Kingston Frontenacs 2024-25 Season Thread, Part I

[Generalsupdates]

I know Edwards for sure would’ve been a first round pick.

I’m surprised though that nobody heard any rumblings prior to when we all did. Maybe everyone found out around the same time?

Was always the rumours but prior to the last 4 months it had been nothing but rumours that nothing ever came from

 

[OHL4Life]

I know Edwards for sure would’ve been a first round pick.

I’m surprised though that nobody heard any rumblings prior to when we all did. Maybe everyone found out around the same time?

it was always going to happen, just depending on time. lawsuit probably sped it up 12-18 months

 

[leafs4life94]

McQuaig making his debut tonight on the 4th line, Clark up with the third line, no Weir and no Soto again.

McQuaig coming in makes me think they've made their mind up on Weir.

Moore in for Velliaris on the back-end with Lalonde starting again.

 

[frontsfan67]

Very even game here so far. Think whoever scores that first one wins the game

 

[beastintheeast]

Betts seems to be having a good under 17 would Cooper think about moving Vaccari and bringing in Betts to back up Lalonde

NCAA will have no effect this season

The earliest it is going to make a difference is at the draft.

 

[leafs4life94]

The Fronts FINALLY have a "good" win. That was an unbelievably tight game and absolutely could've gone either way.

Really happy for McGowan to get the GWG, the guy is one of the most explosive athletes I've ever seen play for the Fronts and I was saying to my buddy just before he scored that if the natural talent was where his physical tools are he'd be a locked and loaded pro player. I'll be extremely disappointed if he's not one of the OAs they keep next year - he's so much fun to watch.

From last games I've seen I generally don't like Reid as a ref but it's hard to argue the refs seated the game either way. The Franssen penalty that led to he first goal was a little soft but Miedema's third (3 minor penalties needs to be addressed) also felt a little questionable.

I liked McQuaig in the camp scrimmages I saw and from what I saw tonight he looked like he belonged at this level 100%.

Interestingly, I didn't notice Weir up in the scratches box - I don't know if it means he's been sent down or if he's hurt but I feel like he's been jumped on the depth chart.

Betts seems to be having a good under 17 would Cooper think about moving Vaccari and bringing in Betts to back up Lalonde

NCAA will have no effect this season

The earliest it is going to make a difference is at the draft.

I don't think it's worth moving Vaccari this year - unlikely to get too much in return and if he's back next year he'd be a perfect mentor for Betts. Everything I've read is that Vaccari is an absolute gem of a human being and seems like a perfect veteran presence for Betts.

 

[beastintheeast]

If the Fronts do a soft sell who do you think is avail?

 

[dirty12]

If the Fronts do a soft sell who do you think is avail?

The Fronts hold the #2 seed with a quarter of the season played. What leads you to believe the Fronts will do a soft sell?

 

[leafs4life94]

Weir in for Kelly, McQuaig stays in, Soto still out.

They definitely need to look at acquiring a capable 3rd pair D. Having Moore play what feels like 5 shifts a game isn't going to cut it in the playoffs and Velliaris has a tendency to give away the puck which I'm guessing is why he's been in the press box these past two games. A trade like the Sandhu acquisition Oshawa got last year would make sense - not many premium picks for a depth '06 that'll be able to contribute next year.

 

[frontsfan67]

No martone today. Must be getting suspended for his 5min major last night. Gibbons is also starting. Fronts NEED to win this game

 

[frontsfan67]

What a game today was. Was definitely not expecting this outcome this weekend. Possibly 2 best games of the season so far and back to back.

Wonder if they get CHL top 10 consideration? Believe last time they had that was the Bennett years.

Now watching Betts and team Canada white. He’s playing great so far.

 

[frontsfan67]

Betts 38/39 saves and Canada white won the gold medal.

Cooper trade Vaccari and make this guy the backup to Lalonde NOW

 

[OMG67]

What a game today was. Was definitely not expecting this outcome this weekend. Possibly 2 best games of the season so far and back to back.

Wonder if they get CHL top 10 consideration? Believe last time they had that was the Bennett years.

Now watching Betts and team Canada white. He’s playing great so far.

Brampton is short right now. No Martone, Dragusica, Leskovar, and MacDonnell.

Brampton needs to find a true Captain. That team plays like they are missing a rudder. When everything is rolling along, they are fine. When things go sideways a bit, they seem to fall off the rails. They need two really good team guys that can keep them focused and lead by example with hard work. I pointed to Spearing with the Petes a couple years ago. I think Leskovar is one of the two they are missing but they need another one. I’m not sure they need to inject more skill. Just a true Field General.

 

[frontsfan67]

Brampton is short right now. No Martone, Dragusica, Leskovar, and MacDonnell.

Brampton needs to find a true Captain. That team plays like they are missing a rudder. When everything is rolling along, they are fine. When things go sideways a bit, they seem to fall off the rails. They need two really good team guys that can keep them focused and lead by example with hard work. I pointed to Spearing with the Petes a couple years ago. I think Leskovar is one of the two they are missing but they need another one. I’m not sure they need to inject more skill. Just a true Field General.

Haven’t looked at their OA situation but a guy like Konnor Smith or Matthew Andonovski would make sense. Gibson too but he is 19

 

[leafs4life94]

Betts 38/39 saves and Canada white won the gold medal.

Cooper trade Vaccari and make this guy the backup to Lalonde NOW

I'd actually rather him stay in the OJHL to get more consistent starts. Obviously if they meet an offer they can't refuse for Vaccari obviously you make the trade but they actually have the luxury of letting him develop.

Bring him up once they have a playoff spot/seed locked in and get him some games at this level and set him up to take over the starting gig next year.

 

[dirty12]

Brampton is short right now. No Martone, Dragusica, Leskovar, and MacDonnell.

Brampton needs to find a true Captain. That team plays like they are missing a rudder. When everything is rolling along, they are fine. When things go sideways a bit, they seem to fall off the rails. They need two really good team guys that can keep them focused and lead by example with hard work. I pointed to Spearing with the Petes a couple years ago. I think Leskovar is one of the two they are missing but they need another one. I’m not sure they need to inject more skill. Just a true Field General.

Pretty much every team will struggle with illness and injury at some point. It hasn’t been a crutch for Barrie or Niagara, it should not be for a steelheads team with picks to burn.
I still think an OA goalie (Sztuska) until at least the deadline would have been a good idea for that team. The wolves exposed a lack of defence and physicality at forward in the playoffs. That should have been a priority for the steelheads in the off-season imo. At least that is an area that will not be too expensive to address.

 

[beastintheeast]

Pretty much every team will struggle with illness and injury at some point. It hasn’t been a crutch for Barrie or Niagara, it should not be for a steelheads team with picks to burn.
I still think an OA goalie (Sztuska) until at least the deadline would have been a good idea for that team. The wolves exposed a lack of defence and physicality at forward in the playoffs. That should have been a priority for the steelheads in the off-season imo. At least that is an area that will not be too expensive to address.

The difference between the 3 teams Brampton Barrie and Niagara is that.

Brampton does not have a history to fall back on. I think they have the leadership; they just need to step up. I wonder if a player like Stonehouse would be a fit for them. I also wonder, with all the egos on the team, if it is a bench problem.

Niagara is not so much history but they have Loshko who has seen the bright side and a bunch of players that have played together and just want to play hard every night.

I will also add that at this time of the season I was asking the same things about Erie because they were playing so bad.

 

[dirty12]

The difference between the 3 teams Brampton Barrie and Niagara is that.

Brampton does not have a history to fall back on. I think they have the leadership; they just need to step up. I wonder if a player like Stonehouse would be a fit for them. I also wonder, with all the egos on the team, if it is a bench problem.

Niagara is not so much history but they have Loshko who has seen the bright side and a bunch of players that have played together and just want to play hard every night.

I will also add that at this time of the season I was asking the same things about Erie because they were playing so bad.

Erie needs a BUG.
Loshko was a bonus for sure. After Cowan, He is probably the next most disruptive forward in the league; no one wants to win more.
Though I very much doubt Rehkopf has it in him to be consistently great defensively, I think he could be among the best 2-way players.

 

[ScoutLife4]

Brampton can't be overly happy about their start to the season.
Their PP is pretty bad, PK is terrible and they take a lot of penalties.
They definitely don't have the depth that Barrie does.
I would have like to see Martone and Ivankovic yesterday to get a better grasp on their team.

 

[frontsfan67]

Brampton can't be overly happy about their start to the season.
Their PP is pretty bad, PK is terrible and they take a lot of penalties.
They definitely don't have the depth that Barrie does.
I would have like to see Martone and Ivankovic yesterday to get a better grasp on their team.

IMO it would’ve been a completely different game with those 2 in. Especially Ivankovic. He can steal games all by himself and gibbons was absolutely horrible. Ivankovic stole a bunch of games vs us last season. Believe he had a 0.934 sv% vs us across 3 games and he won them all. Martone also dominates us every time he plays. Thats the 2 players the fronts struggled playing the most on the steelheads last year.

Martone was leading the league in points and Ivankovic is a top 3 goalie in the league. Fronts are lucky both were out last night.

 

[OMG67]

Pretty much every team will struggle with illness and injury at some point. It hasn’t been a crutch for Barrie or Niagara, it should not be for a steelheads team with picks to burn.
I still think an OA goalie (Sztuska) until at least the deadline would have been a good idea for that team. The wolves exposed a lack of defence and physicality at forward in the playoffs. That should have been a priority for the steelheads in the off-season imo. At least that is an area that will not be too expensive to address.

I agree about the OA goalie assuming they are waiting until the deadline to add an OA. But, I still say the big issue is the lack of true leadership and experience.

 

[OMG67]

Brampton can't be overly happy about their start to the season.
Their PP is pretty bad, PK is terrible and they take a lot of penalties.
They definitely don't have the depth that Barrie does.
I would have like to see Martone and Ivankovic yesterday to get a better grasp on their team.

When the full lineup is in place, they are pretty good. Ivankovic is great. He was stoning Ottawa the day previous.

They have too many key players out of the lineup to really judge the team. Martone on suspension for his hit on MArrelli the day previous. Leskovar is a big loss for them. He is that back end General that makes opposing teams think twice about getting fancy. Of course MacDonnell is also a loss as is Karmiris. Dagusica is a bit of a loss as well on the back end. That is way too much out of the lineup, even for a strong team. Then factor in an open OA slot on top of all that.

The thing about Brampton is they are still relatively young. They lack true leadership and experience. Richmond needs to add two really strong leaders to that dressing room to assist Leskovar. Those guys don’t need to be elite. I have pointed to the type of leadership Spearing brought to the Petes during their run. HE was out of th lineup a good portion of the season and they seemed rudderless. He returns and provides stability. That is what the steelheads lack.

As of right now, Barrie is the clear front-runner with Oshawa potentially the 2nd team because they are top heavy and top heavy usually wins in the playoffs when healthy. But, Brampton is right there. The right savvy moves and they are in good shape. They have the draft picks to acquire the types of players they need.

 

[dirty12]

I agree about the OA goalie assuming they are waiting until the deadline to add an OA. But, I still say the big issue is the lack of true leadership and experience.

A lack of pure size to battle and a real will to win among forwards is glaring imo. Taking penalties to thwart offence is not real effort imo.

 

[OMG67]

A lack of pure size to battle and a real will to win among forwards is glaring imo. Taking penalties to thwart offence is not real effort imo.

Yup and that is where the real leadership comes into play.

Richmond needs to reconfigure that lineup. If I were him, I would be looking very closely at using a player like Karmiris at the deadline. A team like Kitchener may take a strong look at a deal like that for Andonovski. Karmiris is a strong OA candidate in two years. Brampton can afford to give up some offence to gain the types of players they need.

Brampton is in a similar situation to Kingston. They don’t have an ‘08 1st. Their ‘07 1st is a key player they cannot move. The other ‘07s aren’t quite strong enough to tip the balance in a trade. That means they really only have draft picks to move. I think we could see them move a player like Karmiris if the conditions were right and they were able to fill a hole in their leadership group.

 

[dirty12]

Yup and that is where the real leadership comes into play.

Richmond needs to reconfigure that lineup. If I were him, I would be looking very closely at using a player like Karmiris at the deadline. A team like Kitchener may take a strong look at a deal like that for Andonovski. Karmiris is a strong OA candidate in two years. Brampton can afford to give up some offence to gain the types of players they need.

Brampton is in a similar situation to Kingston. They don’t have an ‘08 1st. Their ‘07 1st is a key player they cannot move. The other ‘07s aren’t quite strong enough to tip the balance in a trade. That means they really only have draft picks to move. I think we could see them move a player like Karmiris if the conditions were right and they were able to fill a hole in their leadership group.

Idk, Karmiris is Romani waiting to happen imo. It’s too bad for them and Kingston that Barrie got Wakely. A start might be Allard C or Swick LW for Martone, then have Zidlicky & Rehkopf as wingers for Karmiris.
Like Kingston, it’s a bit late for reconfiguring. Moving Misa and MacDonell at this point …?