Yager Nominated to Defend Sportsman of the Year Award
Lethbridge, AB – The Lethbridge Hurricanes Hockey Club, in conjunction with the Western Hockey League, announced that 2005-born forward Brayden Yager has been nominated for the Brad Hornung Memorial Trophy as the WHL’s Most Sportsmanlike Player.
Winnipeg Jets prospect Brayden Yager has been nominated as the WHL Sportsman of the Year for a third time after winning the Brad Hornung Memorial Trophy in 2024 and 2023.
The 20-year-old is one of only seven skaters to earn the award multiple times and could become the first to complete the major award hat trick. He was also named the CHL Sportsman of the Year for 2024.
Yager averaged more than a point per game for a fourth straight season after putting up 25 goals and 57 assists for 82 points in 54 games with the Lethbridge Hurricanes and Moose Jaw Warriors while only getting dinged with 22 penalty minutes. He led the Hurricanes in points after joining the Central Division squad in a blockbuster trade and ranked ninth among all WHL skaters in points per game (1.43).
The Saskatoon, Sask. product was named Captain of Team Canada for the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship, where he picked up three assists and boasted the best faceoff percentages at the tournament (71.62%) without taking a single penalty.
Yager has 332 points (129G-203) over 265 regular season games with the Hurricanes and Warriors, who drafted him with the third overall pick in the 2020 WHL Prospects Draft.
The 2024 WHL Champion is one of the most decorated active WHL Players. In addition to two Brad Hornung Memorial Trophy wins, Yager earned the Jim Piggott Memorial Trophy for WHL Rookie of the Year and CHL Rookie of the Year in 2022. He was also named to the WHL East Division Second All-Star Team in 2024 and the WHL Eastern Conference Second All-Star Team in 2025.
