From Job Interview to NHL Draft: Brayden Yager Joins Penguins

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - At the NHL Scouting Combine, the Penguins interviewed almost 60 prospects - including Brayden Yager.

They chatted with him for about 20 minutes, and at the end, Dr. Kevin Wildenhaus of the Penguins player performance group pointed out that the meeting was essentially a job interview for Yager.

"So, this is your chance to convince us why we should draft you when we're on the clock if you're still available. Why should the Penguins bring you on board?" Wildenhaus said.

The Penguins personnel in the room - including president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas - listened intently as Yager gave his elevator speech.

"I think that my skating and 200-foot game will translate really well to the NHL level," Yager said. "I feel like being able to play at both ends of the ice is huge. Being a young player coming into the NHL, you might not be able to play top-six minutes, but I feel like you can play starting in your end and play in a bottom two lines spot and work your way up as you go. I think that my habits on the ice are really good. As I progress, I'll be able to produce offense, and eventually be a really good player in the NHL."

Yager then had a follow-up interview of sorts, as the Penguins took him out to dinner that evening to get to know him even better. He was actually getting over a bout of food poisoning that he'd come down with night before, so that morning, the Penguins told Yager's agent that they could absolutely reschedule.

"We said, we totally understand if he's not feeling all right... but Brayden was insistent that he come to dinner, spend time with us, let us get to know him," Penguins director of amateur scouting Nick Pryor said. "I think it would have been easy for him to say no, you know? Let's do it a different time. (But he did), and that kind of tells you the type of kid he is and how driven he is, and speaks volumes about the kid's character."

Yager ordered a chicken Caesar salad, and after getting the chance to chat with the Pittsburgh crew, said he felt much better. And now that the Penguins ended up taking him with their first-round selection of the 2023 NHL Draft, 14th overall, Yager feels amazing.

"It still hasn't sank in yet," he said. "It's such a great organization when you look at some of the players in their roster. Some guys that I can really learn from and guys I've looked up to growing up. So, it's incredible."

Yager spent his draft season as an alternate captain of the Moose Jaw Warriors in the Western Hockey League, with the Penguins asking a lot of questions about his leadership style and how he goes about trying to have an impact in that regard.

"At the end of last year, I had some meetings with my coach. He told me that I'd be wearing an A, and he said I'm not wearing an A because I'm Brayden Yager, it's because the other guys on the team can say yeah, he's working his bag off and he's having success, so you can do the same thing," Yager said. "Leading by example is a good thing. I also believe in holding each other accountable, but also staying positive."

They were also very impressed with Yager being named the WHL Most Sportsmanlike Player, especially with Brayden playing a center in a difficult division against stiff competition.

"It was definitely an honor. It's kind of like the Lady Byng in the NHL. My favorite player won it a couple years ago, Nathan MacKinnon, so that's kind of cool," Yager told them. "I think just playing between the whistles, playing hard but also having some respect for your opponents, not going out there to rip a guy's head off or knock somebody's teeth out. Just more of a separate the puck from the body kind of guy."

Heading into his draft year, Yager was known for his shooting mentality, which he models after MacKinnon - "just the way he jumps into it is obviously super quick." Yager works with a shooting coach named Tim Turk, who specializes in helping young players get their skills NHL-ready, focusing on changing the angles and quick releases.

But this past season, Yager wanted to focus more on his playmaking ability to continue improving his overall game. While his assist total doubled, Yager did take less shots, which led to his goal output dropping slightly from 34 goals in 2021-22 to 28 goals in '22-23. Yager admitted that sometimes he would overthink when it came to deciding whether to shoot or pass, but going into the playoffs, his coach harped on him getting back to that shoot-first approach.

Yager then doubled his goal production in the postseason, going from three in 2021-22 to six (in 10 games!) in '22-23. When Dubas asked the question he posed to all of the prospects he met with - which was some variation of, "if I was going to watch one game of you at your absolute best from this year, what game would you tell me to watch" - Yager said really any game in the playoffs, specifically Moose Jaw's 8-4 win over Winnipeg on April 18.

That ties in with how Yager completed this sentence, "I play my best hockey when…" The forward responded with, "in big moments, the playoffs, the high pressure moments."

Tweet from @penguins: Go behind the scenes for Brayden Yager's interview at the NHL Scouting Combine 👀 pic.twitter.com/YCjLIxrKYH

Moving forward, Yager said he's got to keep working on getting back to shooting more, along with getting bigger and stronger, of course. And hopefully, he can be NHL-ready in 2-3 years.

"He was simply the top player on our board at the time he picked, which I know is the biggest cliche in all of sports where there's drafts, but that was just the reality," Dubas said. "Now, we have to get to the development part and turn it over to (director of player development) Tom Kostopoulos and his staff and have them get to work with him."