#<- sorry to main tag these. these are organisational tags for my blog too asldkaskj please ignore at your leisure comrades <3

[puckpocketed]

Many people are saying yak made the sens roster and if that is true I’m very happy and proud of him :)

hello!! scuttling out to check... here are the recent camp cuts. way way way more thoughts under the cut :3

there are many in the qrts saying these camp cuts mean he'll be there opening night!! the buzz is: unless we see him get sent down by. tuesday?? then he'll get his 9 games (or less, who knows!). for the rest of the season.... there's this guy from tsn who thinks he'll ultimately get sent back to juniors. i think the going sentiment is he'll go back after his "cup of coffee". but. BUT. who knows right? :)

i know it's super rare that d-men make it to the nhl right after being drafted. the point has and will be made over and over again: even the league's best dmen in q.hughes and c.makar both had a stint in college after their drafts. for whatever reason, it is generally understood that d-men take a little longer to cook <3 so i think we should be happy whatever happens. if he gets sent down tomorrow, after 1 game, after 9 games, we should be super excited he made it so far!! like, lets not forget, he literally JUST got here after playing against teenagers in juniors.

i was heartened to hear Travis Green in this availability (timestamped, my transcript below):

Q: Carter Yakemchuk playing alongside Jake Sanderson tonight; what did you like about that pairing? TG: Yeah i thought Carter looked, at the beginning of the game, like it was a little quick for him, but by the end he looked like he adjusted and he was fine. And, you know he's kind of - that's kind of been the story of his training camp so far. He's, you know, his first time on the ice, he kind of isn't up to speed - and rightfully so - but he's a quick learner, and he did it again tonight. He looked a little behind to start and then all of a sudden he looked like he figured out the pace is a little higher and it'll take another jump as we get into regular season, too.

this was from uhhh 3? 4 days ago?? anyway. um. i was trying not to read too too much into this interview snippet and that text i emphasised but <3 i was hoping to see this !! very excited for him !! and honestly it's awesome to hear how well he's keeping up and adapting to things as they come. so. lets see if he can kick it the whole season. crazy things could happen !! im not optimistic but i WILL be happy if he does stick around beyond his 9 games!!

Most important here is thinking about what's best for his development. for fun, lets say he does do super well, to the point that the Sens have to consider keeping him beyond his 9 games. two arguments i've seen laid out by other people regarding other players + Yak himself, plus a side of some of my own thoughts:

(1) How much more can he do in juniors?

If he's getting top minutes in the WHL but absolutely smoking children, what is he learning? "juniors habits" are the most damning things you'll hear about a player - implying their game lacks a level of pace, maturity, whatever - an absolutely dreaded insult to hear about your favourite guys. the idea is we don't want him picking up "juniors habits" such as trying to do too much with the puck (a bit too late for this one!! he loves to dangle!!!), poor/lazy defense, relying too much on a size/speed/strength advantage which you might have in juniors due to age and body development but NOT in the NHL.

you have the "iron sharpens iron" philosophy, there's the argument that if he can handle NHL competition at all and can work his way up to more trust from his coaches, why not keep him where he can hone his skills against people that challenge him?

(2) What does it do to have him in the NHL?

So on the other hand, if he's getting bottom pair minutes in the NHL with limited responsibility, which he likely will given he's 18, what is he learning? What does the Senators blue line look like right now? Who is he replacing? Who can he supplant in the depth chart?? He could otherwise be playing in the WHL and getting high minutes, lots of puck touches to grow his confidence, space to experiment and grow his game in terms of defensive details, skating, vision, etc.

Additionally, the Calgary Hitmen may be pushing for a playoffs spot this season. They have a fair amount of returnees who are "veterans" (<- DERANGED thing to call 18-year-olds but . WHATEVER!!! shaking my fist at juniors hockey) (including Sharks prospect Carson Wetsch who was just given the C!!!!!), and several players who could potentially have monster years after performing well last season. The roster is looking strong on paper and will only get stronger with Yak back in the lineup. Given all of this, why not have him in juniors getting some of that oh so valued "playoffs experience" rather than playing like 10-12 mins a night on the Sens.

(3) secret third thing

per this article, the NCAA is about to vote on something huge!! a proposal that would implement emergency legislation to allow major juniors players to play college hockey. the vote is speculated to be in order to "head off legal challenges" - there've been antitrust accusations and class action lawsuits brewing for a hot minute now between major junior players and the NCAA!

what does this mean for Yak? well. that's a pipe dream of an option for players who are sorta stuck between juniors and the NHL - too good for one, but not quite getting what they need from the other - and they can't go to the AHL due to that stupid as FUCK agreement stating that CHL draftees can't play for an AHL team until they've got 4 seasons of junior hockey OR they turn 20 by some cut off date...!

College hockey levels of competition keep getting better - like we are seeing so many high draft picks go play a year or two of college - and the challenge would be higher just by sheer fact of grown men playing in the NCAA (18-25 year olds). We don't know how quickly the rule changes would be implemented IF they even agree to do it. but. you know. secret third option is to see if Yak can go play college hockey <- I have to stress that this is the one i think is Least likely, and more of a crackpot theory on my part. honestly i just wanted an excuse to shit on the CHL agreement and the NCAA for gatekeeping college hockey from major juniors players (GET THEIR ASSES!!!)

FORGOT TO PASTE MY CONCLUSION:

IN CONCLUSION LETS BE HAPPY NO MATTER WHAT BECAUSE HE BLASTED ALL HIS HATERS THIS PRESEASON MWAH MWAH TY FOR VISITING CC <33