This is exactly it. If Yakemenchuk can dominate the WHL, while not being in peak athletic shape, many scouts will see this as a development opportunity. Is he unathletic or has he hardly stepped in a gym? If the dude is walking around at a plus 10% body fat and dangling everybody, what would he look like if he a dedicated workout routine to address his weaknesses? I think it also means his hockey sense, particularly in the offensive zone, is highly underrated. Does it make sense that defensemen with such bad underlying physical test scores can dominates offensively without having good hockey sense? I bet you that is unheard of modern hockey.
When I watched Yakemchuk against Lindstrom (who is big, athletic, heavy and fast) this season, I thought he dominated him. He looked strong and powerful - way stronger than Lindstrom on his skates. If you can top that up with an off-ice fitness program - he will be something special.
I really don't even think his skating is bad. There are a lot of misrepresentations. Locked on Senators were trying to insinuate his high penalty totals were from being slow-footed. Mendes broke down his penalty minutes for the year. Of his 120 minutes, only 12 minutes were distributed among holding, hooking and tripping. These would be the kind of penalties a slow footed player with bad hockey sense would be making.
Dickinson is a maxed out athlete. There is limited growth opportunity. He is a good player, but he is surrounded with a top-end talent in a top-end organization. I have watched a lot his games. There are shift by shifts games available on youtube where is turning over pucks, and making bad decisions, while he is usually the best, biggest and most explosive athlete on the ice.
As for this Hockeyprospects praise in this thread, I have been buying their draft guide since 2018. They are no better at predicting players than anybody else. In 2020, they had Tristan Robins at 13. Have you heard of him? They also rated Raymond too low and Holtz too high, etc. In 2022, they rated Kemell, Savoie, Lekkerimaki and McGroarty all ahead of Cutter Gauthier, who was number 15 in their final ranking. It is an excellent guide, with detailed information, and quotes from scouts, but I learned quickly their predictions are all over the map - like every other publication.
Dickinson is still 17 and he is a maxed out athelete ... Wowza smokin hot take.
Also some nice cherry picking to fit your narrative.
17 NHL Scout opinions . Not HF Scouts .. NHL Scouts
1. Best Silayev/Levshunov Least Yakemchuk
2. No Best /Least
3. Best Levshunov, Least Yakemchuk
4. Best Parekh, Least Yakemchuk
5. No Best/Least
6. Best Levshunov, Least Yakemchuk
7. Best Levshunov, Least Yakemchuk in a bottom tier by himself
8. Best Parekh, Least Yakemchuk
9. Best Silayev, Least Dickinson
10. Best Parekh/Silayev Least Dickinson
11. No Best/Least
12. No Best/Least
13. Best Levshunov, Least Yakemchuk
14. No Best/Least
15. No Best/Least
16. Best Dickinson, Least Yakemchuk
17. Best Levshunov, Least Dickinson
11 Scouts offered Best /Least opinions
8/11 had Yakemchuk Least, (73%)
3/11 had Dickinson Least ( 27%)
0/11 had Yakemchuk Best (0%)
1/11 had Dickinson Best (9%)
3/11 had Silayev Best (27%)
3/11 had Parekh Best (27%)
6/11 has Levshunov Best (55%)
Look at the success 3,4,5 years out not at the actual draft, HockeyProspect's success rate is higher than most., There is a post in this thread on exactly that. I ran across another one recently they were high on as well. They are very well respected in that regard. The book on Last years draft has not really started yet for most of the prospects
As far as the Draft goes over the past 5 years . Bob wins.
If you look at the top 10 .. A few have over 8 .. HP has 8
Top 15 HP has 12 ; 2 have more
Top 20 HP has 16.6 1 has more (Bob)
Players ranked in the top 20 slipping to the 2nd round,
HP has 2 , Bob has 2 everyone else has more.. Pronman has 12.
Today was a big day in the hockey prospect world: TSN's insider extrao...
wingsnation.com
The Draft ranking success shown here and the success they have looking back 3.4,5 years put Hockey Prospect as one of the best. I don't always agree with them on individual players but they put way more into it than I do and they have conversations with other scouts and NHL scouts as well. So I am in no position to argue with them.