Ottawa Senators choose defenceman Carter Yakemchuk at No. 7

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The Ottawa Senators opted to try to strengthen their blueline in Round 1 of the National Hockey League draft.

The Senators used the No. 7 overall pick in the draft Friday night to take right shot defenceman Carter Yakemchuk from the Calgary Hitmen of the Western Hockey League.

The 6-foot-3 Yakemchuk had 30 goals and 71 points in 66 games with the Hitmen last season. Not only has he gots skills, he’s not afraid to get involved physically and he had five fights last season.

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He wasn’t exactly surprised the Senators selected him and the club needs defencemen who can play the right side. No, he won’t be expected to suit up next year, but the Senators don’t have a lot of defencemen in the system and this is a need for them.

“It was unbelievable,” Yakemchuk told reporters in Vegas. “It’s a day that you dream about for so long. I kind of blacked out for a second when they said the Calgary Hitmen and that it was nice. I’m a little at loss for words right now.

“I met with (the Senators) in Vegas and I thought it went well and there could be a chance.”

Yakemchuk, who had 35 friends and family here, is considered a strong puck-handler and he’s been compared to Edmonton Oilers defenceman Evan Bouchard.

“They’re getting a two-way defenceman that can produce offensively and also play physical and be reliable as well,” Yakemchuk added.

Calgary GM Garry Davidson told the Hitman website that Yakemchuk is a special talent.

“It’s amazing for an 18-year-old to score 30 goals in the league, but it’s even more amazing to see a defenceman score 30 goals,” Davidson said. “His desire to have offensive success, his desire to score goals, it’s something else. It’s phenomenal. We would need a goal and he was the guy that was going to step up and make that happen for us so many times.”

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It was the first draft for Steve Staios, the club’s president of hockey operations and general manage, along with senior vice-president Dave Poulin with the Senators. Both went to see the top prospects with chief scout Don Boyd just so they had an idea about the best players in this draft.

Staios said the club couldn’t resist taking Yakemchuk “because we’re getting a player with a very high ceiling.” Five forwards were taken before the Senators made their selection.

“Six-foot-three defenceman who not only has some grit to his game but he’s got some offence,” said Staios, who toyed with moving back a few spots and took a lot of calls. “We feel there’s a lot of raw skill as well. We feel the potential is really there for Carter. He’s a great as well.

“These types of players are hard to find. We feel Carter has got the offence to his game. We have to round out his game and we feel we got a good one.”

Boyd, conducting his first draft in this role with Ottawa, knows the club needed to get an impact player.

“The most important part is getting it right,” Boyd told the club’s website with a smile before the draft. “We spent a lot of time on the front of the draft. It’s very important, you have to hit on those numbers, and you have to have those players become impact players in the NHL for your team.

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“That’s what the draft is all about. The analysis shows you that the higher the picks, the more success they have, and chance they have, of playing in the NHL.”

This is the first time in team history the Senators have had the No. 7 overall selection. The club was scheduled to pick seventh in 2022 but opted to send that pick to the Chicago Blackhawks for winger Alex DeBrincat.

The Senators had little idea what would happen in front of them, but that’s not from a lack of preparation. Once centre Macklin Celebrini of Boston University was taken No. 1 overall by the San Jose Sharks, nobody was sure what path this draft may take.

There were lots of moving parts after the Ducks went off the board at No. 3 to choose winger Beckett Sennecke from the Oshawa Generals.

Ottawa’s scouting staff spent a week last month in meetings putting together a list of the top 150 players. They refined that list after speaking with several players at the NHL Combine earlier this month in Buffalo and then tweaked it a little bit when the staff arrived in Vegas.

Boyd said this week the club was prepared for every possible scenario. The Senators, who have five selections left Saturday, are hoping to come out this weekend with some more prospects to help re-stock the cupboards.

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“I’m hoping we can add maybe three or four players to our group that are going to contribute in time at the NHL level,” Boyd said. “That’s basically what we try to do, we’d like to have all of our picks contribute. We know that’s usually not the case.

“If we can get three to four players who can play in the NHL, we feel that we’ve been successful.”

There could be some movement on the trade front to watch for Saturday.

The Senators have five picks left in this draft (including three in the fourth round), but Staios would like to make changes to his roster.

The club has been trying to move winger Mathieu Joseph along with blueliner Erik Brannstrom and Jacob Bernard-Docker. Teams have called on defenceman Jakob Chychrun, but the Senators weren’t able to get the return they wanted before Round 1.

League executives told Postmedia on Friday the asking price for Joseph is a draft pick so it’s possible that deal happens on Saturday.

As for Chychrun, he’s headed into the final year of his contract and the Florida Panthers are among the teams interested but it’s not known if the deal will get done at this draft.

bgarrioch@postmedia.com

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