Kitchener Rangers 2022-23 Season Thread

[EvenSteven]

Looks like Andrew got in one game and has been scratched for 3+ weeks, hope he's OK? IceDogs could probably do a top 20 ranking with all their deals I suppose their stack of cards must be spent?

Scratched for 3+ weeks or an injury?

 

[RangerNation]

Do we have an update on Vandenberg? Can he even dress as BU right now? If no, I don't see where Harper get's back in.

 

[EvenSteven]

Do we have an update on Vandenberg? Can he even dress as BU right now? If no, I don't see where Harper get's back in.

I doubt he can dress. With mono, you have to take the time off.

 

[K2]

Scratched for 3+ weeks or an injury?

Hard to decode the local report but 'week-to-week' makes an early appearance then just noted as scratched.

Do we have an update on Vandenberg?

Mono is a tough one and symptoms greatly vary in duration person-to-person. Four weeks is typical with some recovering in half the time and others struggling with lingering fatigue for months.

 

[K2]

Tomas Hamara suspended 2 games for slew-foot.

 

[EvenSteven]

Tomas Hamara suspended 2 games for slew-foot.

Have to start Harper tonight. If not, then get him a place to play ASAP because if you’re not playing him tonight, under what circumstances will he play?

 

[RangerNation]

Have to start Harper tonight. If not, then get him a place to play ASAP because if you’re not playing him tonight, under what circumstances will he play?

Who is our call up to play backup currently? Edit: I guess we can always sit one of the forwards, doesn't have to be Costantini

 

[RangerNation]

4 D tonight.

 

[Matttheleaf]

4 D tonight.
View attachment 598720

Seems strange considering you could scratch one of the OA forwards and insert Harper to at least have 5 D.

 

[three dog night]

Scratched for 3+ weeks or an injury?

He injured

 

[EvenSteven]

4 D tonight.
View attachment 598720

Really?

 

[aresknights]

4 D tonight.
View attachment 598720

Now that's interesting IF they had an option on D to dress.
Can 1 of the Fs steal a few shifts on the backend?
(I know LK was into converting Fs to D for a good stretch of years much to the dismay of some of those Fs lol. Either to fill in or as semi, kinda, temporary, peanent.... it was a mess)
If not ya gotta conserve energy back there. But quick dump outs pit the squad back in D mode.

 

[Tyler8525]

this season has done such a 180 in the last 2 weeks wow. Looking like a powerhouse

 

[Gondrex]

I was wondering when "the Martin we knew" would finally emerge. He didn't really stand out going back to training camp IMO, but you could see positive signs these last number of games. It actually seems like the improvement began as this team started turning things around. Great game last night. Happy for him. I still think we need guys like Martin to play a big role in this team's success, and I think it's been evident in the last number of games.

Another solid game by Brzustewicz (sorry, I'm a broken record). Glad there were supposedly an overflow of scouts in the building last night, because he was super-steady.

I am surprised by the Storm. They played well enough to win that game at home and I thought the Rangers were going to have their hands full in this one. Would the acquisition of a goaltender like Costantini change their ways?

 

[bobber]

I was wondering when "the Martin we knew" would finally emerge. He didn't really stand out going back to training camp IMO, but you could see positive signs these last number of games. It actually seems like the improvement began as this team started turning things around. Great game last night. Happy for him. I still think we need guys like Martin to play a big role in this team's success, and I think it's been evident in the last number of games.

Another solid game by Brzustewicz (sorry, I'm a broken record). Glad there were supposedly an overflow of scouts in the building last night, because he was super-steady.

I am surprised by the Storm. They played well enough to win that game at home and I thought the Rangers were going to have their hands full in this one. Would the acquisition of a goaltender like Costantini change their ways

The Storm has some skilled players. They seem totally snake bitten at the moment. Goaltending just average to poor. Outshot the Rangers in the last two contest. Rangers have taken advantage. Martin was a brute out there along with Pinelli and Hunter Brzustewicz. Rangers love beating their rival. Coach tells it like it is. Happy with the score but not pleased with the power play and a few other issues. No sugar coating even after a big win.

 

[Rangers True Blue]

So Harper is on waivers and we now only have 3 OAs.

MM is considering his options for defense which as per Brown's article includes finding an emergency replacement, signing a draft pick or free agent, or making a trade.

MM doesn't see anything in the leagues below for the temp replacement.

Longacre would have been great except of course, he's languishing in the Sioux getting below bottom line minutes. IMO he would get lots of minutes here.

Brown mentioned Lex Terrence (6th 2022) a defense first player and Rourke Gilmour (9th 2022) strong skater, very skilled with the puck and potential to produce offence as possible signing options.

As for trade, MM says "There are a lot of teams that are in a similar spot. Everyone wants to get a lot for their players so it’s sometimes tough. You don’t want to make any crazy decisions. Whether it’s signing a player or making a trade, something will happen.”

IMHO....a trade may cost less now than it will come trading deadline.

 

[Torts]

4 defensemen clearly worked!

 

[bobber]

It's early but there are a few teams with disgruntled players not happy with their current situations. Sudbury has a forward sitting at home as an example. Any GM worth his salt will pump the disgruntled players tires (Hunter) and hope some other GM will overpay. Glad MM is being cautious. There is always a trade to be made. If it's the right one MM will have to bite the bullet. Looking at the current situation. The Rangers will have to strengthen the bottom line for sure to contend. These guys are young but going up against an older experienced team would be a grind. Plus, the issues on the back end.

 

[LDN]

It's early but there are a few teams with disgruntled players not happy with their current situations. Sudbury has a forward sitting at home as an example. Any GM worth his salt will pump the disgruntled players tires (Hunter) and hope some other GM will overpay. Glad MM is being cautious. There is always a trade to be made. If it's the right one MM will have to bite the bullet. Looking at the current situation. The Rangers will have to strengthen the bottom line for sure to contend. These guys are young but going up against an older experienced team would be a grind. Plus, the issues on the back end.

Which Sudbury forward is sitting at home?

 

[HockeyPops]

Sounded like Derbidge

 

[Gondrex]

So Harper is on waivers and we now only have 3 OAs.

MM is considering his options for defense which as per Brown's article includes finding an emergency replacement, signing a draft pick or free agent, or making a trade.

MM doesn't see anything in the leagues below for the temp replacement.

Longacre would have been great except of course, he's languishing in the Sioux getting below bottom line minutes. IMO he would get lots of minutes here.

Brown mentioned Lex Terrence (6th 2022) a defense first player and Rourke Gilmour (9th 2022) strong skater, very skilled with the puck and potential to produce offence as possible signing options.

As for trade, MM says "There are a lot of teams that are in a similar spot. Everyone wants to get a lot for their players so it’s sometimes tough. You don’t want to make any crazy decisions. Whether it’s signing a player or making a trade, something will happen.”

IMHO....a trade may cost less now than it will come trading deadline.

If one assumes that the Rangers are "going for it", then IMO (and the opinion of others) the Rangers will likely need to eventually trade for that dependable '03 defenseman. The question is now or later ? From what I'm seeing, at this point Hamilton appears to be the only seller at this early stage. So, because of that Supply-Demand thing, no wonder the asking price is high at the moment. Dunno. MM is smarter than me, but maybe you just play one more game with four D and then get Hamara back in the line-up (?) Mind you I have no clue as to how long Motew is out.

In any event, I'm confident in whatever decision MM reaches. I will say for instance that I was a bit unsure to what extent Costantini would actually help this team when that trade was made. His play speaks for itself, and for MM's decision ability. MM's record may not be perfect, but IMO he seems to do well. Not pointing fingers here, but in my view he seems to overcome some of the mistakes that are made at draft time....and not saying MM is necessarily to blame in that regard.

 

[rangersblues]

1. Could the current shortage we have on defense be an opening to get Longacre to report. Given his current situation with ice-time this has to be a much better opportunity.

2. It's amazing how one truly high impact player can change a team's fortunes. It's been a while since the Rangers have had a player of Mesar's stature. I'm going to say although Landeskog could control a game, it was Skinner.

3. I think it's worth taking a big swing at the fences with one import. There's really not much sense bringing over two mediocre players.

 

[GeoBlue]

Mind you I have no clue as to how long Motew is out.

They state "week-to-week" which sounds long term.

 

[EvenSteven]

1. Could the current shortage we have on defense be an opening to get Longacre to report. Given his current situation with ice-time this has to be a much better opportunity.

2. It's amazing how one truly high impact player can change a team's fortunes. It's been a while since the Rangers have had a player of Mesar's stature. I'm going to say although Landeskog could control a game, it was Skinner.

3. I think it's worth taking a big swing at the fences with one import. There's really not much sense bringing over two mediocre players.

It would be cool for Longacre to report now. But reporting just because we’re a little lean on the backend doesn’t seem realistic.

Obviously, his camp knows that the Rangers are to contend this year and will add to the backend. With that in mind, he’d have to know he’d be knocked down this years depth chart.

That being said, I still think he’d be better off being here as opposed to a lower level. He’d still get 30-40 games in I’d think. 16 year old Andonovski got into 40+ games last year for example.


Just a thought:
Would it make any sense to do a deal where the primaries in the deal would be Hamara to Saginaw for Mintyukov?

Just spitballing here. I certainly don’t expect Kitchener to trade away a newly reported import player. But, it could make a lot of sense to Saginaw as well as Kitchener.

Saginaw would be getting a younger, quality import while the Rangers would be getting probably the top offensive D in the league.

 

[Ward Cornell]

It would be cool for Longacre to report now. But reporting just because we’re a little lean on the backend doesn’t seem realistic.

Obviously, his camp knows that the Rangers are to contend this year and will add to the backend. With that in mind, he’d have to know he’d be knocked down this years depth chart.

That being said, I still think he’d be better off being here as opposed to a lower level. He’d still get 30-40 games in I’d think. 16 year old Andonovski got into 40+ games last year for example.


Just a thought:
Would it make any sense to do a deal where the primaries in the deal would be Hamara to Saginaw for Mintyukov?

Just spitballing here. I certainly don’t expect Kitchener to trade away a newly reported import player. But, it could make a lot of sense to Saginaw as well as Kitchener.

Saginaw would be getting a younger, quality import while the Rangers would be getting probably the top offensive D in the league.

Lost track of import rules but can first yr imports be traded?