Carter Yakemchuk has made his presence felt after turning pro.
The Ottawa Senators top prospect is enjoying success in his rookie campaign with the club’s American Hockey League affiliate in Belleville and has played a key role early in the season.
Selected No. 7 overall in the 2024 National Hockey League draft by Ottawa, the 20-year-old Yakemchuk has averaged 22 minutes and 30 seconds per game of playing time under Belleville head coach David Bell and has put himself on the radar screen for a call up to the NHL.
With the Senators shorthanded after losing Thomas Chabot and Nick Jensen with upper-body ailments in the club’s past two games, Yakemchuk will get consideration to be brought up to face the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night because he’s in the mix.
The Senators may opt to go with a veteran like Lassi Thomson because he has some NHL experience so that Yakemchuk has time to continue his development — which by all accounts is going well.
Steve Staios, the club’s president of hockey operations and general manager, said earlier this week that they’ve discussed the possibility of recalling Yakemchuk internally, but they will do what’s best for his development.
“This is a big adjustment,” Belleville general manager Matt Turek told Postmedia on Wednesday. “Our league is full of junior college stars, ex-world junior players — it’s a really good league. It’s for men and Carter had adjusted really well.
“He’s a top-pairing defencemen, he’s playing with a veteran in Scott Harrington, who has a bunch of NHL games under his belt and he’s adjusted well. He’s playing against the other team’s top players and also helping on the offensive side. It’s been a heavy schedule, but nothing but positive.”
Yakemchuk went into Friday night’s game against the Utica Comets, the AHL affiliate of the New Jersey Devils, on the road with two goals and eight points in 13 games with Belleville.
Bell has been using the 6-foot-3 Yakemchuk on the power play and to kill penalties. He’s out there in the last minute of a game with the club trying to protect a lead. It’s a fine line for AHL teams because not only do the clubs want to win, they also have the responsibility of developing players.
Staios half-jokingly said he was going to ask Belleville to stop using Yakemchuk so much.
“With the adjustment from junior, there are things that every player is doing in Ottawa and we try to mimic Ottawa and Belleville,” Turek said. “It’s about your workouts, your gameplay and it’s a heavy schedule.
“Carter has adjusted well on and off the ice. His approach, with his workouts in the gym, he knows what it takes to be an Ottawa Senator and he’s taken it quite seriously. He’s held up his end of the bargain.”
After four seasons with the Western Hockey League’s Calgary Hitmen, the adjustment often can be difficult for young players. The Senators are doing this because they want Yakemchuk to learn the pro game and the attention to detail it takes to get to the next level.
That’s what Staois is trying to weigh with the rest of his group. The Senators have to determine if they want to give Yakemchuk the same route the club gave Tyler Kleven. The Senators let him develop in the AHL for a full season before bringing him up and the results have been excellent.
The approach Yakemchuk has taken hasn’t surprised Turek.
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“This is a very serious person and player,” Turek said. “He’s the type of 20-year-old that, when he steps into the room, you know immediately that he’s focused and he’s a pro. When I was in junior, some guys would come in and they were a little loose. They just don’t understand what it takes.
“Carter absolutely knows what it takes and he takes it very seriously, and he has this pro mindset. There are a lot of things that you try to mould a prospect into when they hit pro. Carter already has a lot of those things. So it’s just about getting him minutes.
“There are times when he’s having to manage a lot of minutes, and we’re aware of how many minutes he gets. And you know, when it gets too much, at times, we can dial him back, but if he’s going (well), we could push him a little bit too, but he’s handled it extremely well.”
Yakemchuk has shown good defensive awareness.
“It’s something that we haven’t had to push too much. He was aware of it,” Turek said. “The difference from junior to the American League to the NHL, for anybody who has any offensive tendencies, they have to prove that they can defend.
“I’ve had no issue with his defending whatsoever. He does a ton of video and, ay times, in the game, he’s managed the game well. Offensively, he’s not a risky player and he’s limited his risk.”