The past few months have been nothing short of eventful for the Penguins' 2023 first-round pick Brayden Yager.
The 18-year-old found himself playing alongside Sidney Crosby during his first training camp in Pittsburgh, became a key contributor to Canada’s World Junior Team, and hopes to make a deep playoff run with Moose Jaw in the WHL.
Since Yager was drafted 14th overall by the Penguins in June, dreams keep becoming a reality. Yager idolized Crosby as a kid and soon found himself playing alongside Sid.
“Being on the same team as Sid at camp was pretty cool. Just getting to follow him and Letang around, and seeing how they treat their bodies is pretty incredible,” Yager said.
Sid also helped the young centerman develop his game on-ice game with an increased focus on communication.
“It’s so much different when you are going into a corner with the puck and they’re pretty much telling you what to do with it. So that kind of helps you make quicker decisions and it’s something I tried to bring back to Moose Jaw,” he said.
Yager seemed to bring all he learned to Sweden as well for the World Junior Tournament. He finished the tournament as Canada’s second-highest scorer with five points in the team’s five games played.
This tournament meant more than just a great opportunity to represent his country on the world stage. The World Junior Tournament has been a tradition of the Yager family, and now Brayden was playing in it.
“The World Junior Tournament was always such a big tournament to watch growing up right at Christmas time,” Yager said. “Watching Canada, you know how special of a tournament it is. I think to be a part of that as a family was pretty cool for sure.”
Brayden’s parents were able to continue that tradition, but this time, while watching their son represent Canada in person.
“They came down right before the tournament started,” Yager said. “They got to watch every game and we had a little bit of family time on our day off to go and see them at the other hotel. It was awesome to have them down there and be able to see them in the crowd and see them after games.”
Brayden’s dad spent his birthday in Sweden, and got a pretty decent gift from his son: a goal at the World Juniors.
It was probably the most memorable part for me on the ice,” Yager said. “But I think just having my family there in general and seeing him in the crowd, that was pretty special.”
When Brayden wasn’t on the ice or with his family, he found himself in intense card games alongside his Canadian teammates or partaking in one of his favorite pastimes, playing sewer.
“I don’t think we got any noise complaints, but we definitely expected some,” Yager said. “But it was fun to be in the hotel and just kick the ball around and have fun playing cards.”
It was more than just fun and games for Brayden, he got to showcase his talents against other top players his age and grew a lot as a player while finding a newfound confidence in his game.
After Yager put up 34 goals in 63 games during his first season of junior hockey (2021-22), he wanted to focus more on his playmaking ability to continue improving his overall game. So, while his assist total doubled from 25 to 50 in 2022-23, Yager did take less shots, which led to his goal output dropping slightly to 28.
This season, Yager has put it all together, scoring at an impressive pace – he’s currently got 22 goals in 35 games – while continuing to focus on the defensive aspect of his game.
“I think one thing is definitely just communication in the D-zone,” Yager said. “I think just making sure I’m taking care of the D-zone first, and then just letting the skill take over going the other way. I think just cleaning up the D-zone, being hard to play against, and using my skating ability to disrupt plays and stuff like that.”
The future is bright here in Pittsburgh with players like Yager in the pipeline, learning from some of the best to have ever donned a black-and-gold jersey.
“(Penguins director of amateur scouting) Nick Pryor and the scouting staff were very strong believers in him when we got into the draft process,” Penguins President of Hockey Operations and GM Kyle Dubas told Josh Getzoff in a December edition of the GM Show. “You could see why, obviously. I knew he was a prolific goal scorer as a 16-year-old and last year, he added more playmaking and as a natural center. In camp, I think you saw his smarts and intelligence.
“To make the under-20 national team as an 18-year-old is a great accolade. Our hope is that this experience propels him to go have a strong impact on Moose Jaw, help them win in the second half of the year, and then he starts to put himself in consideration as a 19-year-old to really make a push through the summer and fall to see if he can find his way onto the Penguins.”
