Kitchener Rangers 2022-23 Season Thread (Part 2)

[bobber]

Brown mentioned Martin is back skating non contact. I believe he said should be ready to play Jan. 10th.

 

[Ward Cornell]

Well, in a sense, it was Bedard administering the beatdown. Take away his 7 points and you have a 4-2 game. I heard this type of logic on these boards before.

Now a true beatdown is when a team scores 9 or 10 goals ALL by a different player. The Rangers did this a couple of weeks ago. I can't recall who they were playing, though?

This Bedard guy even at age 17 has totally separated himself from any other player in this tourney. So impressive, I was reading some pundits (more NCAAcentric) that were touting Fantilli as No.1, my gosh the gap between Bedard and Fantilli let alone other players wouldnt fit in the Grand Canyon.

 

[Matttheleaf]

looks like we may get pretty close to our first sell-out of the year tonight, which is great to see.

 

[bobber]

Usually when it gets this close to the deadline there are rumours floating around on these boards. Other than the rumours of World Junior players possibly being traded its kind of quiet. I am sure MM is looking at a couple of deals. When a GM's team is in this position in the standings and he decides this is the year to make a run he has to do everything in his power to bolster the line up. They struggled physically in Owen Sound and had a time trying to put pucks behind their goalie. Mesar and Martin being back will help but I think MM needs more scoring when the top players are being heavily covered. What do others think?

 

[Matttheleaf]

Usually when it gets this close to the deadline there are rumours floating around on these boards. Other than the rumours of World Junior players being possibly being traded its kind of quiet. I am sure MM is looking at a couple of deals. When a GM's team is in this position in the standings and he decides this is the year to make a run he has to do everything in his power to bolster the line up. They struggled physically in Owen Sound and had a time trying to put pucks behind their goalie. Mesar and Martin being back will help but I think MM needs more scoring when the top players are being heavily covered. What do others think?

I do think that I may be nice to add a couple more edge pieces or some more physical elements, but I think that when both Mesar and Martin are back that will really help the top two lines, and allow for the rangers to move Sop, Swick or Valade to be moved to the third line to better evenly spread out the scoring.

 

[bobber]

No game on the tube tonight as far as I can see. Some old Ranger game reruns have been on. Should be a good test for the Rangers .

 

[EvenSteven]

Usually when it gets this close to the deadline there are rumours floating around on these boards. Other than the rumours of World Junior players possibly being traded its kind of quiet. I am sure MM is looking at a couple of deals. When a GM's team is in this position in the standings and he decides this is the year to make a run he has to do everything in his power to bolster the line up. They struggled physically in Owen Sound and had a time trying to put pucks behind their goalie. Mesar and Martin being back will help but I think MM needs more scoring when the top players are being heavily covered. What do others think?

No rumours here, but just a couple suggestions / requests / ideas?

With Missy maybe selling, do we have a buyers market now? If so, maybe Winterton coming off an injury, and with a sketchy injury history, can be had at a bit of a discount. It would be what we could afford. At a discount, the risk / reward could be worth it. I get the Connor Hall shoulder thing, but worst case scenario, Winterton misses a stretch, we’d still be relatively deep up front. We’d make sure Winterton would be babied regarding his recovery. Unlike Connor Hall when we played him in meaningless late season games.

Of course, any trade could include conditionals on games played. (2nd ‘25, 3rd ‘24, 3rd*’26, 4th* ‘23, 4th ‘23).
With him in the lineup, our top nine could look like this (mix and match if you will):
Martin. Pinelli. Mesar.
Arcuri. Rehkopf. Winterton.
Swick. Sop. Valade.

Would Tourre out of Sudbury be available? What’s his worth? I suspect he could be a cheap add. Picking up a Tourre is comparable to the Wale addition. Wale put us to eight D, all of which could play, giving us the depth we’d have needed for the post season. (Bergkvist. MacPherson. Wale. Sebrango. Xhekaj. Vukojevic. Ottavainen. Motew). Any combination of those eight would have been just fine post season. I’d say the same regarding the eight we’d have if Tourre was added. (Moore. Schmidt. Brzustewicz. Hamara. Andonovski. Motew. Hollett. Tourre).
Would an excess body plus a mid round pick or two get it done?

Notice I’ve suggested these two moves being able to protect our 2nd and 3rd in the ‘23 draft. That’s important.

 

[Ward Cornell]

I guess te OHL didn't deem Matthew Andonovski major penalty worthy missing tonight's game.

 

[EvenSteven]

I guess te OHL didn't deem Matthew Andonovski major penalty worthy missing tonight's game.

And they shouldn’t deem tonight’s Schmidt slewfoot worthy of missing games either. The Pete’s player as much spun around on that play as anything.

 

[RangerNation]

Zero finish tonight. They have maintained 90% of the play but you have to score during that time.

 

[bobber]

No game on the tube last night. Listening to Farwell call the game he seemed like he was in low gear. Usually he gets on a sugar rush at various times during the game. Not sure why but I feel like someone should be playing "Taps" this morning. Petes missing a couple of players also but there big guns came through as expected. Off the Windsor today. Just a point on Schmidt. His 2 game suspension is on the OHL Media Notes already. Rangers asked for a review.

 

[RangerNation]

And they shouldn’t deem tonight’s Schmidt slewfoot worthy of missing games either. The Pete’s player as much spun around on that play as anything.

2 games for Schmidt. Can come back January 6th

 

[EvenSteven]

2 games for Schmidt. Can come back January 6th

 

[Tim Wallach]

McKenzie is at a bit of a crossroads here as he has done a very poor job at building out the bottom half of this roster. It’s arguably the worst bottom six this team has had in memory. But he is all in. So will he tweak that component? Because this isn’t a championship bottom six, no matter what you do with the top end.

 

[rangersblues]

McKenzie is at a bit of a crossroads here as he has done a very poor job at building out the bottom half of this roster. It’s arguably the worst bottom six this team has had in memory. But he is all in. So will he tweak that component? Because this isn’t a championship bottom six, no matter what you do with the top end.

I think it's showing as we are generating very little offense at even strength.

 

[Jives]

A top 6 forward is needed to drop a valade, sop or rehkopf to the 3rd line. Then imo adding a depth 19 year old to the 3rd line.

Pinelli, Acuri, Mesar, Sop, Rehkopf, Valade and Martin are very solid top 3 line options. So you have 7. Add a legit 2nd line player. Add a depth 19 year old that could maybe be a weaker 2nd liner or good 3rd line option. Then you have the ability to balance out 3 lines or load up 2 lines but still have a solid 3rd line. Swick gets bumped to the 4th line and can cover in case of an injury during the playoffs. I really think we need 2 top 9 forwards still to have the depth needed to give the team a chance to win a championship.

 

[Matttheleaf]

Still on team fire Chris Dennis

 

[Coaches Coroner]

McKenzie is at a bit of a crossroads here as he has done a very poor job at building out the bottom half of this roster. It’s arguably the worst bottom six this team has had in memory. But he is all in. So will he tweak that component? Because this isn’t a championship bottom six, no matter what you do with the top end.

He has to. I really hope he doesn't pull a "our trade deadline acquisitions are our good returning and injured players" bowl of crap. I don't mind our top 6, our bottom 6 just has no identity and isn't going to hold up to the grind or be able to wear other teams down the way they'll need to in the playoffs.

Bobbling and missing the puck in OT, can't have that.

 

[RangerNation]

What a boring attempt at OT. I can't wait for Mesar to return, he at least makes an attempt! That being said, definitely didn't get dizzy watching Windsor skate circles around them...

 

[rangersblues]

Still on team fire Chris Dennis

Rangers have a 5 game stretch beginning January 15 where we play Saginaw, Sarnia, Ottawa and London x2. We should be icing a full lineup and things will be settled down from the trade deadline. It will be a good measuring stick where we stand vs competitive teams. I think that stretch will be make or break for Dennis.

 

[Tim Wallach]

He has to. I really hope he doesn't pull a "our trade deadline acquisitions are our good returning and injured players" bowl of crap. I don't mind our top 6, our bottom 6 just has no identity and isn't going to hold up to the grind or be able to wear other teams down the way they'll need to in the playoffs.

Bobbling and missing the puck in OT, can't have that.

Yeah, zero identity. I’m not sure what he was looking for there but they’re all the same guy. Not fast, not tough, not big, not bangers or special teams guys. And not even token tertiary production.

 

[Coaches Coroner]

Yeah, zero identity. I’m not sure what he was looking for there but they’re all the same guy. Not fast, not tough, not big, not bangers or special teams guys. And not even token tertiary production.

I don't dislike Zidlicky, but you can only have 1 or 2 of him in the bottom 6, and we have 1 of him and a couple lesser versions.

I also think a guy like Mercer should be traded because he's getting next to know ice time but looked pretty good at times last year and I think getting to actually play and a change of scenery could help him.

We need some combination of a physical tough players and energy guys. Used to have a 3rd line as a shut down line and a 4th line as an "energy" line. We need to add a bit of that, and generally it's not outrageously expensive too add (unless you're talking a Xhekaj whose also a high end player all around) if you do your OHL scouting properly.

 

[Tim Wallach]

I don't dislike Zidlicky, but you can only have 1 or 2 of him in the bottom 6, and we have 1 of him and a couple lesser versions.

I also think a guy like Mercer should be traded because he's getting next to know ice time but looked pretty good at times last year and I think getting to actually play and a change of scenery could help him.

We need some combination of a physical tough players and energy guys. Used to have a 3rd line as a shut down line and a 4th line as an "energy" line. We need to add a bit of that, and generally it's not outrageously expensive too add (unless you're talking a Xhekaj whose also a high end player all around) if you do your OHL scouting properly.

Totally agreed there.

For me, the jury is still out on whether McKenzie knows how to build out a roster. He is able to acquire talent for the top end, but he has not shown he knows what to look for to round out a roster. That will be his biggest test.

 

[bobber]

Totally agreed there.

For me, the jury is still out on whether McKenzie knows how to build out a roster. He is able to acquire talent for the top end, but he has not shown he knows what to look for to round out a roster. That will be his biggest test.

Rangers just don't develop a lot of hard nose 200 foot players. Brock Otten mentions the Knights and North Bay as teams that develop these type to get them ready for pro. With what MM has left as trade bait he will be hard pressed to turn this team into a power house. I hope he does after deciding to take a shot this year. Time will tell.

 

[Tim Wallach]

Rangers just don't develop a lot of hard nose 200 foot players. Brock Otten mentions the Knights and North Bay as teams that develop these type to get them ready for pro. With what MM has left as trade bait he will be hard pressed to turn this team into a power house. I hope he does after deciding to take a shot this year. Time will tell.

It has been a while since this team valued toughness. They had X as unicorn but that’s it. And I’m not saying you need goons, but you need some that can answer the bell and keep the opponent honest. Watching our captain get mauled in a scrum last night was hopefully a wake up call for McKenzie.