Carter Yakemchuk Is Ready — And That Makes Thomas Chabot a Trade Asset Ottawa Should Use

The Ottawa Senators have now lost in the first round in back-to-back seasons — 99 points this year, 97 last year, zero series wins either time. As The Hockey Writers detailed, the original Melnyk-era core of Thomas Chabot, Brady Tkachuk, and Drake Batherson has produced exactly two playoff appearances and no advancement since 2017. That's not a slump. That's a ceiling. And with Carter Yakemchuk forcing his way into the picture, the Senators have both the justification and the mechanism to blow past it.

Yakemchuk, selected seventh overall in the 2024 Draft, posted 10 goals and 40 points in 54 AHL games with Belleville this season — legitimate production for a rookie blueliner — before getting his NHL callup on March 24. In Detroit, he set up Tim Stutzle and then ripped his first NHL goal from the point, activating off the rush exactly the way Ottawa GM Steve Staios described when he praised Yakemchuk's 'NHL-ready shot' at draft time. The kid then earned a recall for Game 4 of the Senators' first-round series against Carolina and went plus-two assists on both Ottawa goals. That's not a cup-of-coffee cameo. That's an audition with a standing ovation.

The structural argument for moving Chabot is straightforward. Yakemchuk and Chabot are cut from the same offensive cloth — both thrive activating into rushes from the blue line, both want the puck to make plays, and both need power-play time to maximize their value. You can't deploy two players with nearly identical offensive footprints on the same blue line and expect either to operate at ceiling. Throw in Jake Sanderson and Jordan Spence — who matched Chabot's 31 points this season while playing alongside eight different partners — and Ottawa's top four is already crowded before Yakemchuk gets a full-time seat. Chabot carries term and cap weight. Yakemchuk is ascending and cheap. The math isn't complicated.

From a prop-betting standpoint, the Senators' blue line reshuffling carries real implications heading into next season. If Yakemchuk steps into a top-four role and draws consistent power-play time — something Travis Green was already testing late in the regular season — he becomes an immediate target on shots-on-goal props. His game is built around activating from the point and shooting; he scored 30 goals in his WHL draft year and lit the lamp in his NHL debut with a point shot. A full season of top-pairing minutes and PP1 deployment projects him well over the standard 1.5–2.0 shots-on-goal line that will likely open for him. Meanwhile, Chabot's production props become a sell if he's traded to a weaker team or sees his role reduced in any transition period — 31 points in Ottawa's system with a crowded blue line is a number that travels poorly to a rebuild situation.

For bettors, the bigger picture is Ottawa's team identity shifting toward a younger, faster, shoot-first blue line anchored by Sanderson and Yakemchuk. That profile — mobile defensemen who generate offense in transition — historically correlates with higher team shot totals and more fluid power plays, which means Ottawa's team total and power-play points props deserve a closer look come October. The Senators aren't a broken franchise. They're a team at an inflection point, and Yakemchuk is the clearest leading indicator of which direction they're about to turn.