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Fantasy Summary

Big, daring offensive defenceman with great range and tools. Decision-making and habits are still quite raw, but has number 2/3 D and top power-play upside.


Observations

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June 2024 – Yakemchuk was selected 7th overall by the Senators. Pat Quinn

 

April 2024 – Carter Yakemchuk’s game can be a headache, but his combination of physical assets and standout offensive game are difficult to ignore. Yakemchuk immediately jumps off the page as a 6’3, RHD with a booming point shot and dynamic puckhandling. Yakemchuk possesses a level of supreme confidence with the puck that allows him to create difficult zone-entries, dangle through pressure at the attacking blueline, and fire dangerous shots on net. As a result, Yakemchuk was second among CHL defencemen in goals, behind only Zayne Parekh. While his IQ is not a strength, Yakemchuk is a capable playmaker, though not a quarterback. In transition, Yakemchuk’s hands are his best asset as he is not a particularly adept skater or transition playmaker. He is fast for his size, but his mechanics are poor and lacks acceleration. His difficulty in making timely decisions also prevents Yakemchuk from being a strong breakout or entry creator. Most glaring are Yakemchuk’s issues on defence, stemming from a combination of mentality and awareness. Yakemchuk is physical and overly aggressive, leading to hit-chasing, getting burned and failed entry denials. Yakemchuk also frequently loses his checks, misses coverage, and forgets his responsibilities. The verdict? Yakemchuk has top-pair offensive upside though it will require time, patience and a long leash. (April Rankings: #18) Luke Sweeney

 

February 2024: It took a while for our scouting team to come around on Yakemchuk. He started off as an honourable mention in our November top-32, despite clicking at over a point-per-game pace pretty consistently since the season began, but has now taken the 24th slot in our February rankings. Currently standing at 21 goals and 49 points in only 44 games on a struggling Calgary Hitmen team, it’s easy to see what makes him show up as high as 12th on some draft boards: the offense.

Whenever he can, he jumps into rushes aggressively, will often try outlandish between-the-legs dekes and one-handed net drives, and shoots religiously from the point. The skating going forwards is great — the lateral and backwards mobility, not so much. Yakemchuk’s habits and decision-making are also inefficient but fun at best, and outright damaging at worst, although the improvement in his baseline defensive game is what led us to come around on him. Trying to make Yakemchuk a defensive ace is likely a waste of a team’s resources, but working on the habits that show up offensively is a great approach. If he learns to put his outstanding offensive tools to better use, there’s a top-power play, perhaps even top-pairing role for Yakemchuk — but it’s a tall task, which keeps him relatively low on our board. Hadi Kalakeche

February rankings: 24th

Attributes
Fantasy Upside 8.5
NHL Certainty 6.5
Country CAN
Position D
Roster Type Draft Eligible
Shoot/Glove Right
Date of Birth September 29, 2005
Height 6‘3”
Weight 194 lbs
Drafted No

Stats

 Season Team League GP G A TP PIM      Playoffs GP G A TP PIM 
 2014-2015 Team Brick Alberta Brick Invitational6 0 11 2|Playoffs1 0 00
 2018-2019 Calgary Flames U15 AAAAEHL U1533 4 711 8|Playoffs5 1 12
 2019-2020 Calgary Flames U15 AAAAEHL U1532 7 2128 37|Playoffs10 2 46 12 
  NWCAA Stampeders U16 AAAAEHL U173 0 11 2|        
  Calgary Flames U15 AAAJohn Reid Bantam5 1 23 4|        
 2020-2021 Calgary Flames U18 AAAAEHL U185 0 00 4|        
 2021-2022 Calgary HitmenWHL56 4 913 14|        
 2022-2023 Calgary HitmenWHL67 19 2847 31|Playoffs5 0 33 10 
  Canada U18WJC-187 0 00 2|        
 2023-2024 Calgary HitmenWHL66 30 4171 120|        
 2024-2025 Calgary HitmenWHL9 4 610 16|        

Highlights