Kingston Frontenacs 2024-25 Season Thread, Part I

[frontsfan67]

You couldn’t be more wrong about Frasca and Thibodeau.
Keeping them IN the dressing room would have been disastrous.
They got rid of a lot of problems moving them and used the picks from Frasca to upgrade their C depth bringing in Guindon.
Plus Thibodeau is an under sized 19 year old that is no where near good enough to come back in his OA year. Has no leadership qualities and a Dad that will make you beat your own head off a wall.

And they also got very good packages for them both- I was very impressed with cooper for that. If they wanted to just use the picks they got from Frasca and Thibodeau to put towards 18-19 year olds they could do that or if they want to hoard them for the next few years they can do that too. Bottom line trading those two was a blessing in disguise especially with a guy like Hopkins breaking out who is 2 years younger than thibs and 1 year younger than frasca.

If Ludwinski comes back, who do you get rid of? I really do not think he will be back I think he is getting used to AHL on a team that is fairly strong on LW

I agree about the problem children. There is a reason that they did not get a huge haul for either one or that none were really drafted.

Heyes for sure

With them having a crap ton of centres guys like Hopkins and probably Dervin play wing if a guy like ludwinski comes back and Mann roles 3 lines the whole game(as he pretty much already does)

Then when Guindon and Ludwinski (if he gets reassigned here) age out the younger guys like Hopkins and Dervin can take over the centre position for next year.

 

[frontsfan67]

Looks like Betts gets the start - won't be able to watch but will be following as best as I can.

Smart of them to play him. Hopefully they ease him in against the teams they should beat this year and giving him that confidence should work wonders for him next year when he is on the team full time.

 

[OMG67]

The Frasca trade may have been “the best of a bad situation” but it still does not discount the fact that the trade value of their ‘06 1st basically was an OA. I can understand issues with the ‘05 draft. With the Covid year previous, teams didn’t have a strong sense of what they were really picking so that draft was a bit more of a crap shoot. But, you gotta hit on 1st rounders and if you don’t, it is tough.

No matter how you look at it, you cannot truly contend by taking a year by year approach to building a contender. That is EXACTLY what Kingston has done. They played the deadline last year thinking about last year. There was no thought about this year. None.

So many Fronts fans pointed to the age of the roster suggesting this year was the red circled year. I don’t think the management agreed. I was shocked when Ludwinski wasn’t traded. If this year was the year then that is the Trade Deadline 101 trade. I’d have been fine with using a few assets on Dubois as his replacement to ensure the team remains competitive gearing up for this year but not moving him was odd. Then drafting a not so signable ‘08 on top of that? Then trading two key forwards in the offseason (troublesome or not) and expecting to take heavy strides forward?

I’d say the Fronts are somewhat lucky to be where they are under those circumstances. Very fortunate. Fortunate enough to now look at the tradable assets and think back about how poorly the deadline decisions were last year that have handcuffed the Fronts into potentially not getting out of round one if the arms race passes them by. This HAS TO BE at least a Conference Finals appearance level team. This year fades into a rebuild period so there is no looking to next season.

If the Fronts are unable to make competitive trades with their draft picks, I really think they need to at least consider a couple seller moves to help the next rebuild. Give it a shot int he arm. I think buying is still Plan A. You are backed into that corner too far but if the arms a race shapes up to be too much, I think Plan B cannot be status quo. Focus on Plan A though.

 

[OMG67]

Kieran Dervin is a good get. The question is whether he will agree to be traded. He is more valuable to Kingston as a trade piece at the deadline than a roster player this year. Playing in the U-18 loop at 17 isn’t really a strong enough level to make the OHL transition. Maybe he plays 4th line this year on a contending team in Kingston?

 

[frontsfan67]

Kieran Dervin is a good get. The question is whether he will agree to be traded. He is more valuable to Kingston as a trade piece at the deadline than a roster player this year. Playing in the U-18 loop at 17 isn’t really a strong enough level to make the OHL transition. Maybe he plays 4th line this year on a contending team in Kingston?

Why would he come here to get 4th line minutes? He would be better off staying with st Andrew’s this year and coming next year. We roll 3 lines pretty equally. They probably agreed that he could be included in the top 9 over a guy like Ben pickell who is 19 and won’t be back next year where Dervin will (and obviously will be a top player on the team too with us losing half the damn team)

 

[OMG67]

Why would he come here to get 4th line minutes? He would be better off staying with st Andrew’s this year and coming next year. We roll 3 lines pretty equally. They probably agreed that he could be included in the top 9 over a guy like Ben pickell who is 19 and won’t be back next year where Dervin will (and obviously will be a top player on the team too with us losing half the damn team)

Or he will be a traded to a team he will get playing time for….

He’s an Ottawa boy. That is a player that could finally be used in a Mews deal. I am not saying I know anything but a Mews deal could be on the table now.

 

[frontsfan67]

Or he will be a traded to a team he will get playing time for….

He’s an Ottawa boy. That is a player that could finally be used in a Mews deal. I am not saying I know anything but a Mews deal could be on the table now.

Maybe. Not sure about any of the details I’m sure in the coming weeks we will find more out however I can’t see him getting sent to Ottawa as it appears Cameron doesn’t enjoy playing the younger guys. I predict he stays with the fronts as he can learn from Mann who is one of the best coaches in the league and still get consistent top 6/9 playing time on one of the best teams in the east as a rookie and then next year when everyone graduates or gets traded (Soto, Battaglia, Miedema?)Hopkins, Dervin get more playing time and more responsibly. And then Dervin gets to go to penn state.

 

[OMG67]

If he plays top 9 coming out of U-18, your team will be worse this year. Depth forwards is not your issue. You are placing unrealistic expectations on the player.

 

[frontsfan67]

If he plays top 9 coming out of U-18, your team will be worse this year. Depth forwards is not your issue. You are placing unrealistic expectations on the player.

Dean Létourneau played on Kierans team last year and went first round to Boston. Not comparing him to dean but Kieran is doing well ppg wise.

He should be atleast around Ben pickells skill level and that should be enough for him to play 3rd line LW

As I said before don’t think he would come over to play 5 mins a night on the 4th line with Buttar and Weir lol. Would be better off going to the USHL or continuing with prep hockey

 

[frontsfan67]

Great game by the black white and gold today. We have north bays number this year- did a complete 180 this year when they’ve had ours since the Bennett days.

3/3 leading the eastern conference with 34 points in 25 games (with Barrie having 3 games in hand)

Next game is the showdown between the #1 seed fronts and the #1 seed knights Friday. Very excited for that game but London has always had our number- would be nice to pull off a win on home ice.

What a game by Gavin Betts.

Also Cedric Guindon is on pace for 92 points! So much for all the people saying he was gonna hit 50. Great kid glad he is doing well.

 

[ScoutLife4]

Great game by the black white and gold today. We have north bays number this year- did a complete 180 this year when they’ve had ours since the Bennett days.

3/3 leading the eastern conference with 34 points in 25 games (with Barrie having 3 games in hand)

Next game is the showdown between the #1 seed fronts and the #1 seed knights Friday. Very excited for that game but London has always had our number- would be nice to pull off a win on home ice.

What a game by Gavin Betts.

Also Cedric Guindon is on pace for 92 points! So much for all the people saying he was gonna hit 50. Great kid glad he is doing well.

I remember a month or 2 ago people here saying he wasn’t a 1C and didn’t produce much offence that being on a bad Owen sound didn’t reduce his output

 

[leafs4life94]

The Frasca trade may have been “the best of a bad situation” but it still does not discount the fact that the trade value of their ‘06 1st basically was an OA. I can understand issues with the ‘05 draft. With the Covid year previous, teams didn’t have a strong sense of what they were really picking so that draft was a bit more of a crap shoot. But, you gotta hit on 1st rounders and if you don’t, it is tough.

If we're being critical about Frasca being somewhat of a bust for a 1st rounder then yes that's absolutely fair, he's definitely a bottom 4-5 1st from that draft.

Getting the value they did when they did was fair value.

Instead of looking at it like "they only got XYZ" for their '06 first, I'd look at it from the perspective of "ok they got XYZ" for Gabe Frasca.

Plus, Battaglia is contributing like a 1st so it makes the miss a little easier to swallow. The rest of the draft however... Williamson is all that's left...

 

[leafs4life94]

Do we know where Lalonde has been? I'm hoping it's just an illness that worsened into the weekend since he backed up on Friday

 

[beastintheeast]

If we're being critical about Frasca being somewhat of a bust for a 1st rounder then yes that's absolutely fair, he's definitely a bottom 4-5 1st from that draft.

Getting the value they did when they did was fair value.

Instead of looking at it like "they only got XYZ" for their '06 first, I'd look at it from the perspective of "ok they got XYZ" for Gabe Frasca.

Plus, Battaglia is contributing like a 1st so it makes the miss a little easier to swallow. The rest of the draft however... Williamson is all that's left...

Kieran is not going anywhere this year.

Frasca was a Caputi player. So when he lost his coach, he had to either adapt or get benched traded

He has 12 points and is a minus 6 on the team, so the change did not help him.

I think Betts is up so that Cooper has an idea of what he can do at the deadline. I still think Vaccari might be up for grabs if someone wanted him.

 

[willdabeasttt]

Do we know where Lalonde has been? I'm hoping it's just an illness that worsened into the weekend since he backed up on Friday

Miedema said in an interview the other day that Lalonde has been sick, hope nothing serious

 

[ScoutLife4]

Do we know where Lalonde has been? I'm hoping it's just an illness that worsened into the weekend since he backed up on Friday

He came down with a very bad flu bug Friday night.
He was told not to even come to the arena today to prevent the team from getting it and did not go to Brantford.

 

[Generalsupdates]

Betts is going to be a stud. I think he's already the 2nd best goalie in Kingston and not far away from being the 1st

 

[zaluty]

Just wondering,
Kieran's brother also plays at St. Andrews, was it a package deal or just him?

 

[leafs4life94]

Just wondering,
Kieran's brother also plays at St. Andrews, was it a package deal or just him?

The 67's picked drafted him in the 10th this past year so they have his rights - I do wonder if he now intends on coming over too though.

 

[zaluty]

The 67's picked drafted him in the 10th this past year so they have his rights - I do wonder if he now intends on coming over too though.

Or a trade? Who knows.

 

[leafs4life94]

Or a trade? Who knows.

Could be a handshake deal but it'd have to be next summer since he a 16 y/o non-1st rounder.

 

[OMG67]

Could be a handshake deal but it'd have to be next summer since he a 16 y/o non-1st rounder.

I really think you guys may be looking at this the wrong way. Dervin is likley not an impact player for Kingston this year. Maybe he slides into a 3rd line role but he certainly is not taking any of the clear top 8 guys roster spot unless they trade Heyes in a deal for an OA D-Man which still leaves them seven deep. He’d be battling Pickle, Buttar, Clark, and whatever other potential forward they acquire at the deadline.

I honestly think he is a perfect trade chip. Like has been said, his brother was an Ottawa draft pick. Mews “apparently” requested a trade to Kingston. Kingston didn’t have the right pieces but now maybe they do have a good fit piece to go along with draft picks. I’m not saying I know anything. I don’t. But, to me, that sounds like it makes way more sense than signing him out of St. Andrews to likely play 4th line and sometimes 3rd line. He’d get way more ice in Ottawa, especially as a centre.

Just a thought….

 

[frontsfan67]

I really think you guys may be looking at this the wrong way. Dervin is likley not an impact player for Kingston this year. Maybe he slides into a 3rd line role but he certainly is not taking any of the clear top 8 guys roster spot unless they trade Heyes in a deal for an OA D-Man which still leaves them seven deep. He’d be battling Pickle, Buttar, Clark, and whatever other potential forward they acquire at the deadline.

don’t believe anyone is suggesting he would be an impact player over guys like Battaglia, Soto, Miedema, Guindon, Uronen, Hopkins or even McNamara but after those guys there is definitely spots open.

When heyes gets traded it’ll likely be just a swap for another one with picks attached to Heyes. Or if ludwinski comes back just trade Heyes for a pick or two. With Dervin coming the only upfront move I think happens is now just upgrading Heyes. Mann would be stupid to let pickell play over the much younger and probably more talented Dervin. Also Dervin isn’t coming to play 4th line mins.

And if he is near those guys skill wise (in first paragraph) then that’s awesome for next year as we are obviously losing a bunch of guys and don’t have the very many talented young players right now- and our first round pick malholtra didn’t even commit.

pretty much This year I’d expect top6/9 mins on a competitive team- roll 3 lines as they have been and next year when all these guys graduate he will get consistent top 6 minutes developing under a great coach in Mann before he heads to penn state and bigger and brighter things.

 

[frontsfan67]

I honestly think he is a perfect trade chip. Like has been said, his brother was an Ottawa draft pick. Mews “apparently” requested a trade to Kingston. Kingston didn’t have the right pieces but now maybe they do have a good fit piece to go along with draft picks. I’m not saying I know anything. I don’t. But, to me, that sounds like it makes way more sense than signing him out of St. Andrews to likely play 4th line and sometimes 3rd line. He’d get way more ice in Ottawa, especially as a centre.

He would also have to deal with Dave ”I don’t like playing young players” Cameron too.

I get your thinking but at the same time- Dervin is committed to 2026/27 in penn state, even if he was traded for mews(would be a steal for Kingston) what if Dervin left after next year.

You’re not set up well for next year and you lose the key piece of a trade for mews after 1 and a half years. I can’t see you competing with an few teams like Brampton for sure, Brantford and Niagara, north bay should be a lot better next year too with a lot of 06’s I believe. and you lose the key piece of a trade for mews after 1 and a half years.