Brayden Yager is officially a member of the National Hockey League.
After years of building to the moment on Wednesday night, the 17-year-old forward was selected in the first round of the National Hockey League Entry Draft in Nashville, going 14th overall to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Asked immediately after about studying Penguins' star Sidney Crosby's face-offs and now being a Penguin himself, Yager could barely contain his elation.
"It's a dream, he's a guy I've looked up to my whole life and obviously the Penguins are a great organization, so it's a dream and I can't even put it into words," he said with a huge grin.
The Saskatoon native and Prince Albert Minor Hockey product has been on scouts' radar since long before his WHL Draft year, to the point that he even applied for exceptional players status prior to being selected by the Warriors.
The COVID-19 pandemic saw to it that wouldn't matter, as he joined the Warriors full time for the 2021 season in the Regina Hub and promptly showed a bit of what he was capable up, putting up seven goals and 18 points through the 24 games.
Yager's game took a huge step in his first full season in the WHL, and he'd lead all rookies in goals scored with 34 while putting up 59 ponits in 63 games. That performance brought with it the Jim Piggott Memorial Trophy as the WHL Rookie of the Year, and he'd pick up the Canadian Hockey League Rookie of the Year later that spring.
Yager continued to progress in the 2022-23 campaign, further developing his 200-foot game and turning himself into a playmaker as well as a goal-scorer with 28 goals and 50 assists for 78 points. That production continued in the post-season as Yager had six goals and 16 points in 10 games.
Yager was ranked as high as 10th overall by The Hockey News, with most scouting organizations having him in the late teens and early 20s as a selection point.
