You have the Pats, who won the lottery both literally and figuratively and selected the WHL’s first exceptional status player in Connor Bedard.
And two picks later, it was the Saskatoon Contacts’ Brayden Yager who went to the Warriors.
What makes things interesting is both players appear to be generational talents, with Yager himself applying for exceptional player status but being turned down.
That’s the kind of turn of events that can lead to all sorts of intrigue when the teams meet, and it’s something Warriors general manager Alan Millar expects will be a feature any time the two teams play.
“I think we have a great opportunity here with Bedard in Regina, Yager in Moose Jaw,” he said during a Zoom press conference announcing Yager’s signing with the team on Friday.
“With what we’re going through, we’re going to have to find different ways to be creative and different ways to excite our fan base. [Pats general manager] John Paddock and I have talked about it, I think we’re going to have a lot of fun with what I consider the two elite players in this age group. With the rivalry with the Pats and these two young guys, the Bedard-Yager comparisons and competitiveness, we’re going to be having fun for the next three, four, five years.”
Bedard will get a head start, with his exceptional player status allowing him to play a full WHL season as a 15-year-old. Yager, meanwhile, will be limited to the usual five games for regular Bantam draft picks – in theory. Much like happened with Matthew Savoie with the Winnipeg Ice last season, players can be called up as affiliates for any number of emergency personnel reasons, something that led to Savoie playing 22 games last season in spite of also being denied exceptional player status.
Factor in the Warriors having the most affiliate player games played in the WHL last year, and you see how things might go.
“So we’ll manage that as we go, we want Brayden to spend as much time with our team as he can, certainly balancing his education and respecting his club team,” Millar said. “We like our prospects to spend as much time with us as they can, get to know our environment, get to know our culture, spend time with our veteran players and get to know our coaching staff.”
Regardless of how much action Yager gets into in 2020-21, hell be seeing plenty of familiar faces – and possibly re-forging old rivalries – given the number of players taken from Saskatchewan in the 2020 Draft. A total of 53 players were selected, more than any province other than Alberta, including seven in the first round.
“We’ve all been texted back and forth, and we’ve all been congratulating each other,” Yager said. “I think being able to play against them the next few years sounds pretty cool. Saskatchewan is a really good hockey province, it’s a tough brand of hockey out here and it’s a pretty special accomplishment to have that many payers drafted.”
