Kitchener Rangers 2022-23 Off-Season Thread (Part 5)

[EvenSteven]

Are the Rangers rebuilding this year and next year if they are is trading numerous draft picks for a player a smart move.

Also are you sure that he will report.

The strange thing about him is that he was not drafted by the USHL at all. Usually, if a player is good they will draft him in a later round Just in case.

Spending multiple picks on a player who’ll be around when you contend is often part of rebuilding. Any picks that would be used today in a deal for a young player wouldn’t be around by 26-27.

 

[beastintheeast]

Spending multiple picks on a player who’ll be around when you contend is often part of rebuilding. Any picks that would be used today in a deal for a young player wouldn’t be around by 26-27.

I am not sure what you mean by the draft picks will not be around in 26-27

If he is as good as his parents say he will not be around after 25/26

Besides did you guys not give up a lot of draft picks last yer in all or trades.

 

[bobber]

The focus of the Rangers seemed to have been pushed down the road for a chance to host the Mem Cup. Would be great for paying fans to see some decent hockey every year one would think. London seems to provide "entertainment" pretty much every season. Even on down years they find a way to give a couple of teams fits. Rangers being one of them.

 

[bobber]

I am not sure what you mean by the draft picks will not be around in 26-27

If he is as good as his parents say he will not be around after 25/26

Besides did you guys not give up a lot of draft picks last yer in all or trades.

Last season the Rangers screwed the pooch big time. Tried to cover up their coaching blunder by making a false run at the league championship. They did pull a Kobayashi Maru on the Spits which left us all stunned. We still haven't figured out how the hell they accomplished that and went back into a funk against the Knights. Hopefully they proceed with caution going forward. Starting with putting the right coach in place. After the Chris Dennis hiring you kind of lose faith in the decision making process.

 

[EvenSteven]

I am not sure what you mean by the draft picks will not be around in 26-27

If he is as good as his parents say he will not be around after 25/26

Besides did you guys not give up a lot of draft picks last yer in all or trades.

Example: We currently have a 2nd rounder (‘24). We’ll either use the pick to draft a player or trade the pick. It won’t be in the cupboard to be used as an asset to build the 26-27 team.

 

[EvenSteven]

Yeah, and really, it's probably no big deal if either shows up this year. Neither would likely be around for that Mem-Cup-bid-team anyway. If the Rangers go with one import this year - Hamara - I think it allows them to develop one other N.A. player who just may have a chance at being on that team.

Well, personally, I’d rather not wait til 26-27 to be contending again. By 25-26 we better be pretty good going into the following season. That means we’d need a good ‘06 group. The cheapest way to improve our ‘06 group is via the import draft.

If we’re not pretty good in 25-26, then it wouldn’t say much about the development of our 07’s and 08’s.

 

[OnlyUpFromHere]

Well, personally, I’d rather not wait til 26-27 to be contending again. By 25-26 we better be pretty good going into the following season. That means we’d need a good ‘06 group. The cheapest way to improve our ‘06 group is via the import draft.

If we’re not pretty good on 25-26, then it wouldn’t say much about the development of our 07’s and 08’s.

Agreed. I don't think you're doing anyone (players, fans, etc.) any favours not being at least competitive until 25/26 and then into 26/27 which is why I'm on the train of not trading Rehkopf until 24/25 when he's in his last year in the league.

The younger players need a fighting chance coming into the league and offloading every "realistic" asset immediately doesn't help them do that playing behind the 8-ball in every scenario.

Plus, a return for Rehkopf for this year would likely include the trading partner's 1st rounder from this year and there's only so much room for 2007-borns to play with Kitchener having signed their top 5 picks (4 who will be full time OHLers by the sounds of it) + this idea of adding another in Henry Brzustewicz, which I will say I am okay with adding if the opportunity presented itself.

 

[rangersblues]

Last season the Rangers screwed the pooch big time. Tried to cover up their coaching blunder by making a false run at the league championship. They did pull a Kobayashi Maru on the Spits which left us all stunned. We still haven't figured out how the hell they accomplished that and went back into a funk against the Knights. Hopefully they proceed with caution going forward. Starting with putting the right coach in place. After the Chris Dennis hiring you kind of lose faith in the decision making process.

I don't think making a "false run" at the championship was to cover up Dennis. That was happening the minute Mesar and Brzustewicz landed. Mackenzie wildly overestimated the talent level of the Rangers vs the rest of the league. (Perhaps he used some of the posters on this board as reference )Winning the first round saved him a lot of scrutiny.

 

[EvenSteven]

….. To trade numerous draft picks ……

Regarding “numerous draft picks”:

Henry B, should the 67’s designate him defective, would bring in a similar return of other defective players, who will report, taken late in the 1st round.

Since the embargo on dealing distant picks, the best comparable to Henry B as a defective player is Aiden Castle. Castle was coming to the league and the belief is Henry B is coming too.

Flyer picks like Hage, Fantilli and Moldenhaur can’t be used as comparables. They weren’t/aren’t coming to the league. Dickinson can’t be used either. He was of the highest end and was coming.

The return for Castle (13th overall) was 2nd, 3rd, 3rd, 4th.

That’s the ballpark for Henry B n my opinion. Especially once you consider Henry B was the 21st pick, essentially the 1st pick of the 2nd round.

At most I feel the 67’s can expect the Castle return.

So the Rangers, or any other team who may be in on any possible deal, need to decide if 4 years of Henry B is worth that cost. Period.

 

[bobber]

I don't think making a "false run" at the championship was to cover up Dennis. That was happening the minute Mesar and Brzustewicz landed. Mackenzie wildly overestimated the talent level of the Rangers vs the rest of the league. (Perhaps he used some of the posters on this board as reference )Winning the first round saved him a lot of scrutiny.

Blues you are probably correct in your assumption of Mesar and Brzustewicz coming in. Many fans and other hockey prognosticators through out the league thought the Rangers would be some sort of power house coming into last season. They had the same porous defense basically as the year before and the forwards hadn't really progressed as much as they should have. I think it was a combination of poor drafting and coaching. As an example I think a huge player like Schmidt should have been one of the dominant defensemen in the league. Pro size and strength. Maybe he is what he is. Just seemed like if he had better coaching he would have been a hell of a Dman.

 

[EvenSteven]

I don't think making a "false run" at the championship was to cover up Dennis. That was happening the minute Mesar and Brzustewicz landed. Mackenzie wildly overestimated the talent level of the Rangers vs the rest of the league. (Perhaps he used some of the posters on this board as reference )Winning the first round saved him a lot of scrutiny.

He didn’t address obvious needs at the deadline.

 

[rangersblues]

He didn’t address obvious needs at the deadline.

He didn't but he was pretty much out of ammunition (draft picks) to do anything significant at that point. I think a big mistake was one of his first trades getting Moore instead of a bigger dman. But we've already beaten that horse to death several times.

 

[EvenSteven]

He didn't but he was pretty much out of ammunition (draft picks) to do anything significant at that point. I think a big mistake was one of his first trades getting Moore instead of a bigger dman. But we've already beaten that horse to death several times.

I agree on Moore. We needed a big stay at home guy on D instead.

I also thought we needed a top 200 ft forward with jam instead of the Arcuri addition. We already had too many of that type of player.

I didn’t mind the Zhilkin deal. Didn’t get it at the time but he was very good in the post season. Loved his two way game and he was great on face offs.

We needed to trade for character. We needed to replace what we lost in the graduation of Petizian and the trade of Xhekaj.

 

[EvenSteven]

Blues you are probably correct in your assumption of Mesar and Brzustewicz coming in. Many fans and other hockey prognosticators through out the league thought the Rangers would be some sort of power house coming into last season. They had the same porous defense basically as the year before and the forwards hadn't really progressed as much as they should have. I think it was a combination of poor drafting and coaching. As an example I think a huge player like Schmidt should have been one of the dominant defensemen in the league. Pro size and strength. Maybe he is what he is. Just seemed like if he had better coaching he would have been a hell of a Dman.

Mesar was expected to blow the doors off this league last year. A dominant 35-65-100pts season was talked about.

Brzustewicz was expected to be just as dominant. Scouting reports had him ranked by many scouts as one of the top D man available in the ‘23 NHL draft. At the time of his trade here, elite prospects had him as one of the best D of his age group period.

Both were pretty good, but neither lived up to those expectations. The reason? Coaching? Development? New league? Scouts were just wrong?

Were the expectations unfair? Who knows?

But that didn’t help our fortunes this year. Not blaming these two. But had they both performed as expected, likely no Moore trade and maybe no need for the Arcuri trade.

 

[EvenSteven]

Are the Rangers rebuilding this year and next year if they are is trading numerous draft picks for a player a smart move.

A quick example of moving assets to bring in a young player as part of a rebuild:

Kitchener traded for a young 17 year old Marcus Smith back in the day. Smith turned into a top-notch defender for this team and a very important part of our Memorial Cup run in 2003.

Had we looked to bring in a “Marcus Smith” at the 2003 deadline, we’d have paid through the nose for him.

 

[bobber]

I agree on Moore. We needed a big stay at home guy on D instead.

I also thought we needed a top 200 ft forward with jam instead of the Arcuri addition. We already had too many of that type of player.

I didn’t mind the Zhilkin deal. Didn’t get it at the time but he was very good in the post season. Loved his two way game and he was great on face offs.

We needed to trade for character. We needed to replace what we lost in the graduation of Petizian and the trade of Xhekaj.

Love this post. Hits the nail on the noggin. The Hamilton Bulldog GM said character was an important element they look for in prospects. Rangers use to add this element but seem to shy away from it some what lately. Pro hockey has a ton of character players with grit. It's not going away anytime soon.

 

[Squirrel88]

Rangers were 7th in the league in goals against last year. I'm not sure that defence and keeping the puck out of their net was really the problem.

 

[EvenSteven]

Rangers were 7th in the league in goals against last year. I'm not sure that defence and keeping the puck out of their net was really the problem.

But in the playoffs (where it matters), of the teams in the west (where it matters) that went to the second round, Kitchener had the most goals against per game.

And in the second round, they allowed over five goals per game in the games they lost.

Against London, Kitchener couldn’t keep the puck out of their net. They had no answer for London‘s size on defence or their grit up front.

 

[Gondrex]

A quick example of moving assets to bring in a young player as part of a rebuild:

Kitchener traded for a young 17 year old Marcus Smith back in the day. Smith turned into a top-notch defender for this team and a very important part of our Memorial Cup run in 2003.

Had we looked to bring in a “Marcus Smith” at the 2003 deadline, we’d have paid through the nose for him.

Would love a similar situation for an '06 or two on this team.

 

[tjziel]

Do you guys think Filip Mesar coming back to the OHL this year?

 

[Billyjack]

Do you guys think Filip Mesar coming back to the OHL this year?

no

 

[EvenSteven]

Do you guys think Filip Mesar coming back to the OHL this year?

He got mixed reviews at the Habs recent evaluation camp. He did some good things but the consensus was that he had a lot of work to do to play top six minutes in Laval next year.

He’ll likely start in Laval though and if he can’t play a top six role, I’d expect him to be sent here. But if he has a Euro clause in his contract, if he can’t play in the A, he may opt for Europe to play for $$.

 

[OnlyUpFromHere]

Really starting to see dominos fall with other teams/leagues filling out their coaching staffs for next season... hopefully a good sign that we'll know the next bench boss for the Rangers soon!

 

[tjziel]

He got mixed reviews at the Habs recent evaluation camp. He did some good things but the consensus was that he had a lot of work to do to play top six minutes in Laval next year.

He’ll likely start in Laval though and if he can’t play a top six role, I’d expect him to be sent here. But if he has a Euro clause in his contract, if he can’t play in the A, he may opt for Europe to play for $$.

I would love for the Knights to trade for Filip Mesar for Ruslan Gazizov and picks.

Rangers ain’t going anywhere this year and if Mesar doesn’t come back we can bring our other import, if we trade for him at the beginning of the year and doesn’t do well it might be more incentive for Montreal to send him back and play for a championship with London.

Ruslan Gazizov is no slouch. He just needs to be a top line guy on a team and he will thrive. Sometime the Knights system prohibits guys from hitting their ceiling because they alway have to play within the system and then get points.

 

[ArielNederland]

I would love for the Knights to trade for Filip Mesar for Ruslan Gazizov and picks.

Rangers ain’t going anywhere this year and if Mesar doesn’t come back we can bring our other import, if we trade for him at the beginning of the year and doesn’t do well it might be more incentive for Montreal to send him back and play for a championship with London.

Ruslan Gazizov is no slouch. He just needs to be a top line guy on a team and he will thrive. Sometime the Knights system prohibits guys from hitting their ceiling because they alway have to play within the system and then get points.

That sounds pretty good, but all the news articles/ san jose journalists say halttunen is going back to finland- although they could be wrong. So I wouldn't make this trade until halttunen is officially coming