Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Pittsburgh Penguins draft Brayden Yager with 14th-overall pick in 2023 NHL Draft | Instant Reaction & Analysis

Episode Date: June 29, 2023

The Pittsburgh Penguins have drafted forward Brayden Yager with the 14th-overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft. Hunter Hodies of Locked On Penguins joins Gil Martin and Hadi Kalakeche to react to the pick, discuss why it’s an exciting addition for a Penguins team now under the leadership of Kyle Dubas, and what comes next for a Penguins team trying to get the most out the final years of Sidney Crosby, Evgeny Malkin and Kris Letang’s careers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

With the 14th pick in the 2023 NHL draft, the Pittsburgh Penguins have taken Center Braden Yeager from Moose Jaw, Gilmartin here alongside our prospect's expert, Hottie Kali Keshe. And right now it's great to welcome Hunter Hodes from Lockedon Penguins to talk about this. And Hunter, you nailed this pick in our mock draft. I did. I was actually surprised considering I had him a little lower on my board after I finished up my draft prep, but took a swing for the fences.

I knew that Kyle Dubus met with him, and I just said, you know what? I think this is going to be someone that they pick. But I'm not truly surprised. I think Yeager has a top five shot in this class. He just needs to keep using it to his advantage. You saw his goal scoring ability go down a little bit this past season, played in four more games, scored six less goals. But I think he wanted to work on his two-way game a little bit more,

become more of a playmaker. He had 25 more assists this past season. That's promising. But I still want him to use his shot a lot more because, again, I don't think there's three to five players in this draft that have a better shot than him. Hadi, your thoughts about this pick and the value at 14? It's a bit of a reach, in my opinion. There are some concerns with Yeager's game in terms of his two-way game,

his awareness especially and just genuinely being an impactful player rather than a finisher. He loves to create, he loves to finish. He's worked a lot on his playmaking, which is really, really good for his game. and like Hunter mentioned, the goal scoring is top five in this draft. His in-stride Rister is in the top five for sure, probably even top three. He's got a great one-timer from the hash marks as well. He offers goal scoring upside, and he's made his playmaking a slightly above-average element of his game.

I just have some concerns with the overall impact of his game in all three zones and just the projectability of it because his game isn't as inside-driven as a lot of players that I have in my top 10 or top 15. And nevertheless, you're getting a top five score in this draft out of Braden Yeager. And yet another Braden drafted out of Moose Shaw in the WHL. I can't count the amount of Bradens there are in the dub in general. There's just a lot of Bradens there. But the last ones that were drafted were Braden Tracy and Braden Point.

So anywhere in between that range of player would be great for Braden Yeager here. Is his defense a big concern? It is a concern. And I wouldn't say it's a massive concern because if it was, he wouldn't be in the top 15 of this draft. But it's definitely something that holds him back. And it's something that I would have a lot of trouble seeing him improve because it's an issue with this baseline awareness rather than just positioning and just knowledge. It's an issue with understanding and anticipating threats in the defensive zone. Now, that's harder to work on than, you know, a player who just doesn't know yet what to do but has the awareness to eventually catch up to it.

So I'd say, you know, it's about a, you know, it's a below average trait. The issue with me is I have trouble seeing it climb up to an average or above average trait. So more likely than not, you're getting a scoring winger out of Yeager rather than a responsible scoring center. Hunter, how does Yeager fit into the penguin's future as you're looking at this transition? Some of these older players are going to start winding their careers down. Yeah, I don't think he's going to be ready for at least another three years. minimum. I think it's maybe going to take a little longer than that. I think Pottie mentioned it. He does need to work on the defensive aspect of his game. I do think if he does make it to the league,

it's going to be because of his shot. And he got back to basics a little bit in the playoffs, sword six goals in 10 games. So I like that. He just has to be less selfish in that area and just rip the puck to the net. But I think three years minimum is when he's in Pittsburgh by that point. Crosby and Malkin and Latangor in their late 30s into the early 40s. But he's not going to be making an impact to the team at least for the next couple of years to maybe three to four years down the road. All right. Well, for more on this selection and all the penguins' other moves, both in the draft and in free agency, tune in to Lockdown Penguins for free on your favorite podcast app or on YouTube.

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