PITTSBURGH — Kyle Dubas was waiting Friday with a message to deliver when the Pittsburgh Penguins’ prospects arrived in Cranberry, Pa., for the Penguins’ annual development camp.

Pittsburgh’s president of hockey operations, who has pivoted into something of a rebuild in his second year on the job, told 48 wide-eyed prospects in the room that the Penguins are looking for eager, young players to seize the moment in these offseason camps, then make an impact for the NHL team in 2024-25.

Dubas was talking to the entire group, which ranged from young professionals to undrafted junior hockey players and incoming college freshmen. But he might as well have pulled out a laser pointer and aimed it right at Brayden Yager.

Hey, kid. There’s a spot for you here in Pittsburgh right now. Come and get it.

There is no pressure on the 19-year-old to make the NHL roster. The Penguins were excited to pick him 14th overall in the 2023 draft and feel even better about his pro prospects and upside after his latest leap with the Moose Jaw Warriors this past season. But they say they’ll give him a realistic chance to stick.

“I never would want to limit a young player’s ability to make the team,” assistant general manager Jason Spezza said Saturday after the first practices of this five-day camp. “He controls that in terms of how he shows up and how he plays.”

Yager, a talented forward, promised he would be ready to give it his best shot.

“First thing that comes to mind is that I want to make the team here in Pittsburgh,” he said. “I think I could be ready to play, and I want to come to the main camp with the mentality that I’m going to make the team and be comfortable with working my hardest and battling against some of the best players on the team.”

Saturday at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex, Yager was one of a handful of true NHL hopefuls at development camp, proof that Dubas and his hockey operations staff have added bona fide prospects to the organization in the last year.

Yager is widely considered to be the best of the bunch. He was a front-line forward and a quiet leader for a Moose Jaw team that just won its first Western Hockey League title, securing a spot in the exclusive Memorial Cup tournament.

“You try to be a player that rises to the occasion. You want to be a leader on your team — and you do that just by your play on the ice,” he said. “Obviously, [winning a title is] hard, but it’s a lot of fun. And I couldn’t be prouder of our group.”

Yager set career highs with 35 goals and 95 points during the regular season, then piled up 27 points during the Warriors’ 20-game playoff run. All the while, he earned praise for his 200-foot game while playing in the middle for Moose Jaw.

He also represented Canada at the World Junior Championships this winter.

Spezza, who kept close tabs on Yager, called it a “great development year.”

“When a team goes on a run and wins like they did, I think that’s a great stress test for a young player. And he played big matchups against a lot of really good players in the Western League,” Spezza noted. “And [what also stood out to us was] just his overall drive and wanting to make a difference in the games.”

When the Penguins drafted Yager, he already had a whip of a right-handed wrist shot and a mature approach on and off the ice. He got his first taste of the NHL in training camp and the 2023 NHL preseason, impressing in those settings.

He left Pittsburgh wanting to get bigger and stronger and round out his game.

“I take a lot of pride in doing everything I can to get better as a player,” he said.

Yager did much of the heavy lifting himself, with help from the Moose Jaw coaches and support staff. But the Penguins were credited with an assist from afar.

The Penguins sent some of their strength and conditioning coaches to Moose Jaw to help teach Yager how to maintain his playing weight throughout the course of a taxing season while still adding strength to his 6-foot, 170-pound frame.

“Just getting [me] ready to play against men and bigger guys,” the center said.

Yager also was in regular contact with Pittsburgh’s player development team. For example, Matt Cullen often chatted with him about the nuances of faceoffs.

His progress was perhaps best reflected in all the team-level success the Warriors enjoyed. But Yager was named a second-team WHL All-Star and was honored as Sportsman of the Year for the entire Canadian Hockey League, as well.

Yager can build on his Moose Jaw legacy should he return in the fall. Per the NHL’s agreement with the CHL, he is ineligible to be sent to the American Hockey League to start 2024-25 due to his age. So it’ll be the NHL or back to the WHL.

He is shooting for Pittsburgh, having heard Dubas’ clarion call loud and clear.

“I think I can make the most of that opportunity,” Yager said, “and work my hardest throughout the summer and come back and be ready to make an impact.”

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