Hockey players, as a rule, do not like to rest on their laurels or even admit that they have laurels to rest on. If anyone on the Brandon Wheat Kings could claim laurels after last season, it would be Jaxon Jacobson.
The 17-year-old forward (who spent the first half of last season as a 16-year-old due to his late birthday) nearly doubled his rookie point total to 85 points, and did it while serving as the team’s number one centre, taking more than 1100 faceoffs and winning over 55 percent of them. He finished a point per game both in the playoffs for the Wheat Kings and with Team Canada at the U18s.
But you’ve probably already guessed that, entering his NHL draft year in which he is a projected first-rounder, he’s not interested in focusing on his past exploits. If anything, the Brandon native seems to have a chip on his shoulder.
“It’s in the back of your mind, you know you’re going through it,” Jacobson said of his draft year. “I just want to prove a lot of people wrong and show that all the knocks on my game are not true and I can play both sides of the ice.”
Some of that stems from the end of the Wheat Kings’ 2025-26 season, a disappointing sweep in the first round at the hands of the Calgary Hitmen. With that in mind, it won’t be individual accomplishments that Jacobson remembers most about the previous campaign or that he focuses on ahead of the coming one.
“Obviously it was tough how things went at the end of the season,” he said. “The most important thing to me is winning, so the point total to me this year isn’t as important as winning. I have that mindset going into the season.”
The chance to bury that past season begins right away for Jacobson and the Wheat Kings. Training camp opens this evening, though Jacobson and a number of other Wheat Kings’ veterans have been skating together of their own accord since well before that. His early impression of the work his teammates had put in was favorable.
“All summer, you’re training and working to be in the best shape you can be by the start of the season, so it’s nice to see where all the guys are at,” said Jacobson. “It looks like everyone has been grinding away, which is really nice to see.”
As for the work he’s put in himself, Jacobson has put in plenty. He set the bar high for himself last season with the 85-point output, which makes him one of the leading returning scorers in the WHL.
“I have a lot of confidence knowing that I’ve done it before and knowing that I’ve got room to grow,” Jacobson said. “I think I left a little bit out there last year, I could’ve had more. Going down with injury in November set me back a little bit. Staying healthy and building off what I did last year, I’m comfortable because I know I can do it.”
Jacobson mentioned he wants to add more two-way credentials to his resume, but another thing he wants to add is leadership. Now a third-year player and one of the team’s most experienced forwards, like so many players he wants to pay forward the mentorship he got from older players when he was first entering the league.
“I think being one of the older guys on the team now, which is kind of crazy to say, and just being around for a couple of years and knowing what it’s like, it’s about helping the younger guys out and trying to make them feel as comfortable as possible because I know how it was coming into the league,” he said. “It’s a little intimidating, it can be a little scary, but it really shouldn’t be, you just have to go out and play.”
If Jacobson is going to help lead the Wheat Kings through a pivotal season not only for the team but for himself, he’s thrilled with the group of people he gets to do it with. He has high hopes in particular for the team’s forward depth, which includes returning 40-goal scorer Joby Baumuller, longtime friend and NHL draftee Brady Turko, and 17-year-olds Chase Surkan and Prabh Bhathal fresh off exceptional rookie years. On defense, the team added another of Jacobson’s longtime teammates in Brandon’s own Josh McGregor.
“We’re really strong and a lot of my close buddies are playing alongside of me so it’s nice,” said Jacobson. “I’ve been training with them all summer. I’m really excited. There are a lot of guys I’m comfortable with and we’ve got a lot of depth.”
Wheat Kings training camp begins this evening at 4:00 with team practices and will continue with scrimmages all through the weekend.
