Prospect Info: Brayden Yager

[Whileee]

I find it interesting the organization is letting him wear his likely NHL number over the random mid 40s number usually given to prospects at their first time skating with the team.

... it's Laine's old number and I suppose the Jets don't mind turning the page.

 

[Skidooboy]

not sure if looking like 10+ years ago is a good mechanism. draisaitl, mackinnon, matthews, EP, mcdavid, point, aho. r.thomas, a bunch of others weren't in the league or rookies in mackinon's case. and then you players like JT Miller that have overtaken him over the last few years

look at recent history, he's closer to the lower-end offensively as the post above shows. if he was putting up great defensive numbers/play i think there'd be less of a discussion since his all around game would be considered better, despite the lower rank in point scoring.

you misunderstand the stats...

those are cumulative stats. they don't show a single great season...they show a guy who night in night out since basically he came into the league, gets it done.
A guy who has, since he was moved to the top line in 16/17 been a ppg player.


so using the NHL stats page, compile a list of Centers points total since 2015 and 2024 and #55 is sitting 9thth on that list. sure he was #22 in Centres points last year.... but #55 has a consistency that very few players can match, others have ups and downs while #55 keeps potting a ppg average.... almost every single night year after year after year. Reg season and playoffs.....

NHL Stats

The official source for NHL Stats including skaters, goalies, teams stats and more.

www.nhl.com

look at the names above him and look at the names below.... and tell me that's not impressive.

 

[Buffdog]

you misunderstand the stats...

those are cumulative stats. they don't show a single great season...they show a guy who night in night out since basically he came into the league, gets it done.
A guy who has, since he was moved to the top line in 16/17 been a ppg player.


so using the NHL stats page, compile a list of Centers points total since 2015 and 2024 and #55 is sitting 9thth on that list. sure he was #22 in Centres points last year.... but #55 has a consistency that very few players can match, others have ups and downs while #55 keeps potting a ppg average.... almost every single night year after year after year. Reg season and playoffs.....

NHL Stats

The official source for NHL Stats including skaters, goalies, teams stats and more.

www.nhl.com

look at the names above him and look at the names below.... and tell me that's not impressive.

It's you that doesn't understand stats

As a player ages, he declines. Schief is 31. He isn't capable of playing at the same level he was playing at when he was 25. That's why recent seasons are more predictive of future seasons

 

[KingBogo]

... it's Laine's old number and I suppose the Jets don't mind turning the page.

That's what I was thinking. If the kid becomes an important player, likely a more than a few fans repurpose their old Laine jerseys.

 

[DRW204]

you misunderstand the stats...

those are cumulative stats. they don't show a single great season...they show a guy who night in night out since basically he came into the league, gets it done.
A guy who has, since he was moved to the top line in 16/17 been a ppg player.


so using the NHL stats page, compile a list of Centers points total since 2015 and 2024 and #55 is sitting 9thth on that list. sure he was #22 in Centres points last year.... but #55 has a consistency that very few players can match, others have ups and downs while #55 keeps potting a ppg average.... almost every single night year after year after year. Reg season and playoffs.....

NHL Stats

The official source for NHL Stats including skaters, goalies, teams stats and more.

www.nhl.com

look at the names above him and look at the names below.... and tell me that's not impressive.

yeah they are cumulative stats... you are in the league longer, you play more games, and you get more points. some of the players have like 200+ less gp so far in their prime years and aren't going to have totals as high, or some have made vast improvements from when they were years ago. Huberdeau is right behind him too....... is anyone ranking Huberdeau similarly offensively to scheifele in that list today/going into next year?

Elias Pettersson is 46th in that list, and just finished 10th, 5th, 26th in scoring the last-3 seasons vs scheifele 23rd, 31st & 23rd. do you think EP is inferior offensively going into next season b/c scheifele's totals since 2016 are better? or JT Miller for example; is 11th on that list last 3 seasons he's 5th, 16th & 5th in center scoring.

what's more reflective of his current level of play-2016 stats, or an average of some sort of recent years? & then consider the offensive scale of the league has widened drastically where there's more players achieving high numbers. for instance there were 32 PPG players last season, vs 8 PPG players in 2016 - which he was a part of obviously why folks thought he was a top-10 C during that time frame being 1/8 PPG players. now PPG is a bit more watered down (still v impressive of course). at this stage of his career which is what most are concerned about going into next year as opposed to a career reflection, he's closer to a mid-lower end 1C in terms of offensive production at least & not sure how he'd rank in all-around play. Don't think anyone is saying he is bad, but the a lot of Centers have caught up to him or surpassed him.

going back to OP that Eyeseeing posted, offensively at least he hasn't been top-20 for a few years now. and in all-around play

 

[voyageur]

IMO we have always missed having another skilled center on the team to balance things out. While there have been a few temporary solutions, but rarely have we ever been able to run a real 1 - 2 down the middle. The best of teams have the luxury of doing so.

Bryan Little was a good 2C here, he just couldn't work between Laine and Ehlers. The year he got injured, when the Jets switched Laine and Wheeler he had a nice start to the season. Hard to say how effective he would have been in the back half of his contract losing a step.

It will be interesting to see how Lambert and Yager do as a 1-2 punch in the Young Stars.
Potentially the best prospective depth the Jets have ever had at centre.

 

[surixon]

Bryan Little was a good 2C here, he just couldn't work between Laine and Ehlers. The year he got injured, when the Jets switched Laine and Wheeler he had a nice start to the season. Hard to say how effective he would have been in the back half of his contract losing a step.

It will be interesting to see how Lambert and Yager do as a 1-2 punch in the Young Stars.
Potentially the best prospective depth the Jets have ever had at centre.

Little was an excellent 2C but unfortunately started declining the minute we started contending. Just bad timing. He was a consistent 60 point guy up until 2018. Had he been able to maintain that another few years we woukd have really had something

 

[voyageur]

Little was an excellent 2C but unfortunately started declining the minute we started contending. Just bad timing. He was a consistent 60 point guy up until 2018. Had he been able to maintain that another few years we woukd have really had something

I don't know Sur. I'll always remember the GWG in the Heritage game. He was timely good in 2018. He was good in the Blues series when the Jets promoted Copp and demoted Ehlers...he was just physically not the right kind of player to play between two guys who weren't hard on the puck, as a cerebral player. I think he would have been a 50 point C, getting 2nd unit PP time and PK minutes for a couple more years. Dubois brought more offense but his bonehead penalties were a real hindrance, and Dubois was definitely not reliable in the d-zone, where Little was always good on the draw.

 

[surixon]

I don't Sur. I'll always remember the GWG in the Heritage game. He was timely good in 2018. He was good in the Blues series when the Jets promoted Copp and demoted Ehlers...he was just physically not the right kind of player to play between two guys who weren't hard on the puck, as a cerebral player. I think he would have been a 50 point C, getting 2nd unit PP time and PK minutes for a couple more years. Dubois brought more offense but his bonehead penalties were a real hindrance.

He was still a good player, but as you mention was a 2C at that point. He was imo a 1B type center up until the end of 2017.

In 16-17 he paced 65 points while playing most of his time with Laine and Fly. So he did have some success with them. It wasn't just the fit.

 

[Skidooboy]

yeah they are cumulative stats... you are in the league longer, you play more games, and you get more points. some of the players have like 200+ less gp so far in their prime years and aren't going to have totals as high, or some have made vast improvements from when they were years ago. Huberdeau is right behind him too....... is anyone ranking Huberdeau similarly offensively to scheifele in that list today/going into next year?

Elias Pettersson is 46th in that list, and just finished 10th, 5th, 26th in scoring the last-3 seasons vs scheifele 23rd, 31st & 23rd. do you think EP is inferior offensively going into next season b/c scheifele's totals since 2016 are better? or JT Miller for example; is 11th on that list last 3 seasons he's 5th, 16th & 5th in center scoring.

what's more reflective of his current level of play-2016 stats, or an average of some sort of recent years? & then consider the offensive scale of the league has widened drastically where there's more players achieving high numbers. for instance there were 32 PPG players last season, vs 8 PPG players in 2016 - which he was a part of obviously why folks thought he was a top-10 C during that time frame being 1/8 PPG players. now PPG is a bit more watered down (still v impressive of course). at this stage of his career which is what most are concerned about going into next year as opposed to a career reflection, he's closer to a mid-lower end 1C in terms of offensive production at least & not sure how he'd rank in all-around play. Don't think anyone is saying he is bad, but the a lot of Centers have caught up to him or surpassed him.

going back to OP that Eyeseeing posted, offensively at least he hasn't been top-20 for a few years now. and in all-around play

what my point is that #55 has a long history including last year of consistently, year after year reg season and playoffs hitting PPG scoring.

that is not common. lots of guys are awesome for a year or two... but to do it consistently is everything. #55 has.

So is #55 "better than elias Patterson"?
i don't know. probably not.....but Scheifele has scored at near PPG rates for the last 8 years patterson 5...

.... so who's better now? how about in six years? is Pettersson still gonna be better? or will he have fizzled and faded...it happens...

goals scored over the last 5 years(to account for Petterssons shorter career)....

#55 29 Pettersson 27
21 10
29 32
42 39
25 34

total.... #55 146 Petterson 142

so how much better is Petterson? Scoring 4 goals less in the same time as a man 5 years older than him?
also last three years Pettersson has played 242 games...#55? 222
So yes I expect a player with 20 extra games to score more than the guy with 20 less.....

Ultimately over the last three years...Petterson had 1 outlier season where he scored 102 points in 80 games......and other than that...the stats between him and Schief are pretty much a wash over the last five years.... both score at about a PPG and 25-30 goals a year... accounting for dips and peaks....

so where is this Incredible gap in production and talent you are trying to point out?

 

[DRW204]

what my point is that #55 has a long history including last year of consistently, year after year reg season and playoffs hitting PPG scoring.

that is not common. lots of guys are awesome for a year or two... but to do it consistently is everything. #55 has.

So is #55 "better than elias Patterson"?
i don't know. probably not.....but Scheifele has scored at near PPG rates for the last 8 years patterson 5...

.... so who's better now? how about in six years? is Pettersson still gonna be better? or will he have fizzled and faded...it happens...

goals scored over the last 5 years(to account for Petterssons shorter career)....

#55 29 Pettersson 27
21 10
29 32
42 39
25 34

total.... #55 146 Petterson 142

so how much better is Petterson? Scoring 4 goals less in the same time as a man 5 years older than him?
also last three years Pettersson has played 242 games...#55? 222
So yes I expect a player with 20 extra games to score more than the guy with 20 less.....

Ultimately over the last three years...Petterson had 1 outlier season where he scored 102 points in 80 games......and other than that...the stats between him and Schief are pretty much a wash over the last five years.... both score at about a PPG and 25-30 goals a year... accounting for dips and peaks....

so where is this Incredible gap in production and talent you are trying to point out?

1) no one is denying his long history
2) he's was a top 10 point scorer years ago
3) he's closer to 20-30 range last year and last few years (still v good but not quite it once was)

and the OP which was presented was asking if he is top 20 center now. Which is a fair question offensively.

All the above can be true at the same time, and by no means anyone is saying he's bad or anything.

If you think he's high up the league ranks as he was back in the day then idk what to tell you, bc the league ranks of actual points scored tell you the contrary. If you can't recognize that then there's no point in the back and forth anymore.

 

[Skidooboy]

1) no one is denying his long history
2) he's was a top 10 point scorer years ago
3) he's closer to 20-30 range last year and last few years (still v good but not quite it once was)

and the OP which was presented was asking if he is top 20 center now. Which is a fair question offensively.

All the above can be true at the same time, and by no means anyone is saying he's bad or anything.

If you think he's high up the league ranks as he was back in the day then idk what to tell you, bc the league ranks of actual points scored tell you the contrary. If you can't recognize that then there's no point in the back and forth anymore.

there is no point… because you would happily sign a players top ten ranking based on one season’s performance.

You claim there’s a fall off in Schafley‘s play, but the numbers actually disagree with you in every way possible he produces at the same rate. He has pretty much for the last eight years last year the year before the year before that all of them.

So yes, on sample size of one individual year he might not show up as being a top 10 player…

but year after year after year he scores ppg.

which only a very few players currently in the league have shown to do.

So I guess you can enjoy the flavour of the month flash in the pan recency bias… like Jonathon Cheechoo

And I’ll look for the players with long-term impactful careers that made a difference throughout their entire career.

 

[KingBogo]

After the young stars tournament, especially game 3, Yager is a player who will be interesting to watch in camp. He is not ready yet, but I thought he was very positionally sound, so he might show very well with more veteran players. Very interesting to see who is in the preseason game 1 lineup.

 

[LowLefty]

After the young stars tournament, especially game 3, Yager is a player who will be interesting to watch in camp. He is not ready yet, but I thought he was very positionally sound, so he might show very well with more veteran players. Very interesting to see who is in the preseason game 1 lineup.

He's my favorite center prospect based on the little I have seen of him - he has a nice combination of skill and appears to like to keep things simple .
That may sound common but it really isn't.
Look forward to seeing more of him.

 

[ffh]

I like his game at center way more than lambert. Think he will be the 2c in a few years.

 

[EXTRAS]

Any chance he gets 8 games?

 

[surixon]

Any chance he gets 8 games?

Doubtful.

 

[Buffdog]

Any chance he gets 8 games?

Nope

 

[Jets]

Would be really fun irony if he made the team out of camp and Rutger got sent to WBS, but I don't see room for him to play 8 games, even if his intangibles and game sense are nearly NHL ready