Cooper Williams is a left-handed forward who was born on February 18th, 2008. He was drafted in the second round, 41st overall, by the Saskatoon Blades in the 2023 WHL Prospects Draft. Williams was one of the top rookies in the WHL last season, scoring 21 goals and 57 points through 68 games with the Blades. Among U17 players in the WHL, Williams was only ranked behind Landon DuPont in point scoring.
At 150lbs, Williams is rather slight, but what he lacks in size he makes up for in smarts. Williams works off his teammates to get into attacking positions and often finds himself in positions to receive open pucks alone in the slot. He is also sound defensively, as by the end of his rookie year, he was earning minutes on the penalty kill. As a top-six forward for the Blades, Williams made lots of positive impacts. Let’s take a close look at his game, how he stands out, and what interested teams can expect from him.
Cooper Williams Scouting Report
DOB: February 18, 2008
Height: 6-0
Weight: 150lbs
Position: C
Team: Saskatoon Blades (WHL)
Skating
Williams, when he gets up to speed, is quite a solid skater. He can beat opponents one-on-one with his speed and puck protection. He does take a few strides to get up to speed, but is capable as an attacker on the rush. One thing that Williams could improve upon in his skating is his explosiveness. The top-end speed is there, but to get there takes him a stride or two too much. He is fine on his edges, too. The pivoting does take some time, but that draws back to the explosiveness. Overall, Williams’ skating is one of the weaker aspects of his game at the moment, but as long as he works with a skating coach, Williams could turn this current weakness into a strength.
Passing
The strongest aspect of Williams’ game is his passing. He can hit open teammates with needle-threading passes, and he can open up passing lanes with deception. Williams also constantly makes the correct play when passing, which is quite encouraging, as many WHL rookies cannot make the plays Williams makes. Williams tends to lean towards passing first, but this is not a bad thing, as many pass-first players wind up becoming high-end two-way threats at the next level.
Shooting
Scoring 21 goals as a rookie in the WHL, one would expect Williams to have a high-end shot. However, many of Williams’ goals came from being a smart player who gets to the dirty areas and cleans up loose change. Additionally, the wrister Williams has is strong enough to consistently challenge WHL netminders. His mechanics are rather solid, and his placement is alright, with a tendency to try to beat netminders with high heat. But, on the breakaway, Williams loves to beat netminders with a backhand five-hole move. Due to his habits and where Williams often finds himself all alone, expect him to replicate his goalscoring again this year, but don’t expect a massive jump.
Defence
Williams is incredibly responsible defensively. Earning PK time is no small feat for a 16-year-old in the WHL. He times stick lifts quite well and has a pretty solid poke check, too. If there is one gripe with Williams’ defensive game, it is his tendency to get absorbed in one-on-one battles and, in turn, lose the larger play at hand. However, this is incredibly nitpicky and could be viewed as a positive depending on the person. Williams does have reliable enough defending that he could wind up playing on an NHL penalty killing unit.
Physicality
The largest issue with Williams’ game at the moment is how slight he is, at 150lbs. At that size, Williams often loses physical battles in front of the net, both on the offensive and defensive side. However, in transition, Williams has high-end puck protection capabilities, which indicates that he has the capability to win the net-front battles at some point as long as he puts on muscle. Physicality is not all about strength, and Williams uses his body to protect pucks and consistently gets lower than defending players, which shows good habits.
Hockey IQ
It is only fair to mention Williams’ biggest strength after mentioning his biggest weakness. The hockey IQ Williams possesses is high-end and has helped him reach the heights he has already reached, despite the flaws in his game. If there is a soft area for Williams to find and exploit, he will do so. More often than not, the soft areas Williams exploits lead to high-danger scoring chances. It is why he cleans up loose change so often in the crease; he gets to the dangerous areas without opponents realizing and capitalizes. However, it should be noted that Williams is rather one-speed when it comes to his hockey IQ; either he is processing or he is acting. NHL players need to do both at the same time, and Williams has flashes where he processes the game at NHL speed, but needs to become more consistent when doing so.
Conclusion
Cooper Williams is a pretty fun player. With high-end passing capabilities and hockey IQ, there is a backbone to his game that indicates top-six upside, projecting more as a second-line center or a first-line winger. However, for Williams to reach this upside, he will need to get stronger, improve his explosiveness, and develop his game in a way that targets his current weaknesses. However, Williams has the upside to turn his weaknesses into his strengths, and if he does that, watch out as he could become one of the steals of the 2026 NHL draft.
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