Darren Steinke
Stanks On Sports
Could Brayden Yager’s days with the Moose Jaw Warriors be numbered?
You can expect that question will continue to be asked as Yager’s Moose Jaw Warriors continue to struggle. Heading into action on Tuesday, the Warriors sat last in the entire WHL with a 5-14-3-1 record.
Of course last season, the Warriors finished fifth overall in the WHL with a 44-21-0-3 mark, and in the post-season, they would win the WHL championship and advance to the CHL championship tournament – the Memorial Cup – for the first time in team history. When that campaign concluded, the Warriors graduated a whole host of key players including WHL scoring leader Jagger Firkus, Atley Calvert, captain Denton Mateychuk, Matthew Savoie, Martin Rysavy and Lucas Brenton.
Over the past two weeks Warriors general manager Jason Ripplinger traded away a pair of veteran defencemen to collect draft capital and get a little younger. On November 15, the Warriors dealt 19-year-old Czech import defenceman and prospect of the NHL’s Anaheim Ducks in Vojtech Port to the Lethbridge Hurricanes for 18-year-old defenceman Ryder Ellis, a third round selection in the 2025 WHL Prospects Draft and a second round pick in the 2027 Prospects Draft.
On November 17, the Warriors made a bigger deal sending 20-year-old offensive defenceman and Minnesota Wild prospect Kalem Parker to the Calgary Hitmen for 15-year-old prospects centre Nathan Gardiner, a second round selection in the 2025 Prospects Draft and third and seventh round picks in the 2026 Prospect Draft. When Parker got traded, it left a feeling that Yager might possibly be dealt at some time too before the trade deadline on January 10, 2025.
After returning from training camp with the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets, the 19-year-old Yager was named the Warriors captain on October 3. Yager came to the WHL as part of the special 2020 then Bantam Draft class that saw phenom Connor Bedard go first overall to the Regina Pats and Riley Heidt go second to the Prince George Cougars. The Warriors took Yager with the third overall selection.
Entering play on Tuesday, Yager played in 230 career WHL regular season contests recording 115 goals, 161 assists and a plus-29 rating in the plus-minus department. Last season, he played for Canada at world juniors, and in the 57 regular season games he skated in for the Warriors, he posted career highs in goals (35), assists (60), points (95) and plus minus (plus-19).
In the 20 games in the WHL Playoffs the Warriors played in their run to winning the WHL title, Yager posted 11 goals, 16 assists and a plus-10 rating. He picked up the Brad Hornung Trophy as the WHL’s Most Sportsmanlike Player and claimed honours as the CHL’s most sportsmanlike player.
Yager, who stands 6-feet and weighs 170 pounds, has lived up to expectations in the WHL. He played a key role in helping the Warriors win the WHL title. In the process, he helped give Warriors fans their greatest home ice memory, when they won the WHL Championship Series in four games with the Game 4 series clincher coming with a 4-2 victory over the Portland Winterhawks on May 15 at the Moose Jaw Events Centre, which is also known as “The Hangar.”
These days Yager is likely playing out his last months in the WHL before moving on to the professional ranks. In a dream world, it would be cool if Yager ended up on the roster of the Prince Albert Raiders.
He got his start playing the game with Prince Albert Minor Hockey, and he grew up cheering for the Raiders. The reason he wears number-29 is because his favourite player was famed former Raiders forward Leon Draisaitl, who is now a superstar for the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers.
When Yager started playing for the Martensville Marauders at age 12 with his family living in the Saskatoon area, he still followed the Raiders quite heavily. One of his favourite players from the Raiders 2018-19 WHL championship team was all-heart forward Parker Kelly, who now plays for the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche.
Still, the Warriors will be looking to get a big haul of assets in exchange for Yager. The Raiders biggest strength is the potential that is in their 15, 16 and 17-year-old age groups. You could put prospects into a trade to get Yager, but they likely would be best off to stay the course and not break up something that could be special down the road.
A likely landing spot for Yager could be the Cougars, who have Heidt as their captain. Heidt and Yager met playing spring hockey together at age eight. They were teammates together on the Marauders and then the Saskatoon Contacts under-18 AAA team before joining the WHL.
A reunion in Prince George would be a feel-good story too.
With that said, the Warriors could elect to keep Yager. If they miss the post-season like they are trending to do, Yager maybe joins the NHL leading Jets for a possible playoff run there. While that isn’t likely to happen, it isn’t out of the realm of possibility.
As the WHL campaign leads up to the Trade Deadline, eyes around the circuit will be watching to see what happens to Yager. Every team on the circuit would get a boost, if they were able to add him to their respective rosters.
Raiders rounding into form, other notes
The Prince Albert Raiders are starting to find their legs, and it is likely coming at the relief of some fans in “Hockey Town North.”
Sometimes, I tend to forget there are fans whose emotions go up and down in a mirror image connection to if a team wins or loses. The folks in Prince Albert that I’ve known for an extended stretch who follow the Raiders stay fairly even-keel. They know there are going to be ups and downs in a season and are able to ride the waves fairly well.
Still, the Raiders went into the campaign with a younger roster and shuffled the deck a bit with trades. They started out 2-7-2, and it felt like the young guys were going through growing pains and the roster was trying to find continuity.
The Raiders have gone 7-1-1 in their last nine games and sport a 9-8-3 record to sit ninth in the Eastern Conference two points behind the Red Deer Rebels (10-10-1-2) for eighth and the conference’s final playoff berth. Actually, the teams that sit from fourth to ninth in the Eastern Conference are within five standings points of each other, so expect there to be a lot of juggling before the regular season comes to an end.
The key thing for the Raiders is the two biggest newcomers that came via the trade route are finding their respective grooves. Tomas Mrsic, who is an 18-year-old centre formerly of the Medicine Hat Tigers, has 13 goals and 13 assists in 18 games with the Raiders. Offensive-defenceman Lukas Dragicevic, who is a 19-year-old formerly of the Tri-City Americans, has one goal and 24 assists in 18 games.
The Raiders have gotten strong goaltending from 20-year-old Max Hildebrand throughout the entire campaign. Veterans like Aiden Oiring, Niall Crocker, Brayden Dube, Krzysztof Macias and Justice Christensen are rounding into form with their new teammates. Youngsters like Luke Moroz, Daxon Rudolph, Riley Boychuk and Ty Meunier are finding their moments to shine.
Since 2019, I have been fortunate enough to get back in touch with retired Raiders icon head coach and general manager Terry Simpson, and I enjoy our chats. Even at age 81, Simpson is still sharp as a tack, and you can learn things from him without expecting it.
One of his messages was that there comes a time you have to have faith and belief in you guys, and you have to hold that faith and believe when the losses happen. Simpson said the Raiders won the WHL title in 2019 because they stuck with a core group they believed in. He is proud of the Raiders franchise and the folks in Prince Albert.
I try to take those lessons about faith and belief to heart, when I step back and look at the Raiders. It is always subjective to what level that faith and belief should go, but I have found it does help provide patience if nothing else.
- On Monday, the WHL announced that former official Mike Hasenfratz recently passed away at age 58. He won the Allen Paradice Memorial Trophy as the WHL’s official of the year in 1999-2000. He officiated over 700 NHL games from 2000-01 to 2013-14. During his WHL days, Hasenfratz kept his calm as a referee, when it was common for most games to have lots of extra-curricular activities.
- On Monday, the Pats announced alumnus Jim Minor recently passed away at age 69. Minor played centre for the Pats from 1971 to 1975. In 202 career regular season games with the Pats, Minor recorded 69 goals and 137 assists for 206 points. He helped the Pats win their last Memorial Cup title in the 1973-74 campaign.
- Defenceman Landon DuPont is living up to being granted exceptional player status to play in the WHL as a 15-year-old. As a 15-year-old rookie with the Everett Silvertips, DuPont has recorded five goals, 17 assists and a plus-16 rating in his first 20 regular season contests.
Darren Steinke is a Saskatoon-based freelance sportswriter and photographer with more than 20 years of experience covering the WHL. He blogs frequently at stankssermon.blogspot.com.
