The Ottawa Senators have one blue-line spot that still needs sorting out before training camp, and the clearest path points to Carter Yakemchuk.
The top five defence jobs appear settled, which leaves the No. 6 role as the real question. Ottawa does not need to throw Yakemchuk into a massive assignment right away, but there also is no good reason to keep him on the outside if he is ready to play. The former first-round pick needs NHL reps, and the third pairing would let him get them without being asked to drive the whole defence.
That’s what makes Yakemchuk such an intriguing fit. The Senators already have puck-moving options in Thomas Chabot and Jake Sanderson, but Yakemchuk could bring another layer of offence from the bottom pair. In a sheltered role, he would have room to create, settle in, and start adjusting to the league while his responsibilities grow gradually.
Nikolas Matinpalo is the other name in the mix for the open spot, and he offers a different kind of value. His game leans more toward the defensive side, which would make a third pair with Tyler Kleven a shutdown combination. That said, a shutdown look is not always the best answer for a team with a forward group built around offence.
Yakemchuk is still learning, and nobody should expect him to arrive and play like a finished NHL veteran. But pairing him with Kleven would give Ottawa a more puck-moving look on the third pair while still keeping the assignment manageable. That kind of setup could help him gain confidence and expand his role over time.
There is also the long view to consider. Ottawa needs to find out what its young players can become, and Yakemchuk was drafted because the organization believed he could grow into an important defenceman, possibly behind Jake Sanderson or even alongside him down the road. The best way to learn that is to give him NHL games now, starting on the third pair.
So the No. 6 job should be Yakemchuk’s to lose when camp opens. If he shows he is ready, the Senators should let him play.
Matinpalo does not have to disappear from the picture; he can serve as the seventh defenceman and step in when Yakemchuk needs a night off. But Ottawa stands to gain far more by finding out what it has in Yakemchuk than by defaulting to the safer veteran option.
In Other News...
Senators Just Made A Huge Drake Batherson Commitment
Drake Batherson has long been one of the more reliable pieces of the Senators core, and now Ottawa has made it clear it intends to keep it that way. The right winger, who has been a steady performer since his NHL debut in 2018-19 and also brings Team Canada experience, agreed to a major new deal before the trade deadline, giving the club some much-needed certainty around a player who has become central to its plans.
For Ottawa, the timing matters as much as the player. Batherson is 28 and still squarely in his prime, which makes this the kind of commitment the organization can build around as it tries to take the next step. It also sends a strong message about how the Senators view him within the room and within the broader direction of the franchise, even as the details of the agreement place him in rare company among the teams all-time contracts. [Read more 🡒]
Matthew Knies Enters Camp With One Leafs Question Still Hanging
Matthew Knies spent part of the summer talking about golf, but the conversation around him has been a lot less relaxed. On the Leafs Morning Take podcast, the Maple Leafs forward said draining a hole-in-one took some of the pressure off his game and gave him something lighter to smile about after a season that included a knee injury and plenty of attention around his name.
Knies also looked back on a year that brought a career-high in points while leaving him dissatisfied with parts of his defensive play, and he sounded eager to put the whole stretch behind him as camp opens. For Toronto, the bigger question is less about what he has already shown and more about how he handles the next step after a summer of uncertainty and recovery. [Read more 🡒]
Senators Fans Now Face A Frustrating New Reality Watching Games
Watching Senators games this season is no longer as simple as flipping on one channel and settling in. Depending on where fans live, Ottawas regional broadcasts remain on TSN, but the leagues national schedule has become a patchwork of different platforms, with Wednesday nights going to Amazon Prime and Saturday games shifting away from the familiar over-the-air setup many viewers were used to.
The real wrinkle comes on Monday nights, when the access point changes again and fans may need more than a basic TV package to keep up. For a market that has long had to navigate regional blackouts and national TV shifts, the new setup adds another layer of frustration, especially for anyone trying to follow the Senators without juggling multiple subscriptions. [Read more 🡒]