I don't disagree with you about most of what you have said about Yakemchuk, but I don't think his passing ability is a major strength. He's got a good breakout pass but his vision in the offensive zone isn't high-end, which is why he's never put up significant assist totals. When he the puck comes to him his focus is trying to get the puck on net and he often misses the subtle passing play that would extend possession and put a teammate in a better scoring position. In short, he's definitely more of a goal scorer from the blueline, while Parekh actually has a lot more variety to his skillset IMO.
Parekh has a very strong and extremely accurate wrist shot, but his vision and playmaking ability in the offensive zone is also elite. He's Karlsson-esque in the offensive zone, whereas Yakemchuk is more like Burns/Byfuglien, or at least he's somewhat similar but lacking the high-end skating those guys had, which helped them develop into elite level goal scorers.
You don't draft players solely based on how well they do in juniors, but it's extremely obvious that production matters. Yakemchuk has similar quality hands and a harder shot than Parekh, so why is he producing so much less despite being a season ahead in development? Some excuses are valid for the gap in production, but most of the difference is hockey IQ. Parekh is an extremely smart hockey player with the puck on his stick, Yakemchuk isn't dumb but he just isn't in the same tier as a thinker.
You just can't handwave away the massive difference between a 1.65 PPG at 18 and a 0.98 PPG at 19 by saying junior production doesn't matter. It absolutely matters, as it's directly tied into the assumptions that should be made about a player's potential at higher levels, and it's very rare for non-elite junior producers to end up elite NHL producers.
