VANCOUVER — Vancouver Canucks assistant coach Brett McLean described teenager Braeden Cootes’ first week in the National Hockey League as a series of check marks.

On Friday, Cootes put another bright, green check beside his first game in Vancouver.

Trying to become the first Canucks draft pick since Petr Nedved in 1990 to make the team out of training camp as an 18-year-old, Cootes scored Vancouver’s opening goal in a 4-2 pre-season victory against the Seattle Kraken.

It’s hard to say if Cootes is getting better by the day, but the days are getting harder as the Canucks’ Oct. 9 season-opener approaches, and the right-shot centre from Edmonton and the Seattle Thunderbirds isn’t getting any less noticeable.

His goal at 9:10 of the second period was an ugly one, the puck from Jonathan Lek

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