Cohenn Rotar's former coach was impressed by the skill level of Swift Current's 1st round pick in the 2025 WHL Prospects Draft.
Paul Therrien coached Rotar with the U15 AAA GPAC Storm.
"Coaching Cohenn was a lot of fun this year," Therrien said. "Cohenn is a player that brings a lot of offensive skill to the game. He is always dangerous when he's on the ice. He sees the ice really well. He's able to use teammates, always a threat whether he has the puck or without it. Really, really puts himself into good ice to push the offense."
Rotar scored 34 goals and had 33 assists for the Storm in 34 games this season.
He is consistently praised for his ability to beat players one-on-one.
"He understands the game really well and his skating is really good," Therrien said. "He's able to position himself to create advantages. He moves the puck really well and puts it into positions where defensemen have a hard time defending. The moment they look for the puck or they're trying to be overly physical with him, he's really slippery, and he's able to use his evasive skating to get himself out of trouble.
"His puck skills are exceptional for a player at his age. He's able to do things in tight spaces that you don't typically see from a lot of players. He's very gifted in that regard."
He doesn't anticipate Rotar ever becoming a particularly big or physical player.
"He's not a a big player and he's probably not going to be a real big player," Therrien said. "But his ability to be able to establish his identity as a skilled forward that sees the ice really well and just being able to do that with other bigger bodies on the ice and being able to establish his identity that way is going to create confidence for him. It's going to help him develop a few other skills that he's going to need to be able to make the jump to the junior level.
"He's always going to have skills offensively and the puck skills. It's being able to play off the puck and being able to recognize how the game is developing and how he can put himself into good ice when he doesn't have the puck, which will help him become that complete 200-foot player."
Rotar's former coach doesn't imagine any issues with him putting the work in to improve.
"He's a player that puts a lot of pressure on himself to be better and to establish himself as a key contributor," Therrien said. "He was a lot of fun to coach because he was very smart and had a very high IQ. You were able to have him learn new things in a very short timeline, and he'd be able to execute them almost immediately."
Swift Current also picked Storm goaltender Adrien Brochu in the 7th round of the draft.
"Adrien's an amazing goaltender, an amazing person," Therrien said. "His work ethic is second to none in the game. He is the hardest worker on and off the ice that you'll that you'll ever meet. He pushes himself constantly to get better.
"He's a very athletic goaltender with tremendous athletic skill. He's an aggressive goaltender. He was constantly making saves every night that had people scratching their heads, but he's also incredibly reliable. He understands the game well, he understands how the game flows, and he's going to be a very, very good goaltender in the years to come."
Therrien added he'll be cheering for both guys as they make the step into the WHL one day.