Yager’s not a Bedard that’s gonna make it on talent alone, but being a righty, decent on FOs, relatively mature defensively already I’d say, I think that bodes well. He’ll get minutes if he’s not a liability and by virtue of playing minutes he’ll get chances and points. And that’s just an NHL thing, not specific to Sullivan.
Will also certainly help if his powerplay abilities translate up the ladder too, again especially as a righty, there’s always a spot open for a righty on NHL powerplays.
And I think that was the appeal when they drafted him: Skill is there, but it’s not overwhelming, and there’s some maturity to his game. No glaring weaknesses, just needs to develop a little more of everything.
All the more reason not to rush him. If he’s ready he’s ready but if not send him back and tell him to play away from the puck like he’s in the NHL. Stops and starts, hard in the corners, etc. And keep working on faceoffs.
AHL would be cool because we can not only pay more attention to those details but we can also limit his games to make sure he’s not wasting away or playing just junk minutes. Maybe do what Anaheim did with Carlsson where you hold him out of back-to-backs since strength and muscle is also a priority. Tocchet did that with Stamkos a bit in his rookie year too.