It’s been a memorable 24 hours for the crown jewels of the Ottawa Senators’ 2024 NHL Draft.
On Tuesday, Carter Yakemchuk hustled to Detroit to play in his first NHL game and had a dream debut. Yakemchuk scored a goal and added an assist in an important 3-2 Ottawa victory over the Red Wings. Between that performance and the state of the Sens’ banged-up blue line, he may be in Ottawa to stay.
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Yakemchuk was the seventh overall draft pick in 2024, the rare right-shot defenseman with size (6’3″, 220 lbs) and skill. After that, with the second pick in the draft, the Senators’ scouting staff showed they have a type.
They went with a defenseman again… an even bigger one.
They selected 6-foot-7 Gabriel Elliason. Elliason doesn’t have Yakemchuk’s skill, but what he lacks in point production, he makes up for with physicality and unkind intentions.
On Draft Day, it was easy to imagine the two of them paired together someday, yin and yang, each bringing elements the other lacks.
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On Wednesday morning, less than a day after Yakemchuk’s big night, Elliason got his flowers, signing a three-year, entry-level contract with the Senators, set to start in the 2026-27 season.
Image credit: Senators.com
Eliasson has spent the past two seasons with the Barrie Colts, who just won the OHL East’s Central Division regular season title. With eight points in 61 games, he’s clearly more of a shut down defenseman who uses his incredible reach and physical play to make life miserable for opponents.
And he plays with such a chip on his shoulder that part of his focus this season was dialling it back and picking his spots a little better. But fear not, fans of mayhem, Elliason still led the OHL in penalty minutes (122) and will now help ride the Colts into the playoffs starting Thursday against Niagara.
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“Gabriel’s game has matured since we drafted him,” GM Steve Staios said in a club press release. “We’ve been pleased with his development, and his character and work ethic fit in perfectly with the team we’re building.”
Elliason will compete for an NHL job this fall, but will almost certainly spend a season or two in Belleville before he can truly be on Ottawa’s radar. But just as we saw with Yakemchuk, thanks to all the injuries this month, you never say never.
And you can’t teach big… or mean.
Steve Warne
The Hockey News
This article was first published at The Hockey News Ottawa. Check out more great Sens features from The Hockey News at the links below:
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