It’s been a whirlwind few months for 2023 1st rounder Brayden Yager as the Saskatoon product was traded from Pittsburgh to Winnipeg in late August, came to Manitoba for his first prospect and training camp with the Jets in September, made plenty of connections on the team with established NHLers and fellow prospects and then was returned to Moose Jaw last Sunday in the first round of cuts.
Photo Credit: Colby Spence (Illegal Curve)
Yager looked really good during his time in Winnipeg showcasing the skills, including in the faceoff circle, that made him a sought after commodity by the Jets. He even scored the first of many goals for Winnipeg in his second exhibition game. One of the things I noticed watching him at camp was how he built relationships with the established NHLers. There were a number of times he’d be chatting with Gabe Vilardi or Mark Scheifele which is something he told Marc Smith who writes for the Warriors team website:
One veteran on the Jets helped Yager out specifically as he said Mark Scheifele stuck around after practice to give him some pointers. “It was maybe my third practice there, I asked him a couple of questions and he kind of jumped all over it and we ended up staying on the ice for 30-40 minutes after just talking,” Yager said.
That was back on September 20th which we in the media saw as we exited our media availability for the day and saw Yager and Scheifele still on the ice long after practice had concluded.
Brayden Yager and Mark Scheifele working on their craft well after day 2 of Jets training camp had concluded. #NHLJets pic.twitter.com/MICLGWV1s1
— Dave Minuk (@ICdave) September 20, 2024
After we learned that Yager had been sent down last Sunday, head coach Scott Arniel was asked about the message to him as he returned to Saskatchewan for his fifth season in Moose Jaw.
Jets head coach Scott Arniel on what he saw from and his message to 2023 1st rounder Brayden Yager who was sent back to junior today.
Full chat:https://t.co/0rbj3urtRH pic.twitter.com/5Zz8F9Lv6S
— Dave Minuk (@ICdave) September 29, 2024
Now he will be looking to build on a strong 2023-24 season and will do so in 2024-25 wearing the ‘C’ for the Warriors as the team announced today they he had been named the 36th captain in team history.
