Drastic course correction led Canada’s Keaton Verhoeff to world juniors

MINNEAPOLIS — Braeden Cootes remembers a very different Keaton Verhoeff.

The pair from just outside Edmonton crossed paths at rinks growing up. Cootes was a forward. Verhoeff suited up as a goaltender.

Their careers would take off and both are now living a dream playing for Canada at the world junior hockey championship. Cootes remains a forward. Verhoeff, however, drastically changed course.

The Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., product hung up his pads, blocker and glove at age 12, shifting from puck-stopper to puck-moving defenceman.

The transition was, at first, a little jarring for Cootes.

“I remember my first time watching him as a player,” said the 2025 first-round pick of the Vancouver Canucks. “He would have been 12 or 13 … he was raw, big, could skate. He just loved being out there.”

So what led the hulking 17-year-old to pivot from the crease to the blue line? Playing out had always intrigued Verhoeff, and after getting cut from a competitive team, he started doing that as a member of an in-line hockey club for fun. The decision to switch across the board would soon follow.

“I just wanted to be able to impact the game more,” said Verhoeff, who’s expected to be a high pick at the 2026 NHL draft. “Looking back at it now, maybe it wasn’t the smartest of ideas, but I thought being a defenceman, you could be out there every shift, impacting the game, being able to take the puck and try to create some opportunity offensively, and then also defend as well.

“When you’re a goalie, I felt the game really had to come to you. I could just attack the game as a defenceman.”

Attack it he has.

The six-foot-four, 212-pound blueliner played parts of two seasons with the Western Hockey League’s Victoria Royals before transitioning to the NCAA in 2025-26 with the University of North Dakota after rules around eligibility changed.

“North Dakota felt like the right place,” said Verhoeff, who had always planned to finish high school early ahead of his draft year. “When I talked with people around hockey, the main thing that really swayed me was if I’m 17 playing against 23, 24 year olds, when I’m 18 or 19 years old, maybe I’ll be able to play against 29, 30 year olds at the pro level.

“It’s just that little more maturity that they have for me to grow my game.”

Hockey Canada head scout Byron Bonora — in charge of the under-17, under-18 and under-20 teams — said the right-shot talent will turn heads.

“You look at his size and his ability to handle the puck as a big, strong defenceman,” he said. “A lot of guys can’t do that at his size, but he plays the game the right way. He can skate, he can handle the puck, he can make plays.

“All the tools to be a very high-end hockey player in the NHL.”

The seventh-youngest defenceman to ever make Canada’s world junior team, Verhoeff watched the country’s first two contests before getting into the action for Monday’s 9-1 victory over Denmark. He finished with an assist, got just under 15 minutes of ice time, and didn’t look out of place in his own zone or when joining the rush.

“Pretty awesome,” Verhoeff said. “To finally play in front of my family and in front of Canadian fans was super special.”

Star forward Gavin McKenna, who faced Verhoeff in junior and is also expected to be picked at the top of the draft, had never heard about the switch from goalie to defence.

“News to me,” he said with a grin. “Pretty crazy.”

Fellow blueliner Ben Danford, meanwhile, was stunned to learn Verhoeff’s age when they met at training camp for the men’s under-20 tournament.

“I can’t believe he’s two years younger,” said the Toronto Maple Leafs prospect. “He’s huge. He makes really good plays. He’s got high IQ. He skates really well for his size. Great guy off the ice.”

Verhoeff said it’s not that he disliked stopping pucks at the end of his netminding tenure. He simply felt there was more to give as a defenceman.

“If we were playing a 3-on-3 game, I’d be jumping out trying to make a play or a pass as a goalie,” he explained. “At that point, I thought that maybe I should take a look into it.”

That decision turned out to be a good one.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 30, 2025.