New Canucks winger has Kiefer Sherwood glow-up potential
Kiefer Sherwood was arguably the best signing during Patrik Allvin’s tenure as Vancouver Canucks GM.
In fact, he might have been the second-best free agent signing in team history.
Those are high standards to live up to for any player. But the goal of any pro scouting department is to find more players like Sherwood, who can provide immense value on low-cost contracts.
It’s going to be hard to replicate, but the Canucks have a chance to do so with one of their free agent signings.
The Paul Cotter signing on July 1 wasn’t met with much fanfare, especially on a day where the Canucks traded Marcus Pettersson away for a first-round pick.
But if anyone among the new Canucks on the roster can provide a Sherwood-like impact next season, it’s Cotter.
Who is Canucks’ Paul Cotter?
Paul Cotter may not have the same Cinderella story of grinding for years after being undrafted before finding success; he is a guy who’s endured some ups and downs in his hockey career.
“The moment when I was raising the [Stanley] Cup. I don’t think I would have believed that,” Cotter told The Hockey News when asked about a moment he could theoretically show to his younger self.
“When I was 15 years old, I couldn’t even make a AAA hockey team.”
Cotter eventually overcame that and was drafted in the fourth round, 115th overall, by the Vegas Golden Knights in 2018.
After slow and steady improvement, Cotter cracked the Knights roster as a full-time player during their Cup-winning season in 2023, posting 13 goals and 18 points in 55 games. Despite establishing himself as a full-time player, he didn’t play a single postseason game for Vegas.
Cotter posted a career-high 25 points in 77 games the following season and was also one of the league leaders with 233 hits.
Paul Cotter joined the New Jersey Devils ahead of the 2024-25 season. (Ed Mulholland/Imagn Images)
He was then traded to the New Jersey Devils during the 2024 offseason, ironically when Sherwood joined the Canucks. During his first year with the Devils, the 6-foot-2, 213-pound winger potted 16 goals despite playing bottom-six minutes. He also set the Devils single-season record with 245 hits that year.
One differentiator between Cotter and Sherwood is that the new Canucks forward experienced a steep drop-off last season, something the former Vancouver fan favourite never endured. Cotter saw his ice time dip to 10:41 per game and posted just nine goals and 15 points in 79 games.
So, what happened?
The entire Devils roster underperformed last season. For Cotter, his underlying metrics plummeted, and he looked less effective alongside linemates such as Luke Glendening and Nick Bjugstad. The previous season, Cotter had more success alongside Erik Haula and Dawson Mercer.
Is Canucks’ Cotter the next Sherwood?
While last season’s dip in production might create some pause, Cotter does have the raw tools to be the next Sherwood.
Like Sherwood, Cotter hits like a truck. He combines his physicality with the fact that he’s one of the fastest skaters in the NHL.
While he’s not a defensive savant (and neither was Sherwood at the same age), Cotter does have some intriguing offensive tools. His quick skating ability, combined with good hands off the rush, might remind some Canucks fans of Sherwood.
BRUINS HIT THE POST AND PAUL COTTER AT THE END OF A CHAOTIC BREAKAWAY WINS IT FOR THE DEVILS š«ØšØ pic.twitter.com/SFlNisjuL4
— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) March 17, 2026
Much like Sherwood (and many NHLers who make it through a few years in the league), he’s also learned the art of handling adversity.
“The downs are tough,” Cotter admitted to The Hockey News. “For instance, in Vegas, when I came in, I started to have success during injuries, and then those guys came back, and I went from playing 16 minutes back to eight. It is kind of like, why is this happening? How do I get through this?”
“For me, I then move to a new team, and sometimes I play a lot, sometimes I don’t. Sometimes, it is hard on your mind. You wonder why you are not in this situation. You have to remember it is a pretty good gig, right?”
“I think the sport, in general, does a pretty good job of teaching you adversity real quick. You learn how to deal with people. You have teammates, and you learn how to be a person.”
Whether Cotter can be Sherwood 2.0 or not remains to be seen, but there’s a clear path for him to move up the Canucks roster. At left wing, the Canucks depth chart currently consists of Jake DeBrusk, Liam Ohgren, Drew O’Connor, Max Sasson, and Cotter.
The 26-year-old first has to make the opening night lineup, but there’s not exactly a murderer’s row of wingers ahead of him on the left side.
And while the Canucks depth chart isn’t intimidating, there’s a path for him to succeed, like playing alongside guys in Vancouver who are better than Glendening and Bjugstad.