‘I want to make the NHL’: Brayden Yager starts quest to make Winnipeg Jets at rookie camp – Winnipeg
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Winnipeg Jets prospect Brayden Yager is setting his sights on a spot in the NHL lineup.
The Jets kicked off their rookie camp on Wednesday with just two days of skates before they jet out to Montreal for this weekend’s Prospects Showdown tournament.
Yager is one of 22 players at this year’s camp at the Hockey for All Centre. Trying to crack the big club this season will be a longshot for all these prospects, but 20-year-old Yager is ready to begin his pro career, whether it be with the Jets or down on the farm with the AHL’s Manitoba Moose, but his goal is to be up in the show.
“I want to make the NHL,” said Yager. “I know the situation of the team. Obviously, they’ve got a great team, lots of great players, but I’m 20 years old now and I’m turning pro too, so I’ve got to fight for a job too. The goal coming into camp is (that) I want to earn a spot on the team.
“You look for this moment as a young kid and to finally go into the season starting to play pro is pretty cool. And I think I’m ready for it.”
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Yager was originally a first-round pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2023 NHL Draft before getting traded to Winnipeg for Rutger McGroarty. So, he already got to play alongside Sidney Crosby in camp, and now he’ll get to learn from another one of his childhood idols in Jonathan Toews who was skating on another sheet with the Jets veterans while the rooks were getting put through the paces.
“I got to shake his hand and kinda meet him just briefly the other day,” Yager said. “Obviously a great guy. For me growing up it was always Jonathan Toews and Sidney Crosby. Just the 200-foot game, the leadership, and I’ve been pretty fortunate enough to obviously where I got drafted in Pittsburgh, I got to be around Sid.
“Now with the chance to be around Jonathan Toews. So, it’s a pretty cool opportunity and definitely try to hang around him as much as I can during camp and learn as much as I can for sure.”
The Jets hopefuls will skate together again on Thursday before playing the Montreal Canadiens rookies on Saturday, followed by a game against the Ottawa Senators top prospects on Sunday.
With many of these players likely to end up in the AHL, Moose head coach Mark Morrison is running the rookie camp and after seeing the first skate, he said it’s pretty clear the players came ready to go.
“There’s not one guy that we’ve seen that doesn’t look like he’s put the work in as far as their strength goes, as far as their body, their weight,” Morrison said.
“They all look really good. Like (Fabian) Wagner, for example. Like you can notice it. They’ve all put the work in and now it’s up to them.”
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