[Vensel] AGM Jason Spezza was asked if Brayden Yager has a realistic shot at making the NHL club out of training camp. “I think so. I never would want to limit a young player’s ability to make the team. So he controls that in terms of how he shows up and how he plays.”
by LazerMcBlazer
8 Comments
A reminder to those that don’t follow prospects much: Yager is ineligible to play in the AHL this year due to his age and some shenanigans involving how the pandemic affected the CHL’s transfer agreement requirements.
Taylor Haase asked Spezza if there is a chance they can get a waiver, the same way Seattle did to allow Shane Wright to play in the AHL before he was technically eligible and he said it wasn’t going to happen.
So Yager is either NHL or back to Junior this year.
He’s already done almost everything he can there, so to me, it seems like the smart move would be for the Pens to give him the 9 NHL games before they return him to Junior regardless of if he “earns it”, even if he doesn’t play in all of them. Just being around the big club for that stretch probably does more for his development than lighting up Juniors for a couple weeks.
Spezza’s comments don’t account for Sullivan’s preference for older players. However, Yager is a defensively responsible Forward for his age, and Sully’s a defense-first, (2nd and 3rd) coach. There’s also the pressure from Dubas to play our youth. That’s why we saw Puustinen so much last year.
If this was 5 years ago, I’d say Yager has no shot. But things have changed. Good luck to him.
He has to be in the big club. No point in wasting him in Juniors. Aren’t making the playoffs anyway so might as well get him NHL experience
The kid has exceeded expectations at every chance he deserves the min games before sending him back to juniors at least and if he continues impressing just keep him up
Saw him play multiple times last year and he was easily the most exciting player on the ice.
Hopefully he plays his way onto the roster in camp. It hasn’t happened all that much for the Pens. The last couple I can think of are Olli Maatattata and Jordan Staal.
Nothing to lose honestly, might as well try out the youth.
Play him full time! Pens need to bring average age down and you’re not going to get better at playing in the NHL…. if you don’t play in the NHL. I mean it’s not like the team can get that much worse or disappointing.