes might become, but the teenager himself said he views Tampa Bay Lightning star Brayden Point as a template.

“Well, I’d take that,” Allvin smiled.

“I think just his complete game and his work ethic,” Cootes said of Point, “you know, he kind of does everything right. He’s a really smart player, too, high hockey IQ. He’s always in the right spot, and a good skater as well. And he’s a winner. I mean, two Stanley Cups… it’s a pretty good resume.”

Cootes has started building a solid resume himself.

“I think he’s a leader by example, on and off the ice,” Allvin said. “Our staff was really impressed with him during the process, meeting him in Seattle and in Buffalo (at the draft combine) as well.”

After the Canucks collapsed last season, weakened by dressing-room dysfunction, Allvin said leadership was one of the traits that attracted them to Cootes.

“That… and being a right-shot center, which is extremely hard to get in the league,” the GM said. “And for a young player like him, what he brought to the team in Seattle and around Hockey Canada, too, he’s an impressive young man. 

“The more our scouts get to know the person Braeden, the more they get to like what he has to bring — his core values, and how he interacts and how he treats his teammates and being part of a community down in Seattle. Watching him around Team Canada as well, it was impressive and I’m very happy for him being part of that gold-medal team.”

The Canucks have five more picks Saturday in the second day of the draft.

“That’s just a big part of my game… leadership and how I carry myself as a person,” Cootes said. “It’s just kind of something that, you know, is me. But like when I went to Seattle, we have such a good culture there, and just the things we do I think are what made me an even better leader and person. Obviously, my parents as well, how they raised me just to be a good person (and) carry myself the right way.”

Without commenting directly on reports the Canucks have agreed to a six-year, $36-million extension for winger Conor Garland, who is eligible to sign one on July 1, Allvin said he hopes to have a deal completed soon.

“I think Conor has been a very, very consistent player,” Allvin said of the play-driving 29 year old. “He’s  part of the leadership group, part of a group here that wants to be in Vancouver, and I think that’s really important for us. I hope we’ll get over the finish line here over the next couple of days.”

After losing coach Rick Tocchet to free agency, and about to lose players Brock Boeser and, likely, Pius Suter to free agency after failing to engage in serious contract talks until late in the season or after it, the Canucks are being proactive with Garland and goalie Thatcher Demko. Each is eligible for unrestricted free agency one year from now, but have expressed their desire to sign extensions this summer.