Who won the McGroarty/Yager trade?

Pittsburgh Penguins management must have decided that there’s only room for one Jagr/Yager in the team’s history book because they shipped the latter player, Brayden Yager, off to the Winnipeg Jets in exchange for Rutger McGroarty.
As the deal was one-for-one, these players will be compared to each other the rest of their careers. The winner of the trade will likely become clear in a few years, but let’s give it our best guess right now.
Here are all the factors to consider — it’s up to you to determine the apparent champion.
McGroarty’s name had been circling the trade market since he reportedly requested a trade in June.
Similar to Anaheim Ducks prospect Cutter Gauthier and Nashville Predators prospect Yaroslav Askarov, he wanted to play in the NHL next season but his team had denied him from doing so. He will likely join the Penguins’ roster to start the season.
He’s a big, strong, playmaking winger who scored 16 goals and 52 points in 36 games for the University of Michigan this season.
Yager is a bona fide sniper. The 2023 Elite Prospects Draft Guide describes his shot as “exploding off his stick, no matter how compromised his body positioning appears to be during release.”
He potted 35 goals and 95 points in 57 regular-season games for the WHL’s Moosejaw Warriors this season and added 11 goals and 27 points in the playoffs en route to the Warriors’ first-ever Ed Chynoweth Cup championship.
Both players were drafted 14th overall: McGroarty in 2022 and Yager in 2023.
It’s no secret that NHL teams value centermen more highly than they do wingers. The center position requires more speed and defensive prowess, in addition to the ability to win faceoffs. Centermen can usually switch and play the wing with ease, but converting a winger into a centerman is a difficult task.
Yager plays the more coveted position.
Teams also tend to have a harder time finding good right-shot players, as somewhere from 60% to 70% of NHL players shoot left, according to Pure Hockey. McGroarty shoots left and Yager shoots right.
Size is typically an advantage in hockey. McGroarty has the edge in that regard at 6-foot-1 and 205 pounds, compared to Yager’s 6 feet, 170 pounds. Yager is also a year younger than McGroarty.
The longstanding debate comparing the NCAA and the CHL continues with this trade. Both leagues produce dozens of NHL draft picks every year and every NHL team has players from both. Both offer schooling benefits to their players — the NCAA in the sense that the players go to school while playing, many receiving scholarships, and the CHL by means of a year’s worth of tuition covered for each season a player plays in the league.
The CHL gives players more experience: 68 games plus playoffs, while NCAA teams play 24-plus tournaments. That being said, the NCAA might have tougher competition, as CHL players range from ages 16 to 20, while NCAA players are rarely younger than 18 and can be as old as they want, provided they’re still in school.
Traditionally, the CHL leagues — especially the WHL, where Yager plays — are more physical than the NCAA. Fighting is allowed in two of the three CHL leagues, aside from the obligatory five-minute major penalty awarded to each player involved. In the NCAA, a player who fights receives an automatic one-game suspension, in addition to being ejected from the current game.
In terms of evaluating the trade, Yager got more experience this year, but McGroarty’s competition was likely tougher to play against.
Social media seems to have the general opinion that McGroarty is the better player, though there are few criticizing the Jets for making the trade.
Time will tell.