The 2024 NHL Entry Draft is less than a week away. The Anaheim Ducks have the third-overall pick in this year’s draft, where they will have a choice between a few high-end prospects. Despite the high pick, it’s difficult to gauge who will be available — the San Jose Sharks will presumably select Macklin Celebrini with the first-overall pick, but the Chicago Blackhawks will be on the clock next with the draft’s first real decision.
Related: Ducks 2024 NHL Draft Targets: Cayden Lindstrom
In the final days leading up to the draft, we’ll explore players who could be available to Anaheim at third overall. Previously, we’ve looked at Anton Silayev, Ivan Demidov, and Cayden Lindstrom. Today we’re going to try something a little different — instead of going with the “best-player-available” mentality, we’ll look at the Ducks’ positional needs. While much of the roster is still a work in progress, they’re least developed among right-shot defensemen. Trading away Jamie Drysdale for Cutter Gauthier has exacerbated the depth issue, and suddenly this bottomless defensive prospect pool’s only NHL-ready right-shot defenseman is Tristan Luneau.
With the growing consensus that top right-handed defense prospect Artyom Levshunov won’t make it past the Blackhawks at second overall, we’re looking at the position’s next tier of prospects. Carter Yakemchuk of the Calgary Hitmen in the Western Hockey League (WHL) and Zayne Parekh of the Saginaw Spirit in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) are widely considered to be the next two right-handed defensemen to go after Levshunov. While it may be a reach for Anaheim to grab one of them with the third-overall pick, right-handed defensemen are highly coveted at the NHL level, and the Ducks have been excellent at identifying defensive talent in the Canadian Hockey Leagues.
Yakemchuk and Parekh are Skilled Play-Drivers
Like many of the top defensemen in this blueline-heavy draft class, Yakemchuk and Parekh profile as offensive-minded puck-movers. At 6-foot-3, Yakemchuk can use his frame to protect the puck, which allows him to flow through traffic and find space in the offensive zone. The Hitmen were middle-of-the-road in scoring in the WHL this season, but Yakemchuk finished second on the team with 71 points, including the WHL’s first 30-goal season from a draft-eligible defenseman in more than 20 years.
At 6-foot-1, Parekh surrenders a few inches to Yakemchuk but at no expense to production. His soft hands and excellent stickhandling helped lead a potent Saginaw power play. Two seasons ago, Parekh spent most of his age-16 season on a pairing with Anaheim’s Pavel Mintyukov. This pairing worked to the tune of 21 goals for Parekh, an OHL record for a defender at that age. This season, he assumed the number-one defenseman role, exploding for 96 points in 66 regular season games and another 11 in 13 playoff contests.
Defensive Concerns
Unfortunately, both Yakemchuk and Parekh have some deficiencies in their game that are fairly typical in young offensive-minded defensemen — that is, their defense needs to improve. Yakemchuk is a good-but-not-great skater who sometimes overcommits and gets caught swimming. While the skating can be fixed, THW’s Logan Horn is more concerned about the cerebral portion of his game. In his profile of the defenseman, he mentions, “I’d say the biggest question surrounding Yakemchuk is if his brain will be able to keep up in the NHL. He plays at a high pace decently well, but his decision making is what gives me pause at times. It usually manifests itself in offensive over commitment and leaning a bit too hard into being the lead offensive creator for the Hitmen.” Even if his decision-making stems from his need to do it all for Calgary, the speed and pace of the NHL game will make sheltering minutes with this kind of play impossible.
Parekh played on Saginaw’s penalty-killing unit, but his shortcomings read similarly to Yakemchuk. His defensive effort, according to his draft profile, is described as “lackadaisical” and he lacks urgency. While his shortcomings don’t seem to manifest from skating stride or mental errors, he’ll need to prove he can maintain this high level of offense under a more NHL-style system instead of the free-flowing Saginaw system.
Faith in Anaheim’s Scouts and Reaching at Third Overall
While there can be a healthy back-and-forth regarding who is more likely to shore up their defensive game and become a top-four option in the NHL, the Ducks have had an eye for Canadian Hockey League talent on the blue line. That previously-mentioned prospect pool includes Mintyukov, Luneau, Olen Zellweger, and Tyson Hinds, some of the most decorated CHL defensemen in recent years. Notably, Mintyukov, Zellweger, and Luneau swept the 2022-23 Defenseman of the Year awards in each of the three CHL league. These weren’t slam-dunk selections either, as Mintyukov is the only first-round pick in the group.
Teenaged defensemen typically struggle in their own end, and their development curve is a little more lengthened than a forward. The Ducks are more than willing to let their prospects incubate at the lower levels. Mintyukov and Luneau are recent exceptions by playing up in Anaheim a year after they were drafted, but even Zellweger was sent back to the WHL after torching the league for 78 points in 2021-22. The extra time has helped these players develop into more well-rounded talents. Neither Zellweger nor Mintyukov had glowing praise for their defensive ability in their draft seasons, and while they won’t be confused for lockdown defensemen, they are far from black holes in their own end.
Many mock drafts, including several of our own at The Hockey Writers, have Yakemchuk and Perekh falling between the seven-to-fourteen range, which would make Anaheim’s selection of them a pretty significant reach. That being said, this is a Ducks franchise that one could argue has made a surprise first-round pick in each of the last three drafts. They seem to have clear targets and are more than willing to reach for these players instead of trying to trade their way into a player’s projected range. There’s risk involved in reaching like this, but nearly every player available to Anaheim will have their risks. Lindstrom suffered a significant back injury. Demidov has a litany of geopolitical hurdles along with game tape of him torching a league he was obviously too good to play in.
If choosing between one of the two, Parekh seems to have the better outlook. I believe most of his defensive woes can be explained away by his environment, and I think Mintyukov is proof that players under Saginaw’s defensive system can be coached into an NHL system. I like the idea that his former defensive partner can help the transition. Not to mention, Parekh is nearly six months younger than Yakemchuk, one of the older prospects in this draft. While they may not be my first choice at third overall, reaching for either defenseman will be a sign that Anaheim’s scouts see something worthwhile, and their recent track record gives them the benefit of the doubt.
Statistics courtesy of Elite Prospects
