Speculation: Do you dress Yakemchuk for Game 4?

[JungleBeat]

He definitely didn’t have a very good season in the WHL, especially taking into account expectations. That’s pretty much universally agreed upon, even his biggest backers at the draft like Pronman saying the same. Doesn’t mean he’s not a very good prospect, it’s just how the season went.

He is definitely a higher profile guy with the draft slot he had, and he has a ton of potential if he can put it all together.

Stone
Top player for Canada at world Jr’s
2nd in league scoring
2nd in league MVP
4th straight year with a jump in production

Yak
Not invited to WJ camp
Saw a drop in production
Saw a massive drop in the 2nd half of the season
Just as many questionable decisions as last year, still trying to deke through 3 guys

Their seasons were extremely, extremely different.

Not being invited to the WJ should be taken with a grain of salt. Hockey Canada is run by bozos.

 

[bicboi64]

If Yal doesn't score a goal when he's inevitably called up, he'll be a bust

 

[swiftwin]

Lmafo. Is this for real?

 

[flyingfingers]

Lmafo. Is this for real?

Why not? Zeev Buium is playing on Minnesota's third pairing against Vegas, straight out of college.

 

[Senator Stanley]

Why not? Zeev Buium is playing on Minnesota's third pairing against Vegas, straight out of college.

On April 25th, 2025, Zeev Buium is a better hockey player than Carter Yakemchuk.

 

[BondraTime]

On April 25th, 2025, Zeev Buium is a better hockey player than Carter Yakemchuk.

By a significant margin

 

[starling]

Yak is not on the same planet as Buium, Sanderson or Chabot at the end of their junior careers.

 

[flyingfingers]

On April 25th, 2025, Zeev Buium is a better hockey player than Carter Yakemchuk.

Debateable. There are certain things he does better for sure (i.e. he's a much better skater), but he's smaller and has trouble defending, especially down low, where a lot of playoff hockey is played. He's had his fair share of struggles in his 3 games, but has also had some nice moments.

Yakemchuk has 4 inches and 30lbs on him, and with his puck skills, he could be useful in a limited role against the Leafs bottom 6. There's more risk playing Buium in matchups where all the other team is trying to do is forecheck and grind you down, and they're not putting him out against Eichel and Stone.

If I need a guy to put into a top 4 tomorrow, I take Buium. If I need a guy to play on a bottom pairing, I take Yakemchuk.

I'm not suggesting that Yakemchuk could come in and dominate. But could he come in, play 12 minutes a night, and make a few good breakout passes or maybe get a couple good shots through the Leafs and on net, while being a big body?

Probably.

Matinpalo isn't hurting us, but he's also incapable of doing anything to help us considering what we need in this series. He can't break the puck out and he can't get shots on net. And he also needs to be sheltered.

You know what else is killing us? God damn icings because we can no longer win faceoffs. Matinpalo and Kleven are icing machines.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

In that case we just have a differing opinion, then. Personally his point production is of no concern to me, nor was his snub from the WJC team, considering how that team was managed and coached from top to bottom.

I do think the likelihood of Green putting him in tomorrow is slim, in reality, but I’d be willing to bet that he’s a full-time member of the NHL team by game 20 next season!

Great, Fun projection from a fan, let's start a thread on that. This one is about the playoffs this year.

 

[flyingfingers]

Great, Fun projection from a fan, let's start a thread on that. This one is about the playoffs this year.

Well personally I’d put him in.

The downside is the same as having Matinpalo out there. He’ll have to be sheltered, play 12-13 minutes and if he gets caught out against Matthew/Marner for too long we may get burned.

But the upside is he may make an offensive play that helps us score a goal, which Matinpalo most likely will not be able to do.

Matinpalo and Kleven out there together provide zero transition ability, so the Leafs can just sit back and easily break up plays coming out of our end. Too often they just ice the puck and we end up with another faceoff in our end, which we can’t seem to win.

Jensen also seems to be playing at 50% health, so we have 4 D out there who struggle to create any offense. They can’t even get pucks through to the net.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

Well personally I’d put him in.

The downside is the same as having Matinpalo out there. He’ll have to be sheltered, play 12-13 minutes and if he gets caught out against Matthew/Marner for too long we may get burned.

But the upside is he may make an offensive play that helps us score a goal, which Matinpalo most likely will not be able to do.

Matinpalo and Kleven out there together provide zero transition ability, so the Leafs can just sit back and easily break up plays coming out of our end. Too often they just ice the puck and we end up with another faceoff in our end, which we can’t seem to win.

Jensen also seems to be playing at 50% health, so we have 4 D out there who struggle to create any offense.

lol not going to talk me into it Yak fan... The upside does not match the downside if we are trying to win 1 game to save our lives.

 

[flyingfingers]

lol not going to talk me into it Yak fan... The upside to does not match the downside if we are trying to win 1 game to save our lives.

What is Matinpalo doing to help us win tomorrow?

He has to be sheltered because he’s not good defensively and is an even bigger negative offensively.

 

[Cosmix]

Put in Forsberg.

Why? He is not part of the future. He is not consistent, nor better than Ullmark. He is gone as a UFA soon.

 

[Cosmix]

What is Matinpalo doing to help us win tomorrow?

He has to be sheltered because he’s not good defensively and is an even bigger negative offensively.

Yak is not ready to play in the NHL at this time and certainly not ready for a playoff game.

Even Sanderson, who was a better prospect, was not ready for a playoff game when he came up.

 

[frightenedinmatenum2]

Why? He is not part of the future. He is not consistent, nor better than Ullmark. He is gone as a UFA soon.

If Green for some reason feels Merilainen should go in, I am not going to pretend that I know more because Green is in the room with a better feel of who can handle that sort of pressure. But looking at it objectively based on info we have putting in Merilainen is insane. It's this fun sexy idea of throwing in the rookie. The reality is, he's barely played in the NHL. He has 12 games in the NHL, while Forsberg has a wealth of experience and has played very well this season after getting over a terrible first two months that probably should have seen him trade or on waivers if Sogaard didn't drop the ball even worse.

Forsberg doesn't get his due because people have their favourites in online Sens fandom, and once a guy gets into the Cody Ceci territory where it's a meme to say they suck, they are there for life. The reality is that he has been extremely good the last few months. Do I think he has been good enough to merit taking the job from Ullmark? No. But he has been good enough that if they decide they cannot go with Ullmark, he should probably be considered.

I also suspect that Merilainen is not ahead of him on the depth chart based on Forsberg being the one dressed on the bench in games where the backup going in could be of extreme importance. They know Ullmark was playing badly, and they didn't switch and put Merilainen on the bench just in case. That tells me Forsberg is probably next up.

My assumption is that we are trying to win. So my argument comes from the perspective of Forsberg giving us a better chance to win (with the info we have on both of them) than Merilainen. If the argument is that we're not playing to win but prioritizing development and we should dress Merilainen to give him the experience, that's a different discussion. I think that is nuts though.

 

[Tuna99]

I would just because our #1 problem is getting shots through and he'd provide more offense then Matinaplo. Put him on the PP and see if he can be magic - these things happen, he only needs to provide a necessary spark not save the team.

 

[darude]

I think you put him in if you think all the following are true:

- You believe he can offer better offense from the point than the other options on the third pairing.
- The matchup he will be getting is so favourable you're willing to risk getting burned by him being inexperienced.
- You're confident he won't get hemmed in and stuck out there icing the puck with whoever his D partner is.
- He can bring a sufficiently physical element of his game.
- You believe he won't be a complete negative on defense.

IMO, you only bring him in for an injury if you think he's ready (I'm personally not convinced but I'm not the coach). Otherwise, you let these guys ride out whatever they can in this series. Let the guys who were here show some battle, and don't try to stick these expectations on a prospect you're rushing.