Senators GM Steve Staios unhappy Team Canada snubs Yakemchuk

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The Ottawa Senators hoped they’d get to see Carter Yakemchuk on the world stage during the holiday season.

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Barring an injury or change of heart, that won’t be the case.

Like everybody else in the nation’s capital, the Senators weren’t pleased when they learned on Monday that the officials who put together the 32-man roster for Team Canada’s training camp decided to pass on the club’s top selection in the 2024 National Hockey League draft.

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That’s disappointing news with the tournament set to get underway on Boxing Day at the Canadian Tire Centre and at TD Place Arena.

The 19-year-old Yakemchuk, selected No. 7 overall by the Senators in June, was one of the last cuts at the club’s training camp in September before being returned to the Western Hockey League’s Calgary Hitmen.

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He could have easily started the year with the Senators based on his performance in camp. Still, Steve Staois, the club’s president of hockey operations and general manager, opted to send Yakemchuk back to junior to help him develop and take the next step.

Part of the plan to send him back was to allow Yakemchuk to have enough success with the Hitmen to allow him to get an invite to Team Canada’s camp that will get underway next week at TD Place in Ottawa, but he wasn’t among the 32 names selected by the country.

Staios, who isn’t happy about this omission, decided to bite his tongue when Postmedia requested to speak to him on Tuesday morning. He was kind enough to send along a statement to voice his frustration with the decision by Hockey Canada and his message wasn’t subtle.

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“We understand these are difficult decisions to make and worthy players often don’t make the cut,” Staios said. “However, it was peculiar that four players selected inside the top nine of this year’s NHL draft were omitted from the camp roster.”

Staios is right because Yakemchuk wasn’t alone on that front.

Zayne Parekh, who led the Ontario Hockey League scoring amongst defencemen last season with 96 points, also was passed over and he was selected No. 9 overall by the Calgary Flames. He has eight goals and 30 points with the Saginaw Spirit this season

Kelowna centre Tij Iginla, the son of former NHL great Jarome Iginla, wasn’t invited either. He was picked No. 6 overall by the Utah Hockey Club in the draft and is having a great season with the WHL’s Rockets with a whopping 14 goals and 32 points in only 21 games.

Another player in the top nine not selected is Macklin Celebrini of the San Jose Sharks, but he’s one of the top rookies in the NHL at the moment. Anaheim’s Beckett Sennecke picked No. 3 wasn’t taken either.

By all accounts, Yakemchuk has had a solid start with the Hitmen

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He has nine goals, 14 assists and 23 points in 20 games with Calgary this season. Yes, he needs to improve his defensive game, but the indications are he has been working on that part of his game with Hitmen coach Paul McFarland on the details.

Before the Senators went to California last week, Staios went to Calgary to get a first-hand look at Yakemchuk and was impressed.

“In our view, Carter is having a tremendous season and his ability to thrive under pressure is something we feel Team Canada could have benefited from in a high-stakes tournament,” Staios said.

Mostly it’s disappointing because down the road the Senators are hopeful that Yakemchuk will call Ottawa home. There’s zero reason to believe that won’t be the case based on his first NHL training camp because this guy turned heads and got the job done.

After this city set an attendance record during the 2009 junior tourney held here, ticket sales are strong again. It would have been nice if the good people at Hockey Canada could have thrown Ottawa fans a bone by at least inviting the local NHL club’s top prospect to camp.

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Being part of Team Canada would have been a sold step for Yakemchuk’s development, but it doesn’t hurt his standing in the organization. He still will have the opportunity to come to Ottawa next September and push for a spot on the club’s blueline.

He left a strong impression on his first go-around.

“It’s not my area but I was surprised, to say the least, really surprised,” Ottawa coach Travis Green said. “I haven’t been as impressed with a young defencemen in a long, long time.

“There’s always a few surprises when you’re talking about the world juniors. Personally, it doesn’t deter what I think of him. He’s a great young defenceman and we’re lucky to have him. I’m a little bit surprised that there are 10 guys (in Canada) better than him.

“I’m happy we have him in our organization.”

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