Management UPDATE: Steve Staios GM and POHO, Dave Poulin Senior VP of Hockey Operations

[Senator Stanley]

Yakemchuk played on a defense-first team. 2 players on his team scored above a PPG. The best offensive forward was Kindel who, is a late-1st round talent.

Parekh played on a much more offensive team. 5 players on his team scored above a PPG, including top-3 offensive talent Michael Misa.

I think the best way to evaluate Yakemchuk is to forget that Buium, Dickinson and Parekh exist. What Parekh did in Saginaw has no bearing on Yakemchuk.

 

[Erik Alfredsson]

People debating Yakemchuk vs Parekh are completely missing the point in my opinion. I couldn't give a rats ass what either of these two do in the CHL. The goal is to develop these guys into quality NHL players. Ottawa is building a team to win in the playoffs, and they obviously felt that Yakemchuk's skillset is better suited for that. Neither one of these guys are playing with NHL players, or against NHL players right now. Their CHL stats are meaningless.

Yakemchuk has shown that he has the potential to be an impact player at the NHL level with his preseason. I guess people conveniently forgot that after looking at too many CHL stat sheets. But I guess we should've drafted Evangelista over Greig or Drysdale over Sanderson then.

 

[Hale The Villain]

The second you say "they don't deserve credit for...", you lose it. You deserve credit for the players you take who hit. Our organization deserves every bit of credit for taking Tkachuk at 4.

McKeens, Button, Pronman, ISS, Robinson etc all had Zadina ranked higher than him: 2018 NHL Draft Rankings

Geniuses Pronman and Robinson had Tkachuk ranked at 9th. Probably because he was just a grinder who lacked skill...

I don't think Edmonton's scouts deserve credit for selecting McDavid at #1. Nor do I place much blame on the Rangers' scouts picking Lafreniere 1st overall.

Those were obvious picks that every other scouting staff would have made if they had been in the same position. Same goes for taking Stutzle at #3.

McKeens, Button, Pronman, the husk of ISS (which was a shell of it's former self in 2018 and is now defunct) and other online scouts don't matter at all.

Actual NHL scouts polled in Bob McKenzie's draft rankings had Tkachuk ranked 3rd behind only Dahlin and Svechnikov. He was the consensus guy at #4.

I can't say I was a big fan of Tkachuk in his draft year but I was even lower on Zadina, who was clearly overhyped due to being a late birthday (which most casual fans don't understand means he's a season ahead in development on most of the draft class) and having performed very well at the World Juniors, which comprised the majority of his viewings for a lot of casual scouts.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

Watching his game in preseason, didn't see the lack of IQ that some harp on.

Headed smart passes, hit the open player, has deception on the lime to open up lanes and a big shot that teams will have to respect.

A bit slow pivoting when defending is something he will have to work on. Defends hard down low. Will see how his defensive reads look in training camp.

no question he looked really good in preseason.
It was a small sample and he was not faced with a plethora of situations that occur in a larger sample.
Lots of people watched him through the year .. those that are objective don't blow sunshine on his overall game. He has some great assets to work with but where he needs work should not be glossed over to the point where expectations early on are set too high.

 

[flyingfingers]

I don't think Edmonton's scouts deserve credit for selecting McDavid at #1. Nor do I place much blame on the Rangers' scouts picking Lafreniere 1st overall.

Those were obvious picks that every other scouting staff would have made if they had been in the same position. Same goes for taking Stutzle at #3.

McKeens, Button, Pronman, the husk of ISS (which was a shell of it's former self in 2018 and is now defunct) and other online scouts don't matter at all.

Actual NHL scouts polled in Bob McKenzie's draft rankings had Tkachuk ranked 3rd behind only Dahlin and Svechnikov. He was the consensus guy at #4.

I can't say I was a big fan of Tkachuk in his draft year but I was even lower on Zadina, who was clearly overhyped due to being a late birthday (which most casual fans don't understand means he's a season ahead in development on most of the draft class) and having performed very well at the World Juniors, which comprised the majority of his viewings for a lot of casual scouts.

It's nothing like Edmonton drafting McDavid, who was a Crosby or Lebron-esque slam dunk to go in a specific draft slot.

While the final McKenzie consensus list did have Tkachuk at 3, it certainly wasn't a slam dunk, as draft rankings across sources had him anywhere from 3-9. You yourself had him at 9... (see below).

And Montreal didn't, in fact, take him at #3, after all!

I just uncovered this "search by poster" feature, so let's see what you were saying about that specific draft:

Wish he had deferred to his head scout and stayed within his lane. I hope I'm wrong, but Tkachuk was not a smart pick at 4th OVR.

I'm not going to pretend that Tkachuk was a good pick because we took him. I'd rather be accurate in judgements about the decisions of this hockey club than blindly support anything they do in the name of being a good fan.

I'll voice my concerns when they make a decision I disagree with (like selecting Tkachuk 4th) and offer praise when they do something I agree with (like trading down and getting JBD and Tychonick at 26 and 48).

If I were the GM of the Sens:

1. D, Rasmus Dahlin
2. RW, Andrei Svechnikov
3. D, Noah Dobson
4. D, Evan Bouchard
5. C, Jesperi Kotkaniemi
6. LW, Filip Zadina
7. RW, Oliver Wahlstrom
8. D, Quinn Hughes
9. LW, Brady Tkachuk
10. D, Adam Boqvist
11. LW, Joel Farabee
12. D, Ty Smith
13. C, Barrett Hayton
14. RW, Martin Kaut
15. C, Joe Velano
16. RW, Jonatan Berggren
17. RW, Vitali Kravtsov
18. C, Jacob Olofsson
19. RW, Serron Noel
20. C, Ty Dellandrea

And then on Sanderson...

He'd be good pick in the 8-10 range, but I think it would be a mistake to take him in the top 6 or over Drysdale, who looks to have higher upside as an offensive player.

The Leafs shouldn't have passed on Rielly's upside for Lindholm, the Avs shouldn't have done so with Byram for Seider, and passing up Drysdale for Sanderson would also be a mistake. Should take the higher upside player in Drysdale, especially when Drysdale is an incredibly safe pick. Would be shocked if he didn't turn into a decent 2nd pairing D at least.

The Sens' scouting staff doesn't value skill as highly as other traits, so it probably shouldn't be listed, but that's my biggest concern with Sanderson. Looks like a top 4 D in some capacity, but I question if he has the offensive upside to be a high-end defenseman.

I see high-end upside in all of the top 6 guys I mentioned, but with Sanderson I'm not so sure.

Perhaps we can wait and see on Yakemchuk and not talk with such certainty that he's a bad pick...

 

[Golden_Jet]

It's nothing like Edmonton drafting McDavid, who was a Crosby or Lebron-esque slam dunk to go in a specific draft slot.

While the final McKenzie consensus list did have Tkachuk at 3, it certainly wasn't a slam dunk, as draft rankings across sources had him anywhere from 3-9. You yourself had him at 9... (see below).

And Montreal didn't, in fact, take him at #3, after all!

I just uncovered this "search by poster" feature, so let's see what you were saying about that specific draft:







And then on Sanderson...





Perhaps we can wait and see on Yakemchuk and not talk with such certainty that he's a bad pick, like we did with two of our 3 best players...

Good rebuttal

 

[Hale The Villain]

It's nothing like Edmonton drafting McDavid, who was a Crosby or Lebron-esque slam dunk to go in a specific draft slot.

While the final McKenzie consensus list did have Tkachuk at 3, it certainly wasn't a slam dunk, as draft rankings across sources had him anywhere from 3-9. You yourself had him at 9... (see below).

And Montreal didn't, in fact, take him at #3, after all!

I just uncovered this "search by poster" feature, so let's see what you were saying about that specific draft:

And then on Sanderson...

Perhaps we can wait and see on Yakemchuk and not talk with such certainty that he's a bad pick, like we did with two of our 3 best players...

I already said I didn't like the Tkachuk pick, so nice job digging into posts from 7 years ago where I said the same.

As far as the quotes you dug up about Sanderson, those were from well before draft day. My opinion on Sanderson changed over time, like most around here, and he was the BPA at 5 for me when the draft happened, which is why I was defending the pick in his prospect thread when it was made.

200 posts in and you've established yourself as a low IQ poster with terrible bad faith arguments. Well done.

 

[flyingfingers]

As much as I've been pumping Zetterlund's tires and think he's a great long-term addition, I'd rather he be a middle-6 guy for us. If we're to move past being a bubble team we'll definitely need to add some real firepower in the top-6. Ideally someone who can score 5v5 and has a shoot first mentality.

Hopefully as PlayOn says this is Staios being his usual coy self where he doesn't talk about his plans for trades/UFAs until after he pulls them off.

I think it'd be great to get a top-line goalscorer, but I'm not sure who a realistic option would be at RW.

We'd have to move out Batherson (both because of salary and because he's the good asset we'd want to dangle), but who are we getting that's for sure better?

In the last 3 seasons (among players who've played >150 games), Batherson is 26th in goals/game and 17th in points/game among RWers.

Most of the guys above him are not options: Pastrnak, Marner, Rantanen, Kucherov, Caufield, etc.

Realistically, we'd be looking at guys like Rakell, Rust, Tippett and Boeser, all of whom are a very similar class of player.

Maybe we still make a move like that just to change it up again (similar to Norris for Cozens), though...

 

[Golden_Jet]

I already said I didn't like the Tkachuk pick, so nice job digging into posts from 7 years ago where I said the same.

As far as the quotes you dug up about Sanderson, those were from well before draft day. My opinion on Sanderson changed over time, like most around here, and he was the BPA at 5 for me when the draft happened, which is why I was defending the pick in his prospect thread when it was made.

200 posts in and you've established yourself as a low IQ poster with terrible bad faith arguments. Well done.

All it does is show your drafting acumen, isn’t what you think it is, nothing more.

 

[flyingfingers]

I already said I didn't like the Tkachuk pick, so nice job digging into posts from 7 years ago where I said the same.

As far as the quotes you dug up about Sanderson, those were from well before draft day. My opinion on Sanderson changed over time, like most around here, and he was the BPA at 5 for me when the draft happened, which is why I was defending the pick in his prospect thread when it was made.

200 posts in and you've established yourself as a low IQ poster with terrible bad faith arguments. Well done.

This one you posted a few months after the draft took place:

Sanderson has never shown elite talent. That's simply not true. He was drafted at 5th OVR because he's an elite skater with elite defensive play and a really good mind. He's shown flashes of offense but you're overselling his talent, which is average at best.

"Average at best".

Perhaps we should rethink what skill and talent, in the context of being a very good NHL player, are?

You post with such conviction that our scouts are terrible and don't draft good talent (and that a player like Yakemchuk was so obviously a bad pick), and then react with such hostility when someone says otherwise... and yet...

I'll give you credit though, reading some other posts you did end up thinking Sanderson was a very good pick for us, but you definitely mis-evaluated the type of player he could become, especially offensively.

In your draft scores, you also gave the Kleven pick a "D" and the Merilainen pick an "F". while Greig got a "C". Jarventie and Sokolov got "B"s.

Stutzle: A+
Sanderson: A+
Greig: C
Jarventie: B
Kleven: D (mostly due to trading a late 2nd + early 3rd to get him)
Sokolov: B
Marilainen: F
Engstrand: B-
Daoust: C-
Reinhardt: D

 

[OttawaSenators11]

Yakemchuk is gonna be a super productive NHL player - We seen him play fine at 18 in the pre season and he’ll only get better as he gets older.

Gotta keep in mind as well with Yakemchuk that Staios told him to focus on his defensive play which suggests why his offensive production is down with Calgary- I wouldn’t look into that much at all.

He’s working on becoming the best 2 way player he can be so he’s adjusting on the fly to learn.

Top 6 RW definitely sounds like Giroux or Zetterlund next year, but we shall see!

 

[Hale The Villain]

This one you posted a few months after the draft took place:



"Average at best".

Perhaps we should rethink what skill and talent, in the context of being a very good NHL player, are?

You post with such conviction that our scouts are terrible and don't draft good talent (and that a player like Yakemchuk was so obviously a bad pick), and then react with such hostility when someone says otherwise... and yet...

I'll give you credit though, reading some other posts you did end up thinking Sanderson was a very good pick for us, but you definitely mis-evaluated the type of player he could become, especially offensively.

In your draft scores, you also gave the Kleven pick a "D" and the Merilainen pick an "F". while Greig got a "C". Jarventie and Sokolov got "B"s.

You just tried to slander me by insinuating I didn't like the Sanderson pick by cherry-picking a post from well before the draft, and now you bring up a post of mine right after the draft showing I gave it an A+ grade? So you're admitting you're a bad faith actor that can't be trusted?

If you're noticing hostility in my posts there's a reason for that. I don't take kindly to being lied about, and I know you're new here, but cherry-picking old posts in a misleading way is generally frowned upon around here.

As you helpfully pointed out earlier in this thread, scouts often get things wrong, and the same certainly applies to me, which makes it weird why you're trying to discredit my opinions based on a few posts from half a decade ago, but I'm pretty comfortable with my evaluations of draft eliglibles over the years.

 

[Hale The Villain]

All it does is show your drafting acumen, isn’t what you think it is, nothing more.

Meh.

Have some misses no doubt, but I also was pounding the table for guys like Robertson in 2017, Peterka in 2020, Sillinger in 2021, etc...

Definitely not about to start emailing my resume to teams but I'd like to think I've been right more than I've been wrong, which is more than I can say for the Sens scouting staff in recent years.

 

[Icelevel]

Matinpalo signed 2 years according to SS

 

[flyingfingers]

You just tried to slander me by insinuating I didn't like the Sanderson pick by cherry-picking a post from well before the draft, and now you bring up a post of mine right after the draft showing I gave it an A+ grade? So you're admitting you're a bad faith actor that can't be trusted?

If you're noticing hostility in my posts there's a reason for that. I don't take kindly to being lied about, and I know you're new here, but cherry-picking old posts in a misleading way is generally frowned upon around here.

As you helpfully pointed out earlier in this thread, scouts often get things wrong, and the same certainly applies to me, which makes it weird why you're trying to discredit my opinions based on a few posts from half a decade ago, but I'm pretty comfortable with my evaluations of draft eliglibles over the years.

I pulled up those posts after you had already showed so much certainty in your own views (that our scouting staff sucks) and hostility towards differing opinions (that maybe they don't suck that much)...

I'm glad you're comfortable with your evaluations of draft eligibles over the years. It's just that a lot of them have been already proven to be very wrong.

And hey, I'm no different. No one is. Like I said, it's the nature of the draft.

But I'd pump the brakes on the "how stupid are you to suggest that Yakemchuk was a good pick at 7 over these other guys that I personally like better" tone when the forum has a feature like historical search...

 

[Golden_Jet]

Matinpalo signed 2 years according to SS

1 way or 2 way?
Edit: it’s a one way I just heard, 875k per, I think they said.

 

[Wallet Inspector]

- Likely will be keeping this years pick. Thinks the scouts have proven they are good and that they will find players - doesn’t seem to take too much stock into weak draft.

I know he can't publicly trash our scouts but how tf can Staois believe this given their track record the past few seasons.

 

[OttawaSenators11]

Sens fans get things wrong - Sens scouts get things wrong - watching a player for hundreds of hours and deciding to choose him doesn’t mean it’s a sure thing at all guessing game based on what you see as lots is obviously subjective.

One example is Alfredsson, he should've been a first round pick and literally every scout in the world missed that as he fell to the 6th(!!) round.

Anyone can be a scout honestly success rate is far from perfect from even the best of the best considering all the 1st or 2nd round misses/busts throughout history.

 

[BigRig4]

Matinpalo signed 2 years according to SS

Who’s SS? Staios?

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

Meh.

Have some misses no doubt, but I also was pounding the table for guys like Robertson in 2017, Peterka in 2020, Sillinger in 2021, etc...

Definitely not about to start emailing my resume to teams but I'd like to think I've been right more than I've been wrong, which is more than I can say for the Sens scouting staff in recent years.

Also flashed warnings about Lassi Thomson

I think you've generally done quite well and you're not afraid to make picks and post your thoughts .. which is a lot more than what we see from people criticizing you and is probably what gives them the false courage to do it.

Easy to take pot shots which is what is happening .. You don't have to defend yourself to them... let them show us their history .. Everybody makes draft mistakes .. Even Bob Mckenzie's 10 team scouts get it wrong in the top 10. Sens 2020 draft is by far the best they have done ever and even then there were some misses.
Hindsight is a beautiful thing with draft picks .. these people using that to prop up their points vs draft time evals is so disingenuous with absolutely zero credibility.

A lot of work goes into evaluating players.

 

[OttawaSenators11]

1 way or 2 way?
Edit: it’s a one way I just heard, 875k per, I think they said.

Nice he’ll only get better I think!

 

[Icelevel]

Nice he’ll only get better I think!

Great upgrade in every way over hamonic as a 6/7

 

[Burrowsaurus]

Good for matinpalo. I like him and should get better

 

[Emerica]

I wonder what the Jensen injury is. He was able to play through it, although it obviously affected his play. He may or may not require surgery and they made it seem like it could be long term recovery. Long enough for them to potentially look into adding a top-4 RD

 

[PlayOn]

I wonder what the Jensen injury is. He was able to play through it, although it obviously affected his play. He may or may not require surgery and they made it seem like it could be long term recovery. Long enough for them to potentially look into adding a top-4 RD

He also said it wasn’t one incident and happened gradually over time.

I get the feeling it’s one of those things where surgery could be tough to return from, and they’re considering if he can just play through it until he retires or something. If it was straightforward you would think they’d have already planned for the surgery to happen given how long it’s been lingering. He talked a lot about trying to manage it as best as possible.