Penguins top prospect Brayden Yager on Saturday was named this season's winner of the CHL Sportsman of the Year Award, awarded annually to the most sportsmanlike player in Canadian major junior hockey.
The CHL is the governing body of the three major junior leagues in Canada -- the WHL, OHL, and QMJHL. Each of the three leagues has an award for the most sportsmanlike player, and each of those winners are the finalists for the CHL award.
Yager, 19, has won the WHL's Brad Hornung Memorial Trophy as the WHL's most sportsmanlike player for the past two seasons. He's just the seventh player in WHL history to win the league's sportsmanlike player award twice, and the sixth to do so in back-to-back seasons.
Yager is the 13th player from the WHL to win the CHL Sportsman of the Year Award and the first since 2018-19, when then-Penguins prospect Justin Almeida took home the award.
This season Yager recorded just 20 penalty minutes over his 57 games, scoring 35 goals and 60 assists in the process.
Yager's taken home quite a bit of hardware over his last three junior seasons. In addition two his two WHL sportsmanlike player awards and this Sportsman of the Year Award, he was named the WHL Rookie of the Year in 2021-22, and went on to win the CHL Rookie of the Year Award after being a finalist with the OHL and QMHJL top rookies that season. His Moose Jaw Warriors were the WHL champions this season, and he was also named to the WHL East Second All-Star Team at the end of the regular season.
