Kitchener Rangers 2022-23 Season Thread (Part 2)

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bobber

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Jan 21, 2013
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The Petes have been struggling the last few games. Rangers seem to catch them flat footed for a period or so. Good on them for taking advantage of the situation. Once the Petes woke up the Rangers struggled to contain them. Untimely penalties and Vandenberg won this game. Presently the Rangers are playing Vandenberg our 3rd string goalie with the 4th string goalie DiFelice as a back up. DiFelice I believe was one of the top ranked goalies in the past draft. Going forward if MM played his cards right he could take advantage of this situation. Not many teams in the OHL have three goalies that a coach can put in net on any given night. It would be interesting to see DiFelice in net. On a side note the Rangers really struggle on the face off dot. Not sure how much of a difference it makes in the game but I am sure it has some sort of impact. Maybe someone with more knowledge of this issue can "extrapolate"? Big word for a small old man. :naughty:
 
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EvenSteven

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I don’t expect MacKenzie to be conducting a selloff anytime soon. In the interview with Chris Pope that aired Tuesday night, he stated that going into the season, he planned on making a lot of noise this year.
Based on our predicted contention this year, he led to believe that he saw this year as an all in, contending season.

He said if we eliminate the bad start, 0–5, we’re 10-8. (12-8 after last night). He asks, “Are we an 0-5 team or are we a 10-8 team?” He seemed to lead on that he thinks the latter. That we are still in this thing. Especially since the west is wide open.

That being said, I expect him at least right now to be all in. But, likely based on our position in the standings, the direction he goes remains to be seen. We’ve won four of the last five games. Sure all the competition wasn’t all that strong. But I’m betting if we have an above average December, he’s a buyer at the deadline.

I have mixed feelings about that. Sure, I’d love nothing better for the Rangers to go on a run this year. But, in order for us to do so, I believe McKenzie will have to buy his way into contention the way he did in the 17–18 season. To do that, he will have to drain our cupboard dry of draft picks and likely a young player or two to put us anywhere close to being a favourite in the west.

The prospect of going without contending from 19–20 to probably two years from now is not appealing. But, if we were to sell off this year, and perhaps next, we could set ourselves up for two or three contending seasons starting a couple years from now.

Decisions decisions.

It’s going to be interesting to see how this goes down. The next 30+ days is going to be very interesting in Rangerland.

For the first time in I don't even know how long, the Rangers seem to actually have or be trying to have something of a goalie pipeline developed in house. Who knows how it shakes out but it feels like a step in the right direction on the goalie front going forward.
MacKenzie said that DiFelice was one of the best goalies taken in the draft. Perhaps. But he was the eighth goalie of the 20 selected in that draft. So for me, it’s wait and see. But there’s no reason not to be optimistic.

But Vandenberg has been a pleasant surprise. If nothing else, Parsons, Vandenberg, and DiFelice will give us options and, if all three should prove to be very good or better OHL goaltenders, those options become trade options.
 

GeoBlue

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He said if we eliminate the bad start, 0–5, we’re 10-8. (12-8 after last night). He asks, “Are we an 0-5 team or are we a 10-8 team?” He seemed to lead on that he thinks the latter. That we are still in this thing. Especially since the west is wide open.
I hate doing this with stats. In a similar post I had earlier................Yeah, and if we would NOT have won those next four, we would be 8-13. It's so easy to throw out the losses and make the stats look better right? So we are 12-13 now. If you ask me, our first nine games show us as a .500 club. So let's throw out the 5 game start AND the 4 game winning streak after. 8-8 ! Hmmm?
 

EvenSteven

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In talking about an apparent embarrassment of riches in net, though the jury is still out but there’s reason to be optimistic, I’d be wary of Parson’s injury status.

Shoulders can be an injury problem that can rear it’s ugly year. Look no further than Connor Hall and his shoulder woes.
 

GeoBlue

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Interesting few points the commentators made on last night's show. There are 2 teams in the East with 15 wins or more as opposed to 5 teams in the West that have 15 or more. That shows that the West is tighter and the only reason there are 2 "beasts" in East is because they have weaker teams to feast on.

Now add to this that our poor, underachieving Rangers have beaten North Bay 2 in a row, and now Peterborough, both considered better teams, well, I think anyone can take it if the right moves are made. Unfortunately for the Rangers, as a few posters have already pointed out, it would require "emptying the cupboard" in order to make a real run at this. And a little bit of consistency!
 
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Matttheleaf

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It does suck being in the West, and even the Midwest sometimes. Would be 3 points out of 3rd in the east, and are 6 points out if 6th in the west. Unfortunately that's the way the cookie almost always seems to crumble in this league.
 

bobber

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Rangers get the win last night over last place Niagara. Scored some timely goals. Dennis was right saying the team has to tighten up defensively. Out shot almost every game. Niagara just doesn't have the dogs . I mean horses. Rangers top players scoring but not much coming from the other lines.
 
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EvenSteven

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Rangers get the win last night over last place Niagara. Scored some timely goals. Dennis was right saying the team has to tighten up defensively. Out shot almost every game. Niagara just doesn't have the dogs . I mean horses. Rangers top players scoring but not much coming from the other lines.
We’d need a couple veteran F’s to give us three good scoring lines. One high end. One pretty good.
 

Rangers True Blue

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CD is leaving the top players in the top lines. The result speaks for itself. Sop Pinelli Mesar looking much better than what we've seen. Swick Rehkopf Valade heating up. Martin's return in the new year will definitely help. Actually like Serpa on that 3rd line where Swick will likely move once Martin's back. And frankly, I prefer Morey and Bottineau on the 4th line.

Dogs really jammed up the lanes last night. Rangers slept through the 2nd then woke up in the 3rd. And it appeared that CD changed up their approach for the 3rd to address Dogs defense. You know...instead of just doing the same thing even though it wasn't working.

Dogs played to a shoot out the night before. Sooner or later, they were going to feel it and it happened in the 3rd. Much better period for Rangers....and should have been considering they're off this weekend. Needed to leave it all out there.

Costantini was back in form. Vandenburg was excellent in his outings. Goalie is not the Rangers problem. Effort and consistency is. Sell or Add? I don't think MM will do anything either way until after the World Juniors.
 
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bobber

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It will be interesting to see what MMs line of thinking is going into the second half of the season. Rangers seem to be lacking both offense and defense IMO. Not sure if it's coaching but I would not bet this defense could carry this team too far in the play offs if they make it that far. Once the season wears on teams tend to tighten up the defensive part of their game as they jockey for position. The Rangers struggle getting pucks out of their end for the most part. Goalies have to be on their game or they come out on the wrong end of the score. Can the coaches get more out of this defense?
 
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EvenSteven

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It will be interesting to see what MMs line of thinking is going into the second half of the season. Rangers seem to be lacking both offense and defense IMO. Not sure if it's coaching but I would not bet this defense could carry this team too far in the play offs if they make it that far. Once the season wears on teams tend to tighten up the defensive part of their game as they jockey for position. The Rangers struggle getting pucks out of their end for the most part. Goalies have to be on their game or they come out on the wrong end of the score. Can the coaches get more out of this defense?
If we are contending, and MM is all in, that defence is not going far in the playoffs. Simply because there are only six OHL defenceman on the roster. I can’t include Scott right now. To go on a long playoff run you need deep defense. Injuries happen. Therefore, I would try to trade for two inexpensive, veteran defenseman. These guys don’t have to be top-flight defenseman. Just a couple decent, stay at home guys that can play in the bottom half of our D.

Comparables? Maybe a #4 (Austin McEneny?) and a #6 (Holden Wale?).
 
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Matttheleaf

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I know it is not directly related to the Rangers, but has anyone heard if Shane Wright is going to be coming back to the OHL after the World Juniors? I think that he would be considering he hasn't done much or been given the greatest opportunities with Seattle. If he does come back that would add a very large piece to the trade market here in O.
 
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sbpointer

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I know it is not directly related to the Rangers, but has anyone heard if Shane Wright is going to be coming back to the OHL after the World Juniors? I think that he would be considering he hasn't done much or been given the greatest opportunities with Seattle. If he does come back that would add a very large piece to the trade market here in O.
I haven't heard anything as I don't have those connections but I fully expect he will be in the OHL after the world juniors and I wouldn't be shocked if he's traded to Sarnia. He is a classic Sarnia move and I'm not sure Kitchener wants to pony up what they would need to for him ( and i wouldn't blame them ). I think Kitchener adds before the deadline but not Wright or Clarke.
 
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