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

[Chainshot]

I'm watching the Sabres-Sens game and Yakemchuk is walking the Sabres just like he walks junior kids. Two assists now. It's mostly an AHL squad for the Sabres but still that is remarkable for a freshly drafted kid, or any prospect really. A lot of folks are going to have to eat crow on Yakemchuk.

There is no one the Sabres dressed who will be on their opening night roster. Four of the guys don't even have NHL deals. Yak still looked very good against pros. Just not NHL pros tonight.

 

[Ace]

His second assist was a pass Boucher couldn’t handle that redirected off his skate to an open man. It was funny, He was the second best Senator in the game though after Ullmark. Team was outshot something like 41-16 by a combined less than 100 NHL game’s played roster…but it’s better than being the worst player in it

 

[Boud]

He'll be a great defensemen for a long time in this league. This is a great pick by Ottawa. The guy channels his nerves in a very impressive way. He looks calm and confident all the time, with and without the puck.

Even if he doesn't end up being the best Dman in the draft, he will be incredibly valuable as a physical, poised, skilled, and big right shot D.

Literally impossible to get this type of player nowadays, unless you draft them.

 

[57special]

He was the guy I was hoping MN would get. Big, strong RHD with a bit of nasty, and has good or better offensive tools. Those guys are VERY hard to find. Not complaining about getting Buium, as I really like him, too, but Yak was a good pick for OTT.

Main thing is not to rush him. If he can work on his defense away from the pressure and grind of the NHL it will only help him.

I can see him pairing up with either Sanderson, or even Kleven in the future. Can make an argument for both.

 

[SensFactor]

I gotta admit, i was highly skeptical of this guy when we drafted him. Hes been outstanding so far for Ottawa. Another 2 assists tonight. He plays like hes 30 not 18 years old

 

[Korpse]

Main thing is not to rush him. If he can work on his defense away from the pressure and grind of the NHL it will only help him.

I agree about not rushing him but wanted to point out that his defensive play has been mostly good to this point . He’s been good at closing space and breaking up plays. The biggest surprise for me has been his anticipation. He’s jumping on plays and getting the puck going the other way. If he maintains this level, you almost have to give him a look.

 

[The Last Red]

I gotta admit, i was highly skeptical of this guy when we drafted him. Hes been outstanding so far for Ottawa. Another 2 assists tonight. He plays like hes 30 not 18 years old

It’s the preseason. Relax.

 

[Bounces R Way]

Shelley Kettles has been working with Sens prospects for a while now. Batherson, Tkachuk, Stone are some of her students. Tkachuk credits her with vastly improving his balance. I think she will be a great fit with Yakemchuk, who by all accounts is a coachable and motivated young man

Don't envy her at all
Those two choppy slugs and now Carter 'Gangletron' Yakemchuk

I do think a lot of hockey people get too hung up on skating sometimes. Or maybe it's just that they don't know how to assess the whole picture. Obviously a huge part of hockey, but there's many other parts too. Incredible skaters like McDavid, Crosby, MacKinnon, and Makar are the prototypes right now but they aren't the only great players in the league.

The Tkachuks and Stone are first line wingers and could be beaten badly in a lap around the ice by quite a lot of the NHL, and not an insignificant portion of the AHL either. Matthew Tkachuk is a truly horrendous technical skater. Seriously he skates like an epileptic teenager with scoliosis. He's tallied just over 300pts the last 3 seasons and hoisted Lord Stanley in the summer. Mark Giordano was another, closer to a industrial rototiller than he was to Scott Niedermayer. Won the Norris at age 35. Adam Fox does not have a fluid stride at all but manages to be one of the most effective defenseman I've ever watched. Rantanen and Draisaitl were both top 10 in scoring last year despite being clumsy mechanically with a mediocre top speed. Jagr is 2nd all time in points and hasn't beat anyone to the outside since 1996.


Don't mean to rant but I think often speed is confused with pace. They're two different things to me. Pushing the puck forward doesn't always require fast dynamic skating.

 

[Hossa]

Don't envy her at all
Those two choppy slugs and now Carter 'Gangletron' Yakemchuk

I do think a lot of hockey people get too hung up on skating sometimes. Or maybe it's just that they don't know how to assess the whole picture. Obviously a huge part of hockey, but there's many other parts too. Incredible skaters like McDavid, Crosby, MacKinnon, and Makar are the prototypes right now but they aren't the only great players in the league.

The Tkachuks and Stone are first line wingers and could be beaten badly in a lap around the ice by quite a lot of the NHL, and not an insignificant portion of the AHL either. Matthew Tkachuk is a truly horrendous technical skater. Seriously he skates like an epileptic teenager with scoliosis. He's tallied just over 300pts the last 3 seasons and hoisted Lord Stanley in the summer. Mark Giordano was another, closer to a industrial rototiller than he was to Scott Niedermayer. Won the Norris at age 35. Adam Fox does not have a fluid stride at all but manages to be one of the most effective defenseman I've ever watched. Rantanen and Draisaitl were both top 10 in scoring last year despite being clumsy mechanically with a mediocre top speed. Jagr is 2nd all time in points and hasn't beat anyone to the outside since 1996.


Don't mean to rant but I think often speed is confused with pace. They're two different things to me. Pushing the puck forward doesn't always require fast dynamic skating.

I think it's more that people aren't talking about the same things when they talk about skating a lot of the time.

Yakemchuk isn't a technically fluid skater, there's no question about that. There are issues with balance and agility, his first couple steps are clunky, and his pivots aren't perfect. Some of those issues can be improved and ironed out. And some people pointed pre-draft to a later growth spurt as room for optimism, others were more worried about the natural athleticism.

But what he doesn't seem to have is issues with pace. Yakemchuk has shown so far an ability to make plays at pace, process the play in front of him especially well with faster and more skilled players, and that significantly mitigates some of the technical issues with his skating. And that's important because the development required to play at an NHL pace seems to be less of an uphill climb than one might think if we just reduce skating to its technical elements.

It's getting way ahead of things, but he and Sanderson could compliment each other quite well down the line. Sanderson's skating will always allow him to thrive on retrievals and in re-establishing possession, and he's very good at transitioning the puck with his feet, but he doesn't have Yakemchuk's knack for making plays to the inside off the line, nor quite as much creativity in general. The same could somewhat be true of Chabot, but it's easier to project Yakemchuk with Sanderson as a top pair over the long-term.