The Winnipeg Jets have turned to Brayden Yager to fill the roster opening left by Brad Lambert, moving quickly after Lambert was put on waivers yesterday.
According to a team announcement, Winnipeg recalled Yager from the Manitoba Moose of the AHL. It’s the latest step in a prospect swap that brought the 21-year-old to the Jets organization a few years ago, when Winnipeg sent Rutger McGroarty - the 14th overall pick in the 2022 NHL Draft - to Pittsburgh for Yager, who was selected 14th overall in 2023.
Yager’s path to this point has moved through several stops. The Saskatoon, SK, native opened the 2024-25 season with the WHL’s Moose Jaw Warriors and put up 11 goals and 30 points in 21 games, along with a -3 rating.
He was later dealt within the league and finished with the Lethbridge Hurricanes, where he scored 14 goals and 52 points in 33 games and posted a +8 rating. Lethbridge’s run ended when the Medicine Hat Tigers knocked them out in the WHL Eastern Conference Final.
Last season was Yager’s first extended taste of pro hockey, and he spent most of it with AHL Manitoba. He finished with 10 goals and 30 points in 68 games and a -15 rating, then added four assists in seven playoff games.
Winnipeg also gave him a brief NHL look in late April after the club had been eliminated from postseason contention. In that debut, he went scoreless in three games, finished even in plus-minus, and won six of 19 faceoffs.
This season, though, Yager has been producing at a different pace. In 10 games for the Moose, he has seven goals and 12 points with a +5 rating, good for a tie for second on the team in scoring. That surge likely pushed him into the call-up conversation.
If that offense carries over, Yager could give Winnipeg a needed lift. The Jets are averaging 2.44 goals per game, which ranks 30th, and their power play is clicking at 17.02%, good for 25th.
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