2023-24 Senators Prospect Watch

[Bjornar Moxnes]

I am surprised that people aren’t feeling more confident in his overall hockey sense. I certainly agree that the margin of error is intensified because he can’t get back as fast. But in the course of a game, he makes a lot of smart, simple plays. His skating—I get it. But no one is going to say that some of the criticisms of his hockey sense were overblown?

And even though Mynio has been heralded as a solid defender and played quite well in the WJC, I find his duo with Parker gets trapped often in the defensive zone. The coach frequently pairs Parker/Mynio with the number one line and Yakemchuk and Hurtig with line 2 or 3. Yakemchuk/Hurtig as the shutdown pair has been a fairly interesting development. It was tried earlier in the season, briefly, and it didn't work because of the overkill of two heavy footed rangy guys, but it works now.

IMHO, his flaws in preseason weren't IQ related.

 

[Bjornar Moxnes]

Choosing size and toughness over speed and IQ in 2025 is beyond me…

I mean I'd rather have Parekh, but Dickinson absolutely does not have a better hockey IQ than Yakemchuk. He's good defensively due to speed and caring about it, rather than actually being a smart player in defending.

 

[BondraTime]

I mean I'd rather have Parekh, but Dickinson absolutely does not have a better hockey IQ than Yakemchuk. He's good defensively due to speed and caring about it, rather than actually being a smart player in defending.

I’d definitely take Dickinson’s over Yak’s

 

[Ouroboros]

OHL coaches poll stuff:

Matt Andonovski voted best defensive defenseman, second best penalty killer, and second best bodychecker in his conference.

Luke Ellinas got a shout out as third most underrated player.

Tomas Hamara third best shot blocker in his conference.

 

[Masked]

Choosing size and toughness over speed and IQ in 2025 is beyond me…

Still salty about taking Brady over Zadina?

 

[Sens in Process]

I’d definitely take Dickinson’s over Yak’s

There is no way, but this will be revisited in years to come. As @Bjornar Moxnes has said, Dickinson is like a dumb Jake Sanderson.

The Saginaw vs. Erie series is wild. I am watching the game tonight. Parekh is going to be interesting to see how he develops. Erie is going after him and he has taking some big hits already in the first period. He had a beautiful play on the goal, but he is constantly pinned in his own end.

​

 

[BondraTime]

There is no way, but this will be revisited in years to come. As @Bjornar Moxnes has said, Dickinson is like a dumb Jake Sanderson.

The Saginaw vs. Erie series is wild. I am watching the game tonight. Parekh is going to be interesting to see how he develops. Erie is going after him and he has taking some big hits already in the first period. He had a beautiful play on the goal, but he is constantly pinned in his own end.

​

I think he’s much smarter than a dumb Sanderson, and even if that was the case I’d still likely take that over Yak’s. I’m really, really down in Yak’s hockey sense, was last year, and this year never helped ease those worries.

Parekh I think is going to have a large adjustment period, he’s by far got the highest upside offensively, also has the highest pure bust chance. Hutson is showing what skill and agility can do, but guys like that aren’t a dime a dozen.

 

[Ouroboros]

There is no way, but this will be revisited in years to come. As @Bjornar Moxnes has said, Dickinson is like a dumb Jake Sanderson.

The Saginaw vs. Erie series is wild. I am watching the game tonight. Parekh is going to be interesting to see how he develops. Erie is going after him and he has taking some big hits already in the first period. He had a beautiful play on the goal, but he is constantly pinned in his own end.

​

Malcolm Spence has been terrorizing Parekh on the forecheck all series long. He is clearly rattled.

 

[BondraTime]

Malcolm Spence has been terrorizing Parekh on the forecheck all series long. He is clearly rattled.

Haven’t watched any of the Erie series in the playoffs, but someone is going to get a gamer in that mid 1st with Spence.

He’s one of those guys like Danielson who can jump into the top 10, teams love his profile.

At the same time, this series doesn’t seem to be helping Misa.

Watching the London game, Noah Read seems like he’d be a good late round pick. He can move and has some skill.

 

[Xspyrit]

Still salty about taking Brady over Zadina?

I never was… you mixing up with other posters

Tkachuk was one of the choices I’d be satisfied with

That said, Sens have made plenty of boneheaded decisions during all Dorion’s tenure, and in all departments. It was a circus

It’s annoying that the drafting has not been revamped yet.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

I mean I'd rather have Parekh, but Dickinson absolutely does not have a better hockey IQ than Yakemchuk. He's good defensively due to speed and caring about it, rather than actually being a smart player in defending.

Dickinson has superior athleticism..London is a wagon and Dickinson lead them in scoring. He has the skating to improve his D play going forward..
I'll take Dickinson's IQ over Yaks.
Parekh.. is the best offensively of the bunch from the draft last year . Highest IQ of the 3.

 

[Ouroboros]

Haven’t watched any of the Erie series in the playoffs, but someone is going to get a gamer in that mid 1st with Spence.

He’s one of those guys like Danielson who can jump into the top 10, teams love his profile.

At the same time, this series doesn’t seem to be helping Misa.

Watching the London game, Noah Read seems like he’d be a good late round pick. He can move and has some skill.

Spence is one of the guys I had on my radar if the Sens keep their 1st, but he could be playing himself out of our range. He seems like such a lock to be a middle-six winger who can play in all situations and in any style of game.

 

[Sens in Process]

Malcolm Spence has been terrorizing Parekh on the forecheck all series long. He is clearly rattled.

They are all over him. And much like last year, Parekh absorbs a ton of contact. He is talented if you can stomach the turnovers and the selfish play.

 

[aragorn]

Don't know if he will be there when the Sens pick but Malcom Spence LW would be a very good addition on a future Sens team, does a lot of things well.

 

[Gil Gunderson]

Spence is one of the guys I had on my radar if the Sens keep their 1st, but he could be playing himself out of our range. He seems like such a lock to be a middle-six winger who can play in all situations and in any style of game.

It doesn't make sense to keep our 1st this year. There is too much top talent next year to play around like that, and we're nowhere near a guarantee to make the playoffs next year.

 

[Xspyrit]

It doesn't make sense to keep our 1st this year. There is too much top talent next year to play around like that, and we're nowhere near a guarantee to make the playoffs next year.

No choice to give it away this year… and yes we could easily regress next season. All of Giroux, Perron and Jensen will be older, we have no cap space and no prospect pool

 

[Ice-Tray]

These are starting to hurt man.

Starting? You’ve been riding the Yak pick pretty hard for several pages now lol

 

[Micklebot]

No choice to give it away this year… and yes we could easily regress next season. All of Giroux, Perron and Jensen will be older, we have no cap space and no prospect pool

We have over 18 mil in cap space to re-sign or replace Giroux, Zetterlund, Kleven and fill some league min spots. There's lots of room to change things up should we desire.

Also, Perron played half a season, and was completely MIA for the first dozen games he did play, he might not play as well as he's finished off the season, but his overall impact over the complete season is unlikely to "regress", in fact, it's more likely we see a bit of a bounce back year from him despite his age.

 

[Burrowsaurus]

Starting? You’ve been riding the Yak pick pretty hard for several pages now lol

Starting to hurt more

 

[BondraTime]

Ellinas picked up 2 apples last night

 

[Sens in Process]

Dickinson has superior athleticism..London is a wagon and Dickinson lead them in scoring. He has the skating to improve his D play going forward..
I'll take Dickinson's IQ over Yaks.
Parekh.. is the best offensively of the bunch from the draft last year . Highest IQ of the 3.

I think IQ is a very comprehensive and holistic concept with many facets. Parekh has the best offensive IQ. The way he sets up defenders, pivots, and keeps his head on a swivel is unbelievable. But there are times when he looks lost, frazzled, or mentally disengaged, which is concerning. In the game last night, he was on the penalty kill (I have no idea why he was on the PK), and he decided to force a play in his zone to create an ill-advised breakout. That resulted in a brutal turnover and a goal against. He also lacks the situational awareness to consistently avoid contact. I brought this up last year pre-draft—he’s easy to line up and forcefully hit. Karlsson had an extra "spidey sense" to avoid contact; Parekh has no such superpower. He also plays very selfishly at times, getting involved in these personal vendettas that don’t work in his favor and often has moments of going it alone. I recall him going against three defenders last night - but he is crafty enough to pull something out of nothing.

He made more turnovers in last night’s game than Yakemchuk did in the entire first-round series, especially the catastrophic variety. So, in some areas, I think he has elite hockey sense; in others, he’s still a work in progress. I think a lot of GMs and hockey people would hesitate to determine whether his good sense or bad sense will reign at the NHL level. I think he’s going to be very interesting to monitor in his development, and it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if he ends up being a super star or a bust.

With Dickinson, I think once you disentangle him from the most talented team in the OHL (potentially all of the CHL), and when his freakish athleticism doesn’t give him such an advantage over his competition, we’ll get a better read on how good his hockey sense actually is. It didn’t look so hot at the WJC and he had the advantage of being paired with Bonk. Also, it makes a little easier to produce when you have guys on the fourth line capable of getting hattricks in playoff games. But that said, Dickinson has had a tremendous year and if I was touting him as my pick, I would be feeling very good right now, so cheers.

I find it strange Yakemchuk hasn't moved the needle a bit with the perception of his hockey sense. Staios has raved about his hockey sense and Green was praising how fast he absorbed information in the pre-season. Yakemchuk totally restructures his style of play in Calgary for a new coach. .Scouching, in one of his mid-season videos, noted the improvements in his decision making, and he was no fan of the player. He essentially only pinches or takes risks at the most strategic of times - he plays within his current limits and focuses on a style of play that wins games 2 to 1 - that is a part of hockey hockey sense - being amendable to a system. And yet, he gets no love.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

I think IQ is a very comprehensive and holistic concept with many facets. Parekh has the best offensive IQ. The way he sets up defenders, pivots, and keeps his head on a swivel is unbelievable. But there are times when he looks lost, frazzled, or mentally disengaged, which is concerning. In the game last night, he was on the penalty kill (I have no idea why he was on the PK), and he decided to force a play in his zone to create an ill-advised breakout. That resulted in a brutal turnover and a goal against. He also lacks the situational awareness to consistently avoid contact. I brought this up last year pre-draft—he’s easy to line up and forcefully hit. Karlsson had an extra "spidey sense" to avoid contact; Parekh has no such superpower. He also plays very selfishly at times, getting involved in these personal vendettas that don’t work in his favor and often has moments of going it alone. I recall him going against three defenders last night - but he is crafty enough to pull something out of nothing.

He made more turnovers in last night’s game than Yakemchuk did in the entire first-round series, especially the catastrophic variety. So, in some areas, I think he has elite hockey sense; in others, he’s still a work in progress. I think a lot of GMs and hockey people would hesitate to determine whether his good sense or bad sense will reign at the NHL level. I think he’s going to be very interesting to monitor in his development, and it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if he ends up being a super star or a bust.

With Dickinson, I think once you disentangle him from the most talented team in the OHL (potentially all of the CHL), and when his freakish athleticism doesn’t give him such an advantage over his competition, we’ll get a better read on how good his hockey sense actually is. It didn’t look so hot at the WJC and he had the advantage of being paired with Bonk. Also, it makes a little easier to produce when you have guys on the fourth line capable of getting hattricks in playoff games. But that said, Dickinson has had a tremendous year and if I was touting him as my pick, I would be feeling very good right now, so cheers.

I find it strange Yakemchuk hasn't moved the needle a bit with the perception of his hockey sense. Staios has raved about his hockey sense and Green was praising how fast he absorbed information in the pre-season. Yakemchuk totally restructures his style of play in Calgary for a new coach. .Scouching, in one of his mid-season videos, noted the improvements in his decision making, and he was no fan of the player. He essentially only pinches or takes risks at the most strategic of times - he plays within his current limits and focuses on a style of play that wins games 2 to 1 - that is a part of hockey hockey sense - being amendable to a system. And yet, he gets no love.

Yakemchuk is amazing.. did I forget to mention that. Everybody else has reasons to be below him obviously. Thanks for the unbiased insight!

Parekh and Dickinson are in their 18 yo seasons where Yakemchuk is in his 19 y/o season. He has had another year of development.
Do you expect us to use a 4 game sample size where Calgary dominated a weaker opponent vs Saginaw who was dominated by a stronger opponent to draw conclusions on +/- of an individual player?
How about the entire regular season where
Calgary a team with a .706 pts% who held a + 83 goal differential vs
Saginaw a team with a .581 pts% who had a +50 goal differential
Yakemchuk was +6 and Parekh was +42 over a much better sample size and where Yak should have had an advantage on a better team comparatively.

Dickinson... You want us to believe his athleticism shown for two years is not going to be a plus. He skates a lot better vs the other two .. that won't continue to be a plus. And that its only a plus because he played on a juggernaut of a team. That argument doesn't seem to hold in the +/- over the season comparison above.
He led the juggernaut team in pts . pts/gp and +/- but we can't give him credit... we are to believe that its smoke and mirrors because of him playing on a good team and Yakemchuk is still better.

righto mate

NB; I don't think any of them are perfect. I think they will all play and they all need to continue to develop to hone their strengths and better their deficiencies. I did not have any of them as my 1st or even 2nd choice at the draft but I like to follow progression of players that came to my forefront.
I have found that the strengths you see in a player generally tend to be their strengths as they advance and players can improve in areas where they are weaker but those areas are never confused with their strengths later on.

 

[Xspyrit]

Why do the PuckGM Most Traded Today Top-5 include 3 ex-Sens?

#1 - Bowen Byram
#2 - Erik Karlsson
#3 - Joonas Korpisalo
#4 - Vladimir Tarasenko
#5 - Ryan Graves

We have over 18 mil in cap space to re-sign or replace Giroux, Zetterlund, Kleven and fill some league min spots. There's lots of room to change things up should we desire.

Also, Perron played half a season, and was completely MIA for the first dozen games he did play, he might not play as well as he's finished off the season, but his overall impact over the complete season is unlikely to "regress", in fact, it's more likely we see a bit of a bounce back year from him despite his age.

Yeah I see $18,444,286 but only 13 players under contract, need 9 guys to have 13 forwards and 7 D-men

Zetterlund an Giroux (if signed) could easily take up 8 M$ (and maybe more) so you have 10 M$ left for 7 guys... Kleven and Matinpalo will most likely be prioritized, another 3 M$ if we're being conservative so 7 M$ for the remaining 5 spots, which is an average of 1.4 M$ per spot. So my point was that it's going to be very hard to improve the team, unless they don't sign Giroux and instead throw the money at someone younger/better?

 

[BondraTime]

I can see why someone would have Yak as the best of the bunch, I don’t think it’s a wild, wild claim. I definitely disagree with it pretty adamantly, but can understand the reasoning for liking him and/or not liking the others, even if I disagree wholeheartedly. I’m not a big Parekh guy, but understand his allure.

 

[Ice-Tray]

Yakemchuk is amazing.. did I forget to mention that. Everybody else has reasons to be below him obviously. Thanks for the unbiased insight!

Parekh and Dickinson are in their 18 yo seasons where Yakemchuk is in his 19 y/o season. He has had another year of development.
Do you expect us to use a 4 game sample size where Calgary dominated a weaker opponent vs Saginaw who was dominated by a stronger opponent to draw conclusions on +/- of an individual player?
How about the entire regular season where
Calgary a team with a .706 pts% who held a + 83 goal differential vs
Saginaw a team with a .581 pts% who had a +50 goal differential
Yakemchuk was +6 and Parekh was +42 over a much better sample size and where Yak should have had an advantage on a better team comparatively.

Dickinson... You want us to believe his athleticism shown for two years is not going to be a plus. He skates a lot better vs the other two .. that won't continue to be a plus. And that its only a plus because he played on a juggernaut of a team. That argument doesn't seem to hold in the +/- over the season comparison above.
He led the juggernaut team in pts . pts/gp and +/- but we can't give him credit... we are to believe that its smoke and mirrors because of him playing on a good team and Yakemchuk is still better.

righto mate

NB; I don't think any of them are perfect. I think they will all play and they all need to continue to develop to hone their strengths and better their deficiencies. I did not have any of them as my 1st or even 2nd choice at the draft but I like to follow progression of players that came to my forefront.
I have found that the strengths you see in a player generally tend to be their strengths as they advance and players can improve in areas where they are weaker but those areas are never confused with their strengths later on.

Not sure why you had to be a dick. His response was measured and supported without taking shots at you.

Be better.