Yager is an intriguing case because a lot of the thread hype in the prospects forum tends to evolve around statistical outliers, and in Yager's case the production is neither incredible nor below par. A lot of posters still have him in their top 10s.
It's more the tools and projection than it is the "name recognition". No GM is going to take a prospect because they were the most well known at ages 15-16, but they might pick one who shows a skillet that is translatable like skating and shooting. Again I'll use barzal as a comparable , guys who were once projected to go top 3-5, didn't necessarily produce like some other top picks in their draft years, but still had the skill set you want in an elite prospect. Barzal slipped and maybe he shouldn't have, not sure yager will have the same NHL career but that's the vibe I get from him as a prospect.
He definitely top-10 talent of this incredible draft. But now he closer to 10th overall, than 5.
His skating is really good, it’s one of his strengths. I think his main weakness is that he’s just not that creative/dynamic offensively. He makes good, simple plays, but he really only “creates offence out of nothing” with his shot and skating.
Drafting would be easy if you just look at point production. Actual context of why points are coming or why they are not coming matters a lot too. I'd say his point production is pretty much fine right now.
