General Manager Kevin Cheveldayoff finally gave pouting prospect Rutger McGroarty his wish and appears to have obtained a high-level prospect in return by securing a deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Winnipeg Jets franchise have received Brayden Yager in the transaction, a right shot center who absolutely lit up the WHL last season with the Moose Jaw Warriors.
On paper, the trade appears at first look to be a very equal transaction for both franchises, with both prospects being drafted in the exact same spot in back-to-back Entry Drafts (14th overall). The 20 yr old McGroarty was selected in the 2022 NHL draft, while 19 yr old Yager was drafted in 2023. Both are capable of playing at the center position and each produced offense well enough to finish near the top of their respective leagues.
Brayden Yager is unfortunately too young (by 3 days) to qualify for the AHL, so will be forced to return to the WHL this season. I’m not sure that is ideal, since the forward put up 95 points in only 57 WHL games last year and seems ready for an increase in the level of competition he faces. The Saskatchewan-born center has made leaps of improvement consistently along his development path, take a look at his career statistics from PuckPedia:
Since I only have a brief time away from work to look into what Winnipeg has in the young center, this is far from a full assessment of his abilities. It appears that he has a near-elite shot and a The Hockey Writers’ draft profile of his indicated that they would expect him to be a 30 goals per year scorer at the NHL level. At 6′ 180 lbs, Yager is not as solidly built as the prospect the Jets traded to get him and he does need to work on his skating ability to reach the highest ceiling of his potential. But the young Canadian has a very good compete level with plenty of offensive abilities and is expected to push for a middle six center position at the NHL level in a season or two.
I hope to do a deeper dive into Brayden Yager’s potential when I have more time, but until then I will end with the news that McGroarty has signed a contract with the Penguins & is therefore ineligible to return to Michigan in the NCAA next season.
Here is an excellent in-depth look at Brayden Yager’s play prior to being drafted:
Here is what some other sites said about Yager prior to him being drafted by Pittsburgh:
Dobber Prospects
Highly skilled offensive threat with elite shooting ability and great hockey sense. Needs to add strength and quickness but should eventually grow into a top-six goal scorer who can provide solid defensive value at the NHL level.
Via Dobber we can also compare Yager and McGroarty by looking at their PNHLe values, which attempts to predict a prospect’s potential at the NHL level. Starting off with Brayden Yager’s chart, you will see that he clearly meets the standards of a high quality prospect with his 80 rating being well in the 1st Line Potential range.
Moving onto the departed McGroarty’s chart from DobberProspects, you will notice that the American has the exact same PNHLe rating (80). The Nebraskan forward hasn’t always been considered a 1st line talent throughout his developing seasons, but he is certainly one now according to this statistic.
Corey Pronman – The Athletic:
“He plays with a lot of speed and energy, showing the ability to carry pucks up the ice and make skilled plays with pace. He’s not the biggest center, but Yager plays hard, showing a commitment to making plays without the puck and winning a lot of battles even though he’s not overly physical.“
I was reading a couple of comparison articles between the two prospects and while the majority seem to agree that McGroarty is the more NHL ready at this point, their potential ceilings are very similar. One article pointed out a positive for Yager in that he is actually playing as a 1st line center, unlike McG who has been typically stuck on the wing in the NCAA & International play. That may give him a better chance to transition to the NHL in that position, although the embedded article from Smaht Scouting seems to suggest that his talents might be better deployed on the wing. My hockey knowledge isn’t high enough to know if any of the arguments Smaht presented for a wing deployment would also be applicable to other Jets prospects with a history at the center position who ended up becoming wingers in the NHL (i.e. Cole Perfetti). Another advantage for Brayden is his right-handedness, because only about 35% of NHL players use that hand and Winnipeg has very few righty’s at the forward position.
Of course, the biggest plus is that he had already signed his entry level deal with the Penguins…so no drama with this prospect on that front. Now if the Jets could just get Cole Perfetti’s name on a new contract, the team will be set for the Young Stars Classic (Sept 13-15 in Penticton, BC) and the beginning of training camp.
Let me hear if you think Chevy did a good job or not in the comment section below.
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