RD Carter Yakemchuk - Calgary Hitmen, WHL (2024, 7th, OTT)

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Might be the worst post I’ve read on this forum since “Khudobin is going to have a better career than Price.”

Your expectations are way too high, but it’s common that fans when their team has a high pick have unrealistic expectations.

If he was comparable to Erik Karlsson, he goes first. He goes ninth because he’s a flawed player and maybe he’ll be a top four defensemen. Maybe he won’t. Most likely he will be in his best seasons and won’t in his worst seasons. Hence, Tony DeAngelo.

 

[seafoam]

Bogosian/Gudbrandon/Schenn 4.0, Staios saw shades of himself and got fixated.

 

[Wondercarrot]

Because they passed on Parekh to take him.

It’s tough to sell “better Dion Phaneuf” when the other guy compares favourably to Erik Karlsson.

Especially to a fanbase that already had Erik Karlsson.

Don’t get me wrong - Dion Phaneuf before his hip fracture was a helluva player, and if Yakemchuk can avoid major leg injuries that rob him of his explosiveness, he should be a fine player.

Staios is getting a Christmas card from me this year, I can tell you that much.

But nobody in Ottawa wanted Parekh. He was literally the 5th or 6th defenceman in all our board polls etc.

Might be the worst post I’ve read on this forum since “Khudobin is going to have a better career than Price.”

You said “he compares favourably to Karlsson” which is in fact a worse post.
He plays nothing like Karlsson, and plays extremely similarly to Mike Green.

 

[TopC0rner]

He needs to mostly work on his decision making when he doesn’t have the puck. He tends to just leave his spot on the blue line and creep down into the corner and gets himself caught too deep. He also at times is not positional in his own zone.

Thankfully both of those can be taught .

I think part of it is the style of play of the team.

The new normal for defensemen is to push the offensive (for those who can), and forwards are supposed to replace them on D. To me if there is a good occasion to support the offense, it's a good call from the defenseman that has the skill to do it.

As to the defensive zone, his team played a man-to-man defense where players are supposed to pick a player and tag them around, no matter where they go. Could he do better in another system? I think he would because when he plays on the PK and they don't do man-to-man defense, he shows good instincts and reads.

 

[TopC0rner]

Bogosian/Gudbrandon/Schenn 4.0, Staios saw shades of himself and got fixated.

I saw all of them (Bogosian/Gudbranson/Schenn) play in junior and Yakemchuk plays like none of them. I don't think any of them would fit the description of an offensive-minded player with great shots and hands.

 

[Juxtaposer]

If you guys are taking puck skills (handling, shooting, etc..) out of the tools category than we're going to have a lot of confusing conversations about tools.

If you kept reading the thread, you’d find subsequent posts where I explicitly described Yakemchuk’s shot and hands as elite tools…

 

[seafoam]

I saw all of them (Bogosian/Gudbranson/Schenn) play in junior and Yakemchuk plays like none of them. I don't think any of them would fit the description of an offensive-minded player with great shots and hands.

The comp. is more attuned to a big RH shot that busted.

 

[TopC0rner]

The comp. is more attuned to a big RH shot that busted.

What you mean is that you could copy paste that in Levshunov's thread and it would also apply?

 

[seafoam]

What you mean is that you could copy paste that in Levshunov's thread and it would also apply?

Levshunov will at worst be a #4 to the tune of Connor Murphy, not so sure Yakemchuk can handle second pairing minutes. Maybe Ceci-esque at best?

 

[majormajor]

Levshunov will at worst be a #4 to the tune of Connor Murphy, not so sure Yakemchuk can handle second pairing minutes. Maybe Ceci-esque at best?

I'd say Levshunov will be Ceci and Yakemchuk .... that I'm not as sure about. But I see Burns/Buff type upside.

 

[BleedBlue14]

This seemed like an odd pick for OTT. Feel like he needed to go to a team that has a stockpile and history of forwards playing as strong 200ft game. Unless something drastically changes I’m not sure OTT has the players for that to be the case.

 

[Wallet Inspector]

This seemed like an odd pick for OTT. Feel like he needed to go to a team that has a stockpile and history of forwards playing as strong 200ft game. Unless something drastically changes I’m not sure OTT has the players for that to be the case.

Well the general hope is that the team will learn to play better collective defense under new coaching.

Also RHD was our biggest need going into the draft, so Yakemchuk wasn't that odd a pick in that regard.

 

[BleedBlue14]

Well the general hope is that the team will learn to play better collective defense under new coaching.

Also RHD was our biggest need going into the draft, so Yakemchuk wasn't that odd a pick in that regard.

The odd part wasn’t positionally. It’s that there’s such a dire need to learn to play 200 foot hockey by most of the young core, adding a guy who has serious questions in regards to their defensive game doesn’t seem like the best idea. Given their current situation I guess I understand you take the frame and hope you can mold him into what you need. But who do you put a guy like that with if he doesn’t learn to make the smart play instead of the highlight reel play? Do you want to hamper Sanderson with that? Can Chabot cover for the mistakes? I thought they’d take Helenius to be honest. Seemed like a great fit. I get shooting for the stars, but there’s a lot of scenarios where it turns into a bad situation.

He reminds me a lot of a Boqvist when he was drafted. High end skill, and looks ridiculously good a lot of the time. But you wonder if he can play in a system and keep the same ability.

Hope the best for him, I’m just personally skeptical. Should be taken with a grain of salt as I’m nowhere near an expert.

 

[majormajor]

This seemed like an odd pick for OTT. Feel like he needed to go to a team that has a stockpile and history of forwards playing as strong 200ft game. Unless something drastically changes I’m not sure OTT has the players for that to be the case.

By the time Yakemchuk is a full timer, my guess is we're 3-4 years in the future and Stutzle and Tkachuk should be much more mature at that point.

But who do you put a guy like that with if he doesn’t learn to make the smart play instead of the highlight reel play? Do you want to hamper Sanderson with that? Can Chabot cover for the mistakes?

I wouldn't be surprised if Chabot is gone by then. Yakemchuk will need a steady partner, maybe that's Kleven or maybe they'll sign someone. A defensive LD isn't the hardest player type to find.

 

[Skinnyjimmy08]

Its crazy to see some of the stuff people say about players. Ive seen Yakemchuk play alot live and i can very easily tell who has never seen him play judging by the comments on here.

Unsure where some people come up with this crap about his style of play and comparisons. Is it just hatred towards the Sens and people trying to think of anything at all to try to trash talk them or something??

Some threads can just be extremely entertaining

 

[TopC0rner]

Its crazy to see some of the stuff people say about players. Ive seen Yakemchuk play alot live and i can very easily tell who has never seen him play judging by the comments on here.

Unsure where some people come up with this crap about his style of play and comparisons. Is it just hatred towards the Sens and people trying to think of anything at all to try to trash talk them or something??

Some threads can just be extremely entertaining

I agree with you. I think most posters just go from what they read somewhere or heard from a podcast video. Yakemchuk isn't a liability when he's on the ice unlike what is implied by many posters here.

 

[Kairi Zaide]

Levshunov will at worst be a #4 to the tune of Connor Murphy, not so sure Yakemchuk can handle second pairing minutes. Maybe Ceci-esque at best?

I believe that in a couple of years, #freeyak will have a whole new meaning.

 

[Satan]

I believe that in a couple of years, #freeyak will have a whole new meaning.

Thank you Zsaide, very cool!

 

[SpezDispenser]

Bogosian/Gudbrandon/Schenn 4.0, Staios saw shades of himself and got fixated.

Not even remotely close to those players lol

 

[Juxtaposer]

Its crazy to see some of the stuff people say about players. Ive seen Yakemchuk play alot live and i can very easily tell who has never seen him play judging by the comments on here.

Unsure where some people come up with this crap about his style of play and comparisons. Is it just hatred towards the Sens and people trying to think of anything at all to try to trash talk them or something??

Some threads can just be extremely entertaining

You do know that people can watch the same player and draw different conclusions, right? It’s called scouting.

 

[seafoam]

Not even remotely close to those players lol

Not comparing styles, projecting out ceiling.

 

[Wondercarrot]

You do know that people can watch the same player and draw different conclusions, right? It’s called scouting.

You do know that most people here dont watch the players play actual games, watch a few clips, then listen to a few talking heads…et voilà it’s called “scouting”

 

[Juxtaposer]

You do know that most people here dont watch the players play actual games, watch a few clips, then listen to a few talking heads…et voilà it’s called “scouting”

Of course. But the most common response to disagreeing with someone about a prospect is “oh you must not watch them play” when I’ve seen passionate disagreements between two people I’m absolutely sure do watch games. Just because someone disagrees with you about a prospect doesn’t mean someone didn’t watch the player.

 

[majormajor]

You do know that most people here dont watch the players play actual games, watch a few clips, then listen to a few talking heads…et voilà it’s called “scouting”

Among the minority of us who watch full prospect games, you still have the same wide range of opinion. It's to be expected.

 

[Skinnyjimmy08]

You do know that people can watch the same player and draw different conclusions, right? It’s called scouting.

I realize that yes... thanks for the sarcasm too

For the most part, MANY of people on here watch a few youtube clips and also their hatred for rival teams affect their thoughts on players... its been going on for years in here.

All im saying is when outlandish comparisons happen on here, its extremely easy to tell who hasnt really seen players play.