Okay.
So.
I do not think the Kraken should draft Yakemchuk. They will have too many good players here to take before Carter Yakemchuk
But I have intimate experience with teams reaching on players. Intimate. Experience. I don’t think the Kraken have done much of that at the Draft, so let’s use this as a thought experiment.
What would make Carter Yakemchuk worth reaching on?
Who is he?
Carter Yakemchuk is a Canadian-Born Defenseman who shoots Right-handed, who measures up to 6’3, and weighs in at 194 pounds. He played in The Canadian Junior WHL league, with the Calgary Hitmen.
What’s he good at?
Scoring.
For a Junior forward, 30 goals, 41 assists, and 71 points would be a pretty good. For a Junior Defenseman on the other hand? Absolutely incredible. Truly insane.
Having been a long-time player for the Hitmen (in that he’s been there for three years), Yakemchuk lead the WHL among blueliners in goals this year, and it’s not hard to see why if you see this big fella move. While not the most agile skater, he’s got strong acceleration and a high top speed, allowing him to bulldoze forecheckers with ease with his quick skating. Combine that with some impressive stickwork and ability to dissect opposing defenses, he can bring goalies and backcheckers to a very dark place.
Ultimately, his confidence with the puck and his impressive shot has allowed Calgary to use him as sort of a fourth forward who can skate backwards, creating space for himself as well as his fellow Hitmen through strong passing as well as the eternal danger of his ability to dangle through half a defense just to get a shot through.
If you want to take on a project with high upside for your power play and your blueline, the skills on offense this young man has are the exact kind that you can start building out the future of your team from.
What does he need to work on?
Defensive decisionmaking.
Yakemchuk’s game is about offense in an otherwise pretty stingy WHL, and his skating is pretty strong…but man, sometimes he just makes bad decisions with the puck. Yakemchuk’s ability to read the play is a bit raw, and it causes him to turn the puck over, commit to checks on the wrong player, overcommit to trying to attack the puck, or to be caught puckwatching. His lack of patience on these plays can sometimes be disastrous, forcing his defensive partner to effectively babysit the line while he charges ahead. Which is just…strange for a guy with his ability with a hockey stick.
The other thing is, and I think this is a little more of a concern…penalties.
Yakemchuk is, for whatever reason, extremely easy to rile up on the ice. Part of it is, bafflingly, needled by the Hitmen themselves, so there’s a non-zero chance some of that is his own team thinking he plays better when angry, but he is prone to outbursts of poor discipline with his stick or just throwing dangerous hits. It got to the point that he was the 5th most penalized player in the WHL this year. I personally have no issue with a player playing with his heart on his sleeve, but in the NHL, even with as notoriously unreliable as their referees can be, will still absolutely bring the hammer of god down on a kid who struggles with discipline. It’s happened before, and it will happen again if he can’t figure that out.
My Verdict
The Kraken probably aren’t going to pick Carter Yakemchuk. Probably shouldn’t either. Yakemchuk’s game has matured very well given his long seasons in the WHL, and he’s definitely a premium in that he’s a big body that shoots Right as a Defender, and even better he’s a pretty good goalscorer! But he’s also just so raw at using that body for defense…and his ability to recognize plays is still so underdeveloped…and still so very an old 18.
He could very easily turn out to be a strong defender if given the right amount of patience and training…but I’m just not confident he’s worth the decision to do that at 8th overall. I think the best thing for him would probably be to end up in a system like the Preds or the Red Wings’, where he can properly develop for awhile as those teams make bigger strides towards getting better over time.
Again, this was mostly as an exercise in figuring out what exactly makes him possible to crack the top 10…but also a reminder that even guys who have a lot of attactive traits may not be necessarily worth a top 10 pick.
Stats by EliteProspects.com
So you know how I did defensemen for two weeks?
Yeah we’re moving onto forwards next week. I’m tired of thinking about defense.
But I am also releasing them later in the week, as I will be traveling until about Monday.
Next week is Tij Iginla, Berkly Catton, and this year’s potential drop-for-no-or-honestly-bad-reasons candidate: Cayden Lindstrom.
See you then!
DJLR relies on the support of the community to keep the site going and our writers paid. Any donation is appreciated.