Kitchener Rangers 2022-23 Season Thread

[EvenSteven]

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

Barrie traded Oskar Olausson last year halfway through his OHL rookie season.

Either they changed the rule back, or Olausson was Barrie property the year prior.

I’m unsure.

Edit-

Just checked. Olausson was taken by Barrie in the 2021 import draft.

So they must have changed the rule back.

 

[HockeyPops]

You can trade first year imports right before trade deadline, just like 16 year old first rounders.

 

[ohloutsider]

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

After Christmas and if they agree to it. Same as the 1st rounders.

 

[EvenSteven]

Harper picked up by the Burlington Cougars.

 

[robertmac43]

Harper picked up by the Burlington Cougars.

Interesting there was no where for him to be traded to in the O. Thought he had a really solid year last year and someone would have interest.

Anyways, wishing him the best of luck in Burlington.

 

[EvenSteven]

Interesting there was no where for him to be traded to in the O. Thought he had a really solid year last year and someone would have interest.

Anyways, wishing him the best of luck in Burlington.

Truth be told, he really didn’t have any real trade value. He’s the type of OA that teams move out to make room for higher end OA’s.

 

[GeoBlue]

Truth be told, he really didn’t have any real trade value. He’s the type of OA that teams move out to make room for higher end OA’s.

But if there is a "shortage" of defensemen?.................

 

[Coaches Coroner]

Interesting there was no where for him to be traded to in the O. Thought he had a really solid year last year and someone would have interest.

Anyways, wishing him the best of luck in Burlington.

He had a really important playoff goal or 2, but he was replacement level puck mover for my money, and not much better as an OA. I thought the OJHL and playing a lot their would be his best bet.

 

[EvenSteven]

But if there is a "shortage" of defensemen?.................

Well, his value last year is reflective of his value this year. Being an OA is the dagger.

Hollett may find himself in the same boat next year.

 

[robertmac43]

He had a really important playoff goal or 2, but he was replacement level puck mover for my money, and not much better as an OA. I thought the OJHL and playing a lot their would be his best bet.

I thought he ate some big minutes down the stretch and through the playoffs. But yeah definitely a more expendable player, especially for OA standards.

I guess the next step would be OJHL to CIS?

 

[GeoBlue]

It all kind of makes you salivate wondering as to who our next Dman is that MM will be bringing in. ;-) Do you think he will get anything done by Friday's game? I don't think you can run with 4 Dmen TOO long.

 

[EvenSteven]

It all kind of makes you salivate wondering as to who our next Dman is that MM will be bringing in. ;-) Do you think he will get anything done by Friday's game? I don't think you can run with 4 Dmen TOO long.

We look pretty good up front right now. Mesar and Pinelli are looking elite. Rehkopf, Martin, Valade and Serpa are a very good next level group.

For me, if I’m adding (and I am), I’d add a couple more secondary forwards, on par with the above four. Two top sixers for sure but not elite. That would give us three lines that would be a threat to score at any time.

But I’d spend big on D. Two top fours. I’d bring in one top elite D and a very good second. You can never be too deep on defense. For a long playoff run, you need depth all around. We now have depth in goal. We look good but would have better depth upfront with a couple additions.

But the last thing you need, is to go thin on the back end during a playoff run. Injuries happen.

For me, my major acquisition at the deadline would be the absolute best defenceman out there that is available.

 

[Gondrex]

We look pretty good up front right now. Mesar and Pinelli are looking elite. Rehkopf, Martin, Valade and Serpa are a very good next level group.

For me, if I’m adding (and I am), I’d add a couple more secondary forwards, on par with the above four. Two top sixers for sure but not elite. That would give us three lines that would be a threat to score at any time.

But I’d spend big on D. Two top fours. I’d bring in one top elite D and a very good second. You can never be too deep on defense. For a long playoff run, you need depth all around. We now have depth in goal. We look good but would have better depth upfront with a couple additions.

But the last thing you need, is to go thin on the back end during a playoff run. Injuries happen.

For me, my major acquisition at the deadline would be the absolute best defenceman out there that is available.

Sounds expensive...but is likely necessary. Even if you get past the West there are some very good teams in the east, and the best will battle it out in the final. Besides, looking beyond this year, contending is likely not in the cards. Assuming both Hamara and Brzustewicz return next year, other than them, the '04 group is (arguably) below average.....maybe not so much Parsons. These will be your 19 year-olds. There is also currently a big hole in the '06 group too. The situation as of today seems to indicate that we are sellers beyond this season. So as for this year, it is likely go big or go home .

 

[bobber]

It's great to speculate on how good the Rangers could be going forward. The coach still sees some blemishes in their game. They seem to struggle with the power play last game. Five on five the two games before. To put things in perspective they are presently tied for 8th place. London is ahead of the Rangers in 7th with the same number of games played. Big hill to climb yet. I agree this team has some skilled forwards at the top. Lots of holes to fill if MM is looking at making this team look like last year's Hamilton. Do the Rangers have the assets to accomplish this feat? Haven't seen an update on the draft cupboard in a while. In saying this it is exciting to have the skilled players we have as a base.

 

[Rangers True Blue]

Well, his value last year is reflective of his value this year. Being an OA is the dagger.

Hollett may find himself in the same boat next year.

And Harper was better than Hollett IMO. Wouldn't be surprised to see Hollett in the boat this year if MM can pull in a couple of higher level D.

 

[Coaches Coroner]

I don't think there is much point speculating for next year. I think it will be the beginning of a new cycle, boosted by 2 1st round picks, but it will be a rebuild year or one of the types we had last year where we're a lower level playoff team that can compete but trades assets for the future.

That said, I don't think any of us were that confident that as many of the pieces MM had up in the air would report this year, as have. Mid season last year, this year was looking horrible. Then it looked great in the summer, then bad early on, now good again.

 

[RangerNation]

We look pretty good up front right now. Mesar and Pinelli are looking elite. Rehkopf, Martin, Valade and Serpa are a very good next level group.

For me, if I’m adding (and I am), I’d add a couple more secondary forwards, on par with the above four. Two top sixers for sure but not elite. That would give us three lines that would be a threat to score at any time.

But I’d spend big on D. Two top fours. I’d bring in one top elite D and a very good second. You can never be too deep on defense. For a long playoff run, you need depth all around. We now have depth in goal. We look good but would have better depth upfront with a couple additions.

But the last thing you need, is to go thin on the back end during a playoff run. Injuries happen.

For me, my major acquisition at the deadline would be the absolute best defenceman out there that is available.

Hopefully MM goes after the D now. I don't think there is a need to rush on the forward front. The turnaround on goal performance over the last 4 games is impressive.

 

[TheBlueMonster]

This might not be a popular opinion and it likely wouldn't happen but I don't hate the idea of upgrading on 1 of our OA forwards with Logan Morrison. Already a great trading partnership with Hamilton. It would be nice to have an Elite true 1st line OA.

Tyler Savard out of the SOO can be nasty to play against and would be a nice looking addition as well.

 

[GeoBlue]

This might not be a popular opinion and it likely wouldn't happen but I don't hate the idea of upgrading on 1 of our OA forwards with Logan Morrison. Already a great trading partnership with Hamilton. It would be nice to have an Elite true 1st line OA.

Tyler Savard out of the SOO can be nasty to play against and would be a nice looking addition as well.

I tend to agree with you at this point. Though Serpa is picking it up again, I feel that Valade is still not "there". The problem of trading away Valade is that he seems to be one of the best liked players within the team. Wondering what that would do to morale.

 

[Gondrex]

I don't think there is much point speculating for next year. I think it will be the beginning of a new cycle, boosted by 2 1st round picks, but it will be a rebuild year or one of the types we had last year where we're a lower level playoff team that can compete but trades assets for the future.

That said, I don't think any of us were that confident that as many of the pieces MM had up in the air would report this year, as have. Mid season last year, this year was looking horrible. Then it looked great in the summer, then bad early on, now good again.

I like the fact that MM is in a full-time GM role now which helps. Agreed that the make-up of a team can change quickly. This year, having two quality imports show up, along with Brzustewicz (via shrewd trade), and Costantini (another effective acquisition); these all have had a positive impact on this team.

Also, regarding my previous comment on the '04 group, in all fairness, older players can still have break-out years. Jonathan Yantsis is only one example of that. I do like the various attributes that forwards Swick, Pugliese and Misaljevic each bring to the table. It's just that at this very moment they're not (yet?) at the same level as their teammates on the top two lines.

 

[GeoBlue]

I like the fact that MM is in a full-time GM role now which helps. Agreed that the make-up of a team can change quickly. This year, having two quality imports show up, along with Brzustewicz (via shrewd trade), and Costantini (another effective acquisition); these all have had a positive impact on this team.

Also, regarding my previous comment on the '04 group, in all fairness, older players can still have break-out years. Jonathan Yantsis is only one example of that. I do like the various attributes that forwards Swick, Pugliese and Misaljevic each bring to the table. It's just that at this very moment they're not (yet?) at the same level as their teammates on the top two lines.

I feel that as the top 2 lines elevate their game, the bottom 2 will only get better. A little less pressure on them while learning how to find that extra gear. I'm sure that's what happened to Meireles, Damiani, Yantsis and co when they were learning from Mascherin, Sherwood, Smith and co on how to win.,

 

[EvenSteven]

This might not be a popular opinion and it likely wouldn't happen but I don't hate the idea of upgrading on 1 of our OA forwards with Logan Morrison. Already a great trading partnership with Hamilton. It would be nice to have an Elite true 1st line OA.

Tyler Savard out of the SOO can be nasty to play against and would be a nice looking addition as well.

For me, the problem with upgrading to Morrison as an OA, is that you have to move one of Serpa /Valade.

Can they be moved for good value? Most contenders already have their OA’s. Would one of these two be that much of an upgrade on what those contenders already have where they would trade away assets to acquire one of them?

What we’d have to determine is:
A)are we better off bringing in OA Morrison, then consequently losing a Serpa or Valade for less than what we’d want for them in trade?

Or,
B)should we acquire a 19 year old comparable to Morrison, provided the price is comparable, which allows us to keep our current OA forwards?

We may be better off going with option B if option A means acquiring Morrison, then having to “take what we can get” for what would be our 4th OA. We may have trouble getting value for that 4th OA. Teams will know our hands are tied and we’d have to unload him at a huge discount.

If we refer to my earlier post where we acquire two top six forwards, that would leave us with eight top six forwards. That means we have a couple of those on our third line. If one of Valade or Serpa find themselves on that third line, it isn’t a bad utilization of that OA slot as we’d be icing a line much better than the traditional third line.

 

[HockeyPops]

B)should we acquire a 19 year old comparable to Morrison, provided the price is comparable, which allows us to keep our current OA forwards?

Which 19 year old is comparable to Morrison?
Johnston
Othmann
Wright(18)
Petrov(IMP)
Robertson
Voit
Pastujov
DelBelBelluz
Arcuri
Goyette(18)

Of those, you probably only get the import at anywhere near the same price as Morrison. But you have 2 imports already.

Honestly, who are you hoping to get for a Morrison price?

EDIT: fixed, Pastujov not an import

 

[Ward Cornell]

For me, the problem with upgrading to Morrison as an OA, is that you have to move one of Serpa /Valade.

Can they be moved for good value? Most contenders already have their OA’s. Would one of these two be that much of an upgrade on what those contenders already have where they would trade away assets to acquire one of them?

What we’d have to determine is:
A)are we better off bringing in OA Morrison, then consequently losing a Serpa or Valade for less than what we’d want for them in trade?

Or,
B)should we acquire a 19 year old comparable to Morrison, provided the price is comparable, which allows us to keep our current OA forwards?

We may be better off going with option B if option A means acquiring Morrison, then having to “take what we can get” for what would be our 4th OA. We may have trouble getting value for that 4th OA. Teams will know our hands are tied and we’d have to unload him at a huge discount.

If we refer to my earlier post where we acquire two top six forwards, that would leave us with eight top six forwards. That means we have a couple of those on our third line. If one of Valade or Serpa find themselves on that third line, it isn’t a bad utilization of that OA slot as we’d be icing a line much better than the traditional third line.

Rather go for a big physical presence at forward....someone who'll pop in about 20 goals 30 assists. Would be cheaper and may just be as valuable as Morrison. Depending on cost, it could mean a 3rd line player drops down to the 4th line.

 

[GermanSpitfire]

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