NHL Entry Draft 2024 NHL Draft Talk

[Burrowsaurus]

Iginla is dynamic. We have enough excitement. We need someone who gonna be solid defensively and be an example on the ice

 

[HoweHullOrr]

Most analysts are saying that Ottawa is too easy to play against & need a forward with a lot more snarl in their game. They are saying that too many of Ottawa's forwards don't finish their checks & do fly bys way too often & don't make life miserable on the opponents defence. Batherson, Joseph, Norris, Pinto, Kubalik, Giroux & Stutzle don't finish their checks often enough & their defence is too soft because they have too much of the same thing & there isn't enough snarl on the backend either. They don't have a hard hitting defenceman who hits to hurt.

Most analysts or the ones you have tuned (filtered) your attention to?

The ones I’ve heard talked more about our weak defense (especially RD), poor team D and goaltending.

I’m not saying that the improvements you noted are a bad idea. It's just that they are further down the list of priorities.

 

[Sens in Process]

Pronman released his draft rankings of the top 129 prospects.

He gets it right with Yakemchuk in the top 5

It is a polarizing list, but I respect Pronman. He is always willing to learn and evolve, while also balancing his opinions with input from NHL affiliated scouts.

Pronman's List

 

[BondraTime]

Pronman released his draft rankings of the top 129 prospects.

He gets it right with Yakemchuk in the top 5

It is a polarizing list, but I respect Pronman. He is always willing to learn and evolve, while also balancing his opinions with input from NHL affiliated scouts.

Pronman's List

He's had him there all year, that was always going to happen, more power to him. He's the highest on him of anyone, by a gigantic margin, which is perfectly fine.

He's had him 3 form most of the year

Has also mentioned he isn't expecting him to be taken that high, but he's had his cart lined up behind him since September

 

[PlayOn]

Does Yakemchuk actually play anything like Pietrangelo? I’m confused about him using that comp because they don’t seem similar from the little I’ve seen.

 

[BondraTime]

Does Yakemchuk actually play anything like Pietrangelo? I’m confused about him using that comp because they don’t seem similar from the little I’ve seen.

Nothing like him

 

[armani]

Does Yakemchuk actually play anything like Pietrangelo? I’m confused about him using that comp because they don’t seem similar from the little I’ve seen.

Yakemchuk reminds me of Jared Cowen, has the tools but lacking a toolbox. The brain needs to catch up with his body. I wouldn’t touch him with #7. But Yak is polarizing in that he can be an early riser or gets picked later in the first.

 

[Cosmix]

I don’t get why people were upset with that Mann quote. He was just saying they had information that Boucher would be taken if they moved down, and it was reported that year that he was NYR’s guy at 15.

The full quote:

I wish he was NYR’s guy at 15!

 

[Sens in Process]

Yakemchuk reminds me of Jared Cowen, has the tools but lacking a toolbox. The brain needs to catch up with his body. I wouldn’t touch him with #7. But Yak is polarizing in that he can be an early riser or gets picked later in the first.

Yikes! Cowen produced 48 points in 58 games as a 19 year old on an elite Spokane team. Not comparable. The Yakemchuk slander is unreasonable and unserious on this board. You may not like him, but don't down play him.

​

 

[Agent Zuuuub]

I think Burns is the best comparison for Yak. problem is that Burns had a much better physical and skating package and it remains to be seen if Yak even has offensive IQ of Burns (unlikely).

So a poor mans Burn's?

I want to believe in the potential though, he has interesting package and if a good defensive coach can work with him he could be a needle mover for us.

He has skill, size, and plays nasty.

 

[Alf Silfversson]

I think Burns is the best comparison for Yak. problem is that Burns had a much better physical and skating package and it remains to be seen if Yak even has offensive IQ of Burns (unlikely).

So a poor mans Burn's?

I want to believe in the potential though, he has interesting package and if a good defensive coach can work with him he could be a needle mover for us.

He has skill, size, and plays nasty.

I like the poor man's Burns comparison.

I've watched him live 3 times this year in Calgary and his game is weird. For those out there that think he got all those points DESPITE being on a bad Calgary team, I find that misleading. He was the only option on many nights and got loads of ice time along with the lion's share of offensive opportunity. He carried the load a lot so credit to him but I personally think his totals (especially goals) might be slightly inflated by virtue of Calgary having no one else to go lean on offensively. The kid was asked to do a lot and did well though.

The thing that I've noticed (and slightly concerns me) is that often his offense develops slowly. Things seem to take a long time to develop for him in the offensive zone (when I've watched). My worry is that those types of plays will get stamped out by NHL defenders. We all love players that can "slow things down" in the offensive zone (eg. Spezza, Alfie, etc.) but I'm not completely convinced that Yak is that kind of player. The slow plays I'm thinking of seem less planned and more improvised. I find his game lacks crispness at times.

I think he'll end up a good player eventually but it will likely take a several years of figuring out what he can do against NHL competition. It'll be interesting to watch his progression.

 

[aragorn]

Most analysts or the ones you have tuned (filtered) your attention to?

The ones I’ve heard talked more about our weak defense (especially RD), poor team D and goaltending.

I’m not saying that the improvements you noted are a bad idea. It's just that they are further down the list of priorities.

That's part of it, a weak defence becomes easy to play against, it's all part of the same problem.

Does Yakemchuk actually play anything like Pietrangelo? I’m confused about him using that comp because they don’t seem similar from the little I’ve seen.

Craig Button compared him to Evan Bouchard RD in Edm.

 

[Golden_Jet]

He's had him there all year, that was always going to happen, more power to him. He's the highest on him of anyone, by a gigantic margin, which is perfectly fine.

He's had him 3 form most of the year

Has also mentioned he isn't expecting him to be taken that high, but he's had his cart lined up behind him since September

Wouldn’t say gigantic margin, as Bob McKenzie had 2 out of the 10 scouts had Yakemchuk top 5 in his article.

 

[Micklebot]

Real nhl scouts told McKenzie him and Silayev are in their top 4 at least lol. They ain’t making it to us

They only have 10 scouts were piled, so there's some room for error, but...

2 scouts had Levshunov outside their top 5, and 3 had Silayev outside the top 5.

The top 5 seems relatively agreed upon with Celebrini, Demidov, Silayev, Levshunov and Lindstrom getting the bulk of votes, but another 6 guys got votes in the top 5, for 8 votes in to total.

If two of Helenius, Parekh, Sennecke, Buium, Dickenson and Yakemchuk go inside the top 5, it pushes on of Silayev, Lindstrom, or Levshunov to us (technically Demidov is possible too as one scout did have him outside their top 5).

There's an implied 20% chance Levshunov is available at 6, 30% for Silayev, so roughly 6% chance both are there...

Long odds, but not impossible...

 

[BigRig4]

Yakemchuk stylistically reminds me of Burns

 

[Hale The Villain]

Burns isn't the best comparison because he was a much better skater than Yakemchuk, which makes a world of difference at the NHL level.

Stylistically Yakemchuk plays like Bouchard, but Bouchard is a much smarter player and a better playmaker.

Don't think Yakemchuk's offense will translate as well to the NHL level but he is tougher and more physical.

 

[Joeyjoejoe]

Yakemchuk is the next Zach Bogosian.

 

[HoweHullOrr]

That's part of it, a weak defence becomes easy to play against, it's all part of the same problem.

Craig Button compared him to Evan Bouchard RD in Edm.

The cures/objectives that were outlined in my post were more specific and of higher priority versus acquiring tougher forwards which I believe are maybe about the 5th priority for the Senators off season.

The priorities imho in the order of priority are:

1. RD 2. Goaltending 3. Sign Pinto 4. Middle six forward that is also hopefully a good PKer 5. Maybe tougher forwards.

 

[BondraTime]

If we choose Yak, I'd be expectingt a Damon Severson type guy in the NHL, with better offense and worse D and skating.

Pretty good 2nd pair option

 

[Tuna99]

Yakemchuk stylistically reminds me of Burns

Brent Seabrooke?

Yakemchuk reminds me of Jared Cowen, has the tools but lacking a toolbox. The brain needs to catch up with his body. I wouldn’t touch him with #7. But Yak is polarizing in that he can be an early riser or gets picked later in the first.

I know this is stupid but when Jared Cohen showed up with a manbun looking like he was at Burning man all summer I thought “uh oh”

 

[CornerStone61]

If we're going by Pronman's list, I would be elated if Demidov fell to us. There's no way in my mind that he goes any lower than 3

 

[Max Milk]

Pronman released his draft rankings of the top 129 prospects.

He gets it right with Yakemchuk in the top 5

It is a polarizing list, but I respect Pronman. He is always willing to learn and evolve, while also balancing his opinions with input from NHL affiliated scouts.

Pronman's List

Wait, we might get Demidov?

If we're going by Pronman's list, I would be elated if Demidov fell to us. There's no way in my mind that he goes any lower than 3

Sounds about right.

 

[BondraTime]

Brent Seabrooke?

Seabrook was one of the best/best defensive D in the league, Yakemchuk is/should never going to be relied on defrensively, without some extrodinary development

 

[Golden_Jet]

Seabrook was one of the best/best defensive D in the league, Yakemchuk is/should never going to be relied on defrensively, without some extrodinary development

Seabrookks last contract, hawks wanted to buy him out, but signing bonuses, made it not worthwhile.

 

[Tuna99]

If we're going by Pronman's list, I would be elated if Demidov fell to us. There's no way in my mind that he goes any lower than 3

If teams want size I could see him falling to 4 but if he’s there Columbus takes him with their draft history of Russians and the new GM likes russias amd they need someone to play with Fantili on the PP. Chicago is intriguing because they have a ton of small forward prospects and Demidov is more of the same for them with Bedard there - I think they’ll draft Lidstrom to play 2nd line behind Bedard - and Big Centers always rise

1. Celebrini
2. Lindstrom
3. Levshunov
4. Demidov
5. Iginla
6, Dickinson
7. Catton