Brayden Yager

December 2024 – On Monday, December 2nd, Yager was invited to Canada’s national junior team selection camp in preparation for the 2025 World Junior Championship, which will take place from December 10-13, 2024, at TD Place in Ottawa. The same day,  Yager was traded from his WHL team, the Moose Jaw Warriors, with goalie Jackson Unger to the Lethbridge Hurricanes in exchange for forward Landon Ward, goaltender Brady Smith, defenseman Colt Carter, and six draft picks.  Yager had 30 points (11 goals and 19 assists) in 21 games with the Warriors this season. Mark Henry

September 2024 – Yager will participate with the Winnipeg Jets in the 2024 Young Stars Classic in Penticton, B.C, September 13-16, 2024. It will be his first opportunity to suit up for his new team. Mark Henry

August 2024 – The Winnipeg Jets acquired Brayden Yager from the Pittsburgh Penguins on August 22, 2024, for 2022 first-round pick (14th overall) Rutger McGroarty. Mark Henry

July 2024 – The Pittsburgh Penguins signed Yager to a three-year, entry-level contract on July 25, 2024. Mark Henry

March 2024 – Yager came into this season with a lot of pressure and expectations on his shoulders. When drafted in June, he was immediately thrust into being the top prospect for the Penguins. Yager has done well. He continues to show the speed, transition game, and high-end shot that got him drafted 14th overall. As Yager continues developing, he needs to get stronger and drive the middle more effectively in traffic. Yager has a top-six upside with the potential to be on the top line. He will be a significant part of the next generation of Penguins hockey. As he heads into the WHL playoffs, he will be looking to carry his Moose Jaw team to a deep run. Tyler Ball

June 2023 – Yager has been selected 14th overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2023 NHL Draft. Curtis Rines

April 2023 – It has been a difficult season for Yager, as he has dropped on almost every board, and ours is no exception. Yager’s shot is a truly high-end tool. He generates great power and accuracy from various releases and doesn’t need much space to get them off. He has also built on his playmaking game a fair bit this season, flashing moments of impressive lane manipulation and passes through multiple layers of defense. He’s also a plus-level defensive player, dropping low in the defensive zone, scanning for threats, and fluidly switching assignments while keeping his stick in lanes. That said, his defensive game and goalscoring have both stagnated this season. Our biggest concerns with his projection are his struggle to play through heavy physicality (we are far more concerned with his lack of physicality than with Benson, Cristall, or Perron, for instance) and his average skating and hockey sense. Yager is slight, and he will need to either build out his frame and lower body significantly and/or develop his skating or hockey sense to be an adaptive tool to circumvent physical pressure. There is undoubtedly a second-line upside here, but there is also a possibility that Yager will struggle to leap to the NHL. Sebastian High

September 2022 – Yager was a prominent figure on a talented Moose Jaw team in 2021-22, notching 34 goals and 25 assists in 63 regular season games before adding seven more points in 10 postseason contests on his way to earning CHL Rookie of the Year honors. He starred at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup this summer, finishing tied for second in the tournament, scoring five goals and four assists in five games to help Canada earn a gold medal.

Yager has a well-rounded and dynamic offensive toolkit, but his pure shooting ability often stands out. He drives possession at a high rate and is dangerous from all over the offensive zone with a snap-release wrister that comes off his blade with force and deception. Yager is a threat off the rush because he constantly scans play, identifies lanes ahead of time, and attacks where the opposing defense and netminder are most vulnerable. He feels threatened whenever the puck is in his vicinity. Yager also works well off the puck to free himself in open space around the net and has a good sense of timing for attacking downhill or to the back door. He has good vision and moves the puck efficiently. Still, he is more of a facilitator than a pure playmaker, relying on his processing speed and anticipation rather than imaginative or creative passing plays. Yager is a fine skater, but he is still a bit rigid, and his lack of ankle flexion can limit his agility and short-area explosiveness. That said, he can back defenders off and change gears to create space when he gets a head of steam in transition, allowing him to utilize his deadly wrist shot. Yager also provides value on the defensive side of the puck, effectively supporting play in all three zones and using his quick hands to come away with his fair share of contested pucks. Still, he sometimes takes poor routes or angles and will have to clean that up this coming season. There is room for improvement in his skating, and he will have to continue to add strength as he matures, but his hockey sense, puck skills, and elite-level shot give him the potential to grow into an impactful top-six scorer who brings a solid two-way game at the NHL level. Nick Richard