Yakemchuk was a final cut at Ottawa Senators camp this fall and the top Canadian defenceman chosen in this year's NHL Draft.
With the World Juniors in Ottawa less than three weeks away, there's been an injury on Team Canada's blue line. With Hockey Canada needing a replacement for their selection camp next week, they had a chance to circle back to Senators prospect Carter Yakemchuk, the first Canadian defenceman selected in the 2024 NHL Draft.
They didn't.
Earlier this week, Hockey Canada announced they had invited ten defencemen to the selection camp, but Yakemchuk was not among them. Head scout Al Murray and his management team opted for mostly older defencemen from the 2023 draft class.
Still, Kamloops Blazers defenceman Harrison Brunicke received an invite. Not only was he selected 37 picks after Yakemchuk in this year's draft, but he was also still recovering from a wrist fracture suffered on November 10.
On Friday, Hockey Canada announced that Brunicke's wrist injury would prevent him from playing in the tournament, and instead of turning to Yakemchuk, they replaced him with Zayne Parekh. Parekh is a fantastic prospect who went two picks after Yakemchuk.
Sens GM Steve Staios told Postmedia's Bruce Garrioch that he didn't think much of the Yak snub.
“We understand these are difficult decisions to make and worthy players often don’t make the cut. However, it was peculiar that four players selected inside the top nine of this year’s NHL draft were omitted from the camp roster. 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.”
All of this leads to the question, just how low does Hockey Canada have Yakemchuk ranked?
Canada's selection camp begins this Tuesday in Petawawa. The first pre-tournament game is Dec. 19 against Switzerland. The tournament opener is on Boxing Day against Finland.