When Moose Jaw Warrior forward Brayden Yager finished up exit meetings with the team at the end of the 2022-23 season, he likely thought the next time he’d cross paths with most of his teammates would be this fall.
Such is the case when you have the National Hockey League on your doorstep, and everything that involves the first steps of joining the ranks of elite professionals.
Little did he know he’d see a very familiar face not long after he arrived in Pittsburgh for his first development camp with the Penguins.
None other than Moose Jaw Minor Hockey product and occasional linemate Atley Calvert.
Calvert, entering his 20-year-old season in the WHL, joined Yager as two of the 23 players currently taking the ice at the Pittsburgh Penguins Development Camp, currently underway at the Mario Lemiux Sports Complex in Cranberry, Penn..
Yager, of course, is among the newest players in the Penguins system, having been selected in the first round, 14th overall, in the National Hockey League Draft this past Wednesday and has been living the whirlwind ever since.
Calvert, on the other hand, is an unsigned free agent taking part in his second development camp. He took the ice with the Buffalo Sabres last summer and was unable to sign, but that could all change this time around -- 40 goal scorers in the WHL tend to attract all sorts of attention from NHL teams,
The Columbus Blue Jackets also had a pair of Warriors in action, as team captain and 2022 first-round pick Denton Mateychuk remains one of the top defencemen in their system, while 2021 selection Martin Rysavy also be looking to turn heads in his second camp.
Warriors forward Jagger Firkus has been attractnig attention at the Seattle Kraken development camp, with the team’s Twitter page and fan accounts posting about the 19-year-old forward after the first handful of practices.
Graduated forward Ryder Korczak is in action at his second development camp as well as he looks to crack the pro ranks once and for all this fall, while former captain Daemon Hunt is with the Minnesota Wild after playing in AHL Iowa last season.
Warriors defenceman Max Wanner will also be in camp with the Edmonton Oilers later this month.
Calvert isn’t the only Moose Jaw product looking to attract NHL attention.
Prince George Cougars graduated forward Jaxsen Wiebe is taking the ice with the Anaheim Ducks after signing a three-year entry deal this past spring, and Red Deer Rebels goaltender Bryan Thomson is in camp witth Dallas Stars as a free agent.
