ABBOTSFORD, B.C. — When Braeden Cootes deftly sifted through Caleb Malhotra’s forecheck to start a solo rush that ended with a spectacular three-on-three goal Thursday at the Vancouver Canucks’ development camp, it wasn’t the first time the team’s two best prospects came together.

Centres who are vital to the rebuilding Canucks’ future, Cootes and Malhotra were roommates for the three-day orientation camp.

“I never played against him before, but getting to know him these last three or four days has been awesome,” Cootes said. “He's played with a couple of guys that I played with before, and I've heard nothing but great things (about him). He's a great kid and an unreal player with a really bright future. So I'm really excited that we picked him.”

“Low maintenance,” Cootes said.

The camp at Rogers Forum, home of Vancouver’s minor-league team, opened just four days after the Canucks selected Malhotra third overall on Friday with the franchise’s highest draft pick in 27 years.

As an elite prospect, the player the Canucks drafted 15th last year, Cootes was like the organization’s favoured first-born child — right up until his baby brother joined the family on Friday.

Suddenly, Cootes, the 19-year-old from Edmonton, is not the Canucks’ shiniest prospect. 

But he is still the one most likely to be on the team’s roster next fall after appearing in three NHL games last October when he was the first 18-year-old to make the Canucks out of training camp since Petr Nedved in 1990.

Malhotra, 18, is likely headed to Boston University while Cootes tries to stick with the Canucks after an excellent draft-plus-one season in junior hockey.

“I........

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