2023 NHL Draft Diary: Brayden Yager

Brayden Yager of Moose Jaw in the Western Hockey League will file a monthly draft diary for NHL.com this season leading up to the 2023 Upper Deck NHL Draft at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on June 28-29. The 18-year-old right-shot center (5-foot-11, 166 pounds), No. 5 on NHL Central Scouting's midterm ranking of North American skaters eligible for the 2023 draft, had 78 points (28 goals, 50 assists) in 67 games this season. Yager has six points (two goals, four assists) in four WHL playoff games.

Hi hockey fans.
It was a tough series against Lethbridge in the opening round of the WHL playoffs. We won the best-of-7 in four games, but it definitely didn't feel like a sweep. It felt like a tough series, and a lot of credit goes to Lethbridge because they play a super-physical and hard game. I thought we got better as the series went on, and obviously having most of our big players back in the lineup, such as goalie Connor Ungar and defenseman Maximus Wanner, was great. We won't start our next round until next Friday (April 14), so it'll be nice to rest up a little bit but also get back to work, practice and get ready for the next series.
The series win starts with our goalie. I think a goalie can win you a series, and that's kind of how it went for us. We have a lot of trust in big [Ungar] back there, and he definitely bailed us out a couple times. I think the most goals they scored in a game was two, so that put us in a pretty good spot offensively with how we can produce, and we ended up scoring some big goals. So, 'Ungs' was a rock back there and if we can limit the opposition's shots, he's going to bail us out.

Our coach told our line that we had to have a big series, and it wasn't just our line, but our whole forward group played pretty well in the four games. I thought our line had a nice role. Jagger Firkus (Seattle Kraken) had a real good series with 10 points, and Martin Rysavy (five points, two goals) had some pretty big goals as well. I thought our line played really well, especially in Lethbridge. It's huge to get a road win in the playoffs, and obviously we ended up getting two. I thought we created a lot of momentum for our team and scored some big goals on the road to close out the series.
It was a huge honor to learn I had won the WHL East Division Most Sportsmanlike Player award (on Thursday). It's great to be seen as playing the right way but also playing hard, keeping it between the whistles and being disciplined while playing well offensively. I like playing that 200-foot game as well. I wasn't really expecting it, quite honestly. I kind of just woke up on Thursday and saw it on Instagram, but it was definitely a huge honor.
Our focus right now is definitely the playoffs, but I know the NHL Scouting Combine is looming (June 4-10). When the playoffs conclude, I will likely tryout the bike tests and work on some of the fitness testing, because that's pretty important. I think the biggest thing are the NHL interviews, just getting prepared to talk to all the NHL teams and kind of see how the whole experience plays out, so it's super exciting. I think the main focus right now is playoffs, but I'm definitely excited for the Combine.
I'll learn from the NHL clubs during the interviewing process, see what they have to say about my game and gain as much as I can, so that's definitely something I'll prepare for when the playoffs conclude for Moose Jaw.
Thanks for reading this month. My next diary will come from the NHL Scouting Combine in Buffalo. Until then, enjoy the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Photo: Erica Perreaux, Lethbridge