2023-24 Senators Prospect Watch

Yak has seen a pretty significant drop since Mynio joined the fold.

Since the start of February:

Yak 19GP 2g 8a 10p

Mynio 19GP 5g 12a 17p

Calgary went all in this year, and are winning. Yak will get a huge chance in the playoffs to pick up his game
 
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Yak has seen a pretty significant drop since Mynio joined the fold.

Since the start of February:

Yak 19GP 2g 8a 10p

Mynio 19GP 5g 12a 15p

Calgary went all in this year, and are winning. Yak will get a huge chance in the playoffs to pick up his game
That's disappointing, especially as a 19 year old in the CHL. Really hoping preseason Yak is more indicative of the guy we have than these last couple months. We've had to watch too much garbage hockey to not come away with a really good player in the draft.
 
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That's disappointing, especially as a 19 year old in the CHL. Really hoping preseason Yak is more indicative of the guy we have than these last couple months. We've had to watch too much garbage hockey to not come away with a really good player in the draft.

Sens picked him cuz they think Yak had the highest upside at Pro level based on this tools. He is not a slam dunk pick to play in D+2 a la Sanderson, we are not seeing a finished product yet. Dickinson or Parekh, both performing better atm, were good picks but the case remains that none of them have reached maturation yet to start in the NHL next year (Dickinson has an outside chance). Definitely liked what I saw from Yak in training camp to say he will be a player for us (whether better or worse than the other two is irrelevant at this point).
 
It's still all about pts with some people, the Sens drafted Yakemchuk because he brought several aspects to the team that they don't have on defence right now or in the future. He brings some size, toughness & nastiness to the back end which they need & he brings some more offence to the backend that they need & has a solid slap shot from the point something else this team could use. It's not about one player changing everything & being some miracle worker, it's about him fitting into the defence which makes them as a whole better & moves them forward.

At the moment, I expect that Jensen at the end of his contract next season would be the guy replaced on the roster with Yakemchuk since he already has NHL size & they don't to wait for him to grow & mature. It's likely he spends next season in Belleville & he is monitored & molded into the defenceman they want. Pts will be an added bonus & we already know he has a knack for putting up pts, what we need is for him to help make everyone else on the defence better, make the team better as a whole & it's not about individual goals.
 
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Sens picked him cuz they think Yak had the highest upside at Pro level based on this tools. He is not a slam dunk pick to play in D+2 a la Sanderson, we are not seeing a finished product yet. Dickinson or Parekh, both performing better atm, were good picks but the case remains that none of them have reached maturation yet to start in the NHL next year (Dickinson has an outside chance). Definitely liked what I saw from Yak in training camp to say he will be a player for us (whether better or worse than the other two is irrelevant at this point).
HKN-SENATORS-YAKEMCHUK-scaled[1].jpg

In Don Boyd "we" trust . I don't include myself in that we. Very disappointing season for one of the oldest players in last year's draft.
Playoffs coming up let's see how he does there. Hell have to get to work in Belleville with Bellsy and Shelly Kettles
 
This is extremely premature, but if Yakemchuk continues to struggle playing defense and his offense doesn't end up translating to the pros, I think he could be turned into a damn good powerforward.

I made the point prior to the draft that a lot of his offense in 23/24 was produced by playing like a forward - jumping into the play constantly, driving down the wing, executing slick dekes on opposing defensemen and generally dominating with his size down low. Not shocking that his numbers have dropped when he's been reined in and isn't allowed to play as a rover, now that his team is no longer bad.

People have thrown around the Burns/Byfuglien comparison before in projecting his upside as a defenseman, but I think the difference is that those two ended up making more of a difference on defense because of their excellent skating ability for their size. Yakemchuk has similar size, hands, shooting ability and aggression, but his skating isn't on the same level. He may actually work better as a winger, as his best qualities are somewhat wasted playing on the point.
 
Yak has seen a pretty significant drop since Mynio joined the fold.

Since the start of February:

Yak 19GP 2g 8a 10p

Mynio 19GP 5g 12a 15p

Calgary went all in this year, and are winning. Yak will get a huge chance in the playoffs to pick up his game
Being as old and as big as he is. .5 ppg and meh defence is no good
 
Yak has seen a pretty significant drop since Mynio joined the fold.

Since the start of February:

Yak 19GP 2g 8a 10p

Mynio 19GP 5g 12a 15p

Calgary went all in this year, and are winning. Yak will get a huge chance in the playoffs to pick up his game
In fairness I think he is partially just snakebitten. He has like 60+ shots in that time, shooting at 3%.
 
In fairness I think he is partially just snakebitten. He has like 60+ shots in that time, shooting at 3%.
Absolutely, 2 goals in 19 isn't the norm for him. Neither is 13% of the teams offense (10p on 74g). I don't think he's an offensive dynamo, far from it, but also think he's better than he's shown the past 2 months

Over that span the Hitmen have scored 74 goals. Last season Yak was in on 29% of all the hitmen's goals with 71 points on 250 goals.

He has competition now with Mynio that he's never had before, who "looks" to be their #1 guy overall as he's their all situations guy on PP/PK and out to protect a lead as well as when down a goal. He's been getting the most icetime by a pretty healthy margin in the few games I watched the past few months

Mynio and Yak have both gotten time with PP1, Yak is the guy who gets the most, he's got the cannon.

Mynio is on PK1, as well as out there defending a lead with Hurtig, and when down a goal with Yak.


Prior to Myino

Yak 31gp 14g 20a 34p

Since Mynio came aboard on Jan 10th:

Yak 23gp 3g 12a 15p

Mynio 29gp 9g 16a 25p

It's an extremely stark contrast

I'm in no way saying Yak isn't going to transition well, but poo-pooing (which you haven't done I know) away that his season has not gone the way we have hoped isn't a good way to critique/evalute opinions
 
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This is extremely premature, but if Yakemchuk continues to struggle playing defense and his offense doesn't end up translating to the pros, I think he could be turned into a damn good powerforward.

I made the point prior to the draft that a lot of his offense in 23/24 was produced by playing like a forward - jumping into the play constantly, driving down the wing, executing slick dekes on opposing defensemen and generally dominating with his size down low. Not shocking that his numbers have dropped when he's been reined in and isn't allowed to play as a rover, now that his team is no longer bad.

People have thrown around the Burns/Byfuglien comparison before in projecting his upside as a defenseman, but I think the difference is that those two ended up making more of a difference on defense because of their excellent skating ability for their size. Yakemchuk has similar size, hands, shooting ability and aggression, but his skating isn't on the same level. He may actually work better as a winger, as his best qualities are somewhat wasted playing on the point.
That would be pretty wild, but I can see your point.

I am still waiting to see how he does in camp and overall in the pro game, be it AHL or whenever he gets an opportunity at the NHL level.

It does feel like we have been snakebitten so much over the last few years that Yak is being over scrutinized. We need our top picks to pan out, but there is basically nothing good said about this kid and we keep seeing other D stats pop up to run him down even more.

I guess people need to get it out of their system, but he is far from a bust at this point.
 
That would be pretty wild, but I can see your point.

I am still waiting to see how he does in camp and overall in the pro game, be it AHL or whenever he gets an opportunity at the NHL level.

It does feel like we have been snakebitten so much over the last few years that Yak is being over scrutinized. We need our top picks to pan out, but there is basically nothing good said about this kid and we keep seeing other D stats pop up to run him down even more.

I guess people need to get it out of their system, but he is far from a bust at this point.
Does this make sense & give Zetterlund the players he needs to succeed. :laugh:
Zetterlund - Halliday - Yakemchuk

I don't see it happening & unlike Hale I don't care whether Yak puts up a lot of pts, I prefer that he be a catalyst that rounds out the D as a collective unit. I prefer that they as a whole continue to play somewhat better defensively & that he provides some offence. I expect that Sanderson & Chabot should be the offensive drivers on D for a few yrs still with Yak hopefully being 3rd after Jensen is gone. I also expect that when healthy Zub should be able to add a little more offence than he has this yr given he has been hurt here & there. Kleven could also surprise us & start adding some more pts. We could upgrade on Matinpalo if we need more pts from the backend too. We have options.
 
On a completely unrelated note, are we just gonna keep pretending it’s 2023-2024 instead of stickying the other threads back?

I’m trying to ignore it but it’s annoying me :laugh:
 
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Good news for those wanting to check in on Yakemchuk's pivot's - all WHL playoff games will be streamed for free:

Gonna watch this but I actually don’t want to bother this board with my complaints

@BondraTime brought up a good point. Where does Yakemchuk even play?

If he plays with Sanderson that’s no longer a shut down pair. If he plays with chabot that’s….not good.

Did we draft a guy that high to partner kleven on the bottom pair? While this wouldn’t surprise me I doubt it was the vision.

Is there a plan to move Chabot out in the next 3 years for a stable partner FOR Yakemchuk?
 
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