MOOSEJAWTODAY.COM -- It wasn’t all that long ago that Moose Jaw Warriors captain Brayden Yager was a fresh-faced 15-year-old looking to find his way on the ice in the Regina Hub, playing alongside veterans with nearly half a decade of experience in Western Hockey League.
Now, the 19-year-old forward is a rugged veteran of the WHL wars himself, with multiple league honours and a championship to show for it. So it was a little bit of a different feeling this past weekend when Yager suited up for his first games of the 2024-25 season, less than a week after he had returned to the team from Winnipeg Jets training camp.
And to say the least, that experience showed.
As expected, the former NHL first-round draft pick was a force to be reckoned with against the Lethbridge Hurricanes and Medicine Hat Tigers, posing a threat every shift and eventually finishing his return to the WHL with five points in two games.
Different times, different challenges, and a whole lot of expectations.
“It changes every year and it’s crazy how fast it goes by,” Yager said after practice on Wednesday afternoon. “It wasn’t too long ago we were in Regina in the Hub, and now I’m 19 and I’m trying to be a leader. It’s definitely weird being one of the older guys now, but I’ll try and teach some of the younger guys some things and also focus on myself and play well.”
Yager -- who was quickly minted as the Warriors' newest captain upon his return -- came across one challenge in the early going: the speed of the game, or more specifically, the drop from the NHL to the WHL.
The key to dealing with that issue is to push the pace, Yager says, and bring your teammates up to your level as opposed to the other way around.
“It’s pretty difficult because you don’t want to slow down, and it’s hard to stay at your own pace,” he said. “I think the biggest thing is to try and push my teammates and my linemates to play at a different pace than the other team and I thought we did a pretty good of that against Medicine Hat (a 6-3 win on Saturday night).”
Making that happen is all part of taking what he’s learned at his first NHL camp in Pittsburgh and now through his time in Winnipeg, and putting it to use at the WHL level.
“A lot of players get sent back and it’s all about points, but the most important thing is keeping good habits,” Yager said. “The biggest thing about making the jump to the NHL from junior is your play without the puck, and any high draft pick, we know what we can do with the puck, we can do some pretty special things. But in Winnipeg, it was the stuff you do when you don’t have the puck and what you do when you’re back… so you stay at the highest pace you can play and keep up with the good habits.”
One thing that’s for certain is Yager returns to Moose Jaw with tons of notoriety. A two-time winner of the WHL’s Most Sportsmanlike Player award, the Saskatoon product put up 35 goals and 95 points last season, tying for second in team scoring. He also suited up for Team Canada at the World Juniors and is already projected as a team leader for Canada at the 2024-25 tournament.
With that naturally comes pressure to perform -- and while those kinds of outside influences might weigh on some players, it’s nothing compared to what Yager expects from himself.
“I think I put more pressure on myself than anyone else,” he said. “I’m pretty used to being hard on myself and I don’t really listen to much to what the media says and things like that. So I want to play well and stick to the things I’m good at like scoring goals and making plays and also being a leader and good all-around player.
“I’ve focussed on that pretty much my whole life, so I won’t worry too much about expectations other than the ones I have for myself.”
Of course, as a first-round NHL pick, World Juniors standout, WHL champion and the team captain, there’s quite a bit of fame involved, too. So was there a bit of awe from the youngsters in the Warriors line-up when he made his return?
“I don’t think so,” Yager said with a grin. “I experienced that at the NHL level but I’m no Sidney Crosby or Mark Scheifele, so I just come back here and I’m one of the boys again. So it’s great to be back, it’s fun to be around here again and it’s exciting.”
Yager and the Warriors are back in action Friday night when the WHL’s most recent player to receive exceptional status -- defenceman Landon Dupont -- is in town with the Everett Silvertips. Game time is 7 p.m. at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
