if they develop as expected, the 2020-21 season should be an exciting season for rangers fans. that's assuming they get cuylle. i don't see vukojevic being in the OHL past 2019-20 but it's a bonus if he is. petizian will be 4th year in 2020-21 and i expect him to be a stud middle-6 forward. and there are still more drafts/imports to be had before then as well
Kitchener Rangers 2018-19 Season Thread
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if they develop as expected, the 2020-21 season should be an exciting season for rangers fans. that's assuming they get cuylle. i don't see vukojevic being in the OHL past 2019-20 but it's a bonus if he is. petizian will be 4th year in 2020-21 and i expect him to be a stud middle-6 forward. and there are still more drafts/imports to be had before then as well
bobber
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Great post Even. I think most GM's are or will be interested in Cuylle. Reading comments from the Pete's GM it sounds like Cuylle projects to be a prototypical OHL power forward with his size and skill level. It would be great to have him in the line up. Saying this I think it's more speculation here and from others that MM is actively pursuing his rights. The cost would be high. I think MM is really being proactive in filling in missing seconds in the draft cupboard. He really seems to understand the value of how important it is to have those assets available when the team is in the position to go on a run. I really can't see the team being all in this coming season so maybe it was prudent to make a trade or two and acquire assets. I guess until a reporter or someone asks the question of why he traded Vallati and made the other deal we won't know the answer.
Agreed. MM is proving to be a much, much better manager of assets than Ranger GM's (including coach-GM-combo) in the past few decades.
Good pedigree, always respected his dad on TSN , and probably a good source on OHL hockey as well.
Generalsupdates
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Interesting that in Josh Brown's article he says:
"It's wait and see on import D Axel Andersson. The Rangers thought they had a good shot at the Swedish stud but are cooling off on that stance a bit."
"It's wait and see on import D Axel Andersson. The Rangers thought they had a good shot at the Swedish stud but are cooling off on that stance a bit."
RangerNation
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I imagine a lot of decisions will happen during Boston's training camp. It was a gamble pick considering the timing of Liska's departure, but a good one if he reports.
Generalsupdates
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I was surprised to read that because I assumed they moved Vallati because they would've been able to replace his minutes with Axel
BogeyJ
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Brown has also shed a little light on the Vallati trade stating personal reasons. After reading it sounds like maybe he wanted to be closer to home before his assumed eventual flight to the pros next year or the year after. Interesting to say the least since McKenzie wanted to keep Vallati. On the whole front; I'm looking forward to seeing Macpherson who genuinely sounds excited to be in Kitchener and wish Vallati the best in Oshawa as he was a class act while here.
Ward Cornell
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Now that it's out there that the Vallati trade was made due to "personal reasons", simply speculating that he's likely wanting to play closer to home is the easy, tidy direction to go.
I'm not trying to fire up a controversy and I have no inside info, but not lost on me was the coach's comments after the playoff game in Guelph where Vallati was knocked out of the game as a result of a blindside headshot.
When asked, McKee's take on the play was that he saw no issue with it and that he didn't think Guelph's Ratcliffe did anything intentionally and that they wouldn't be seeking supplementary discipline.
I've watched the play often enough to clearly see that this is a textbook headshot that historically results in a suspension.
Perhaps Vallati and his "camp" felt slighted by the coach. That maybe the coach didn't "have his back" in this situation. To be honest, I was surprised at the time of the coach's comments and wrote it off that since it was an elimination game, he chose to take the high road and leave it at that. (There was much discussion on here on the incident)
Also not lost on me is that it seemed that McKee, Farwell and others spent more time saying that Ratcliffe wasn't that type of player and there was no way he purposely tried to injure Vallati on the play than calling for any discipline for what was a blatant head shot on one of their players. It was almost like they were taking Ratcliffe's side - if you will.
Again, I have no inside info but I didn't like any of this at the time and still don't and I wouldn't be surprised if the Vallati camp feels the same way.
I'm not trying to fire up a controversy and I have no inside info, but not lost on me was the coach's comments after the playoff game in Guelph where Vallati was knocked out of the game as a result of a blindside headshot.
When asked, McKee's take on the play was that he saw no issue with it and that he didn't think Guelph's Ratcliffe did anything intentionally and that they wouldn't be seeking supplementary discipline.
I've watched the play often enough to clearly see that this is a textbook headshot that historically results in a suspension.
Perhaps Vallati and his "camp" felt slighted by the coach. That maybe the coach didn't "have his back" in this situation. To be honest, I was surprised at the time of the coach's comments and wrote it off that since it was an elimination game, he chose to take the high road and leave it at that. (There was much discussion on here on the incident)
Also not lost on me is that it seemed that McKee, Farwell and others spent more time saying that Ratcliffe wasn't that type of player and there was no way he purposely tried to injure Vallati on the play than calling for any discipline for what was a blatant head shot on one of their players. It was almost like they were taking Ratcliffe's side - if you will.
Again, I have no inside info but I didn't like any of this at the time and still don't and I wouldn't be surprised if the Vallati camp feels the same way.
Generalsupdates
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Oshawa is still 4 hours away from Ottawa. I'd be very surprised if being 4 hours away from home instead of just over 5 hours away is the reason he got traded
To be fair, if what you say is true then this is not a good thing to follow a player. The game only becomes tougher and more physically demanding upwards, so either take it or go to the KHL.
The blindside head shot on Valatti was delivered by Nate Schnarr and not Ratcliffe. There was no penalty on the play compliments of Darcy Burchell and Joe Monette.
Who knows, maybe the Rangers coaching staff are planning to replace Vallati’s minutes with Baby Joe?
Whoops. I stand corrected. Part of Farwell's defending of Schnarr on the play was that he was a good local boy - not that it would have anything to do with anything.
Generalsupdates
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From Brown's article: "Joseph Garreffa is expected to start the year at forward even though he played defence for most of last year and at Florida Panthers development camp earlier this summer."
Although he will likely end up playing both, he's starting as a forward
Rangers True Blue
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Felt the same. Wishful thinking I guess. The "cooling off" comment wasn't exactly inspiring but I agree that anything can happen at camp. And I never expected Boston to show their hand until later or after camp anyway....so....still a chance. With Vallati gone, minutes won't be an issue...
And please.....Joey is needed as a forward this season. Nuff said.
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Ward Cornell
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The way I saw it and maybe old-school here. But Vallati almost from Day 1 in the OHL always seemed to take nasty hits without him retaliating back. Maybe this was McKees way of getting him to push-back to the other players and not count on the coach going to the league?
Garreffa did a heckuva job in the playoffs last year back on the blue line, but we lost a ton of offence to graduation this year and I'm afraid we're going to need him to be playing forward. I am not 100% confident that Meireles and McHugh are going to be able to put up the numbers needed to replace what we've lost to graduation. Garreffa has to play forward in my opinion. I hope we didn't move Vallati solely to make room on the blueline for Garreffa.
And Ward, you may be right but in this day and age, on ice retribution is frowned upon for the most part - especially in the post season. I still don't know how Schnurr dodged the league's suspension bullet.
And Ward, you may be right but in this day and age, on ice retribution is frowned upon for the most part - especially in the post season. I still don't know how Schnurr dodged the league's suspension bullet.
Coaches Coroner
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Eh, I have a hard time believing that's the reason...if it is, that sounds extremely soft on the part of Vallati's camp. Also doubt it has anything to do with where they want Gareffa playing. If that were the case, they wouldn't have mentioned the "personal reasons". I suspect we are not going to get a concrete answer on this, all I hope is that MM accomodating him helps his/the teams image as a place you can come and not worry too much if things don't quite work out because the management is willing to accomodate players as best they can.
BogeyJ
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Stumbled across this cool inside look at the kitchener memorial auditorium for those who may not have had the opportunity to visit in person this is a good alternative at the inside perspective. Hopefully the link works:
Got You Looking.com
Got You Looking.com
BogeyJ
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I agree.. and the distance to Ottawa thing on my part is just spit balling.. the reason I mentioned it as a possibility is because the article also mentioned something along the lines of he didn't request a trade.. and he's leaving on good terms.. so hard to think it was a player/coach issue or playing time issue. I'm still hoping it has more to do with creating an attractive landing spot for Axel.. maybe help intice Boston a little more with the opening..
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