NHL News: Tkachuk’s rising star teammate turns heads with major admission about the upcoming Senators season

The dream of reaching the next Stanley Cup Finals remains very much alive. The Ottawa Senators showed promise last NHL season, but their hopes of making it to the Finals slipped away along the way. Now, Brady Tkachuk and company are set on redeeming themselves after last year’s campaign.

Carter Yakemchuk is one of the franchise’s top prospects, selected in the 2024 NHL Draft. While he didn’t see any ice time last season, the young talent is hoping to earn a spot on the roster heading into the upcoming campaign.

In a recent conversation with the media, the 19-year-old defenseman spoke about his experience in the WHL playing for the Calgary Hitmen, and how he hopes to elevate his game to meet the demands of the next level.

“The main focus for me was my defending and being able to defend at the next level,” Yakemchuk said. “I don’t think I had the best year point-wise (last season), but I think overall my game took a really big step.”

“Getting sent home from [Senators camp] and then obviously the disappointment of the world junior team, that was the first real big adversity I faced in my career,” he said weeks ago at Senators development camp. “Learn from it. … At the end of the day, my goal is to play in the NHL, and it takes a lot of hard work and dedication to get there. It was an eye-opener.”

The trust placed in Yakemchuk

Although the Senators’ front office believed Yakemchuk needed more experience in the WHL after selecting him with the 7th overall pick in the draft, their confidence in the young defenseman remains unwavering — and they’ve seen clear progress in his game.

“A lot of the areas we wanted Yak’s game to evolve, it doesn’t show up on the scoresheet,” Senators amateur scout Andrew Gordon said. “When the puck’s on Yak’s stick, there’s no question what he can do, and I think that’s always going to be a strength, so we were trying to sure up the other areas of his game and make sure he’s able to compete in the corners, defensively, off the rush, improve his feet and just gap control, things like that, where he’s going to have to face some pretty quick guys at the next level. We think he’s more ready for that now than he was a year ago.”

He also added: “He’s a high pick that we have very high expectations for. And like we say, we have to make sure that he’s mentally ready for the road that he’s about to go on. Not everyone steps in and plays 20 minutes [per game] in the NHL right away, especially not in his position.

“So whether he starts in the American league or whether he starts up, like, last year his training camp was pretty impressive, and if he does the same thing, I think he’ll make a hard decision for the guys in management. But no matter where he is, we know the direction he’s going and we know where we want him to end up. It’s just a matter of bracing him for where the road is going to take.”