The 2024 Upper Deck NHL Draft will be held June 28-29 at Sphere in Las Vegas. The first round will be June 28 (7 p.m. ET; ESPN, ESPN+, SN, TVAS) and Rounds 2-7 are June 29 (11:30 a.m. ET; ESPN+, NHLN, SN, SN1). NHL.com is counting down to the draft with in-depth profiles on top prospects, podcasts and other features. Today, a profile on defenseman Carter Yakemchuk, who plays for Calgary of the Western Hockey League. NHL.com's full draft coverage can be found here.
Carter Yakemchuk knows he'll have to leave home at some point. But for now, the 18-year-old defenseman of Calgary of the Western Hockey League is very happy going to sleep in his own bed every night during the hockey season.
Yakemchuk was born in Fort McMurray, Alberta, but when he was 6 years old his family moved about 450 miles south to Calgary.
And the city is where his hockey career took off, including being selected by his hometown Hitmen in the third round (No. 65) of the 2020 Western Hockey League bantam draft.
This season, he scored 30 goals in 66 games to lead WHL defensemen and set a Calgary single-season record for the position.
"I'm super lucky that I'm living at home," Yakemchuk said. "So that's been great so far. My family, we took another kid from our team as a billet (center Oliver Tulk, Calgary's leading scorer this season) so it's been really good. It's super special, every night I get lots of friends and family come to the game. So it's been great."
They had a lot to cheer about as Yakemchuk (6-foot-3, 201 pounds) emerged as one of the top prospects for the 2024 draft. His 71 points were fifth among WHL defensemen, and he's No. 11 among North American skaters in NHL Central Scouting's final rankings.