Kitchener Rangers 2022-23 Season Thread

[Ranger77]

What did Hollett do to get a match penalty?

 

[bobber]

Any chance Mesar gets traded to a contender ?

Anything is possible. Can't imagine the Habs are happy him being a Ranger at this point in time.

 

[Ward Cornell]

Any chance Mesar gets traded to a contender ?

If I was Montreal I would try to make this happen. Why on earth would they want him here? This could be a trend here for high draft picks and imports till they get out of this self-inflicted mess.

 

[RichieRice]

If I was Montreal I would try to make this happen. Why on earth would they want him here? This could be a trend here for high draft picks and imports till they get out of this self-inflicted mess.

Josh Brown suggested Ottawa. They have an open import slot and an open overage slot. And tons of picks.

 

[TheBlueMonster]

Josh Brown suggested Ottawa. They have an open import slot and an open overage slot. And tons of picks.

Think they have an O/A spot too. Marco? let him go play with his twin brother.

However, unless a goalie was coming back from somewhere it would be hard to do that. Vandenberg has been alright but I wouldn't run with him by any means. YET.

 

[Coaches Coroner]

Think they have an O/A spot too. Marco? let him go play with his twin brother.

However, unless a goalie was coming back from somewhere it would be hard to do that. Vandenberg has been alright but I wouldn't run with him by any means. YET.

Reuinite the Pinelli's while we're at it. His brother wasn't as highly touted but looks like he's developing better in Ottawa than his big brother in Kitchener.

 

[TheBlueMonster]

I actually appreciated Josh Browns take on things in the points at the bottom. He didn't shut down a sell, didn't embrace it but took a look at the bigger picture.

And he's right. Obviously Ottawa likely wont want to move Henry Mews however in a package that includes Pinelli and Mesar, I think they'd do it and be fine. Adding those 2 is a POWER move and on an already stacked team would certainly give them a massive favorite to do the thing they've been trying to do pre pandemic. Win a title. Hell do a 2nd deal and send them schmidt for picks.

I don't expect Mike Farwell to say much. He is a fan of this team and I love the guy. But he usually doesn't get to opiniated when things are tough in the organization.

Pope annoys me, next lol.

The two guys on tv are volunteers so ill reserve judgement but they also are a daisy and peaches and everything is nice in the organization type people.

Sean Furfaro I think would have more opinions but he's got to keep the peace as well. Which is an issue from the top. But he didn't shy away from asking players some tough questions so I appreciated that.

It's weird that an organization whose owned by the STH and values our opinions continues to hold grudges if the media prints an ounce of truth.

Missed calls and ‘dirty hits’ abound in Rangers’ loss

Kitchener blanked 4-0 by rival London Knights.

www.waterloochronicle.ca

Reuinite the Pinelli's while we're at it. His brother wasn't as highly touted but looks like he's developing better in Ottawa than his big brother in Kitchener.

I keep up on a lot of the scouting reports done for OHL players and he is popular and highly touted at this point. I touched on it in the post above but I'd love to see it.

 

[bobber]

In Brock Ottens assessment of the top 50 NHL prospects for 2023 this is a bit of what he said about Luca Pinelli: He's a better skater than his brother Francesco was at the same age. But he has similar cognitive strengths. His play without the puck and anticipation in the offensive end are really strong. He slides in and out of traffic and plays through the middle of the ice. He's got more jam to his game than his brother too, consistently engaged in puck pursuit. I know he's played some center this year, but I've definitely liked him better on the wing. That's where I see him fitting down the line.

 

[EvenSteven]

Josh Brown suggested Ottawa. They have an open import slot and an open overage slot. And tons of picks.

Ottawa makes sense for Pinelli. However, there’s a possibility that they may be in on Mintyukov. The question is, what makes Ottawa better? Adding Mesar or Mintyukov as their second import. Is their need more on D or F?

Mintyukov would be more pricey I think. Could Ottawa be happy doing a deal for him or for Mesar, then adding Schmidt to cover needs on D. That combo may be comparable in price to Mintyukov alone.

If they were to add a Pinelli and Mesar, they could afford to add one of Valade or Serpa on the cheap as the 3rd OA instead of paying big time for Morrison.

Easy to put together blockbusters on here, but it’s the opinion of many that you get more in return when selling off vets in separate deals.

I’m thinking Ottawa is set in goal. A more realistic landing spot for Costantini may be Windsor with Onuska coming back here to finish out his junior career. Then next year we go with Parsons / Vandenberg as a duo.

 

[EvenSteven]

Rangers have gone in a different direction in the last decade or so. They were the least penalized team in the league up to last night's game. It's one of two things. Either they are not physical enough as a team or they work at not taking penalties. Successful teams that play on the edge a bit take far more penalties. They also have to be able to defend when shorthanded. One thing I noticed about the Knights was how their D stood the Rangers up in the 3rd period. They were hard to penetrate eliminating rushes by the Rangers. They do have a few talented NHL drafted Dmen.

DeBoer never worried about his teams being penalized. His teams always were at or near the top on the PK. They had to be because he had hard nosed personnel who took their share of pims.

He never minded his players straying over the line because he was confident that it wouldn’t hurt the team with his PK.

 

[EvenSteven]

I actually appreciated Josh Browns take on things in the points at the bottom. He didn't shut down a sell, didn't embrace it but took a look at the bigger picture.

And he's right. Obviously Ottawa likely wont want to move Henry Mews however in a package that includes Pinelli and Mesar, I think they'd do it and be fine. Adding those 2 is a POWER move and on an already stacked team would certainly give them a massive favorite to do the thing they've been trying to do pre pandemic. Win a title. Hell do a 2nd deal and send them schmidt for picks.

I don't expect Mike Farwell to say much. He is a fan of this team and I love the guy. But he usually doesn't get to opiniated when things are tough in the organization.

Pope annoys me, next lol.

The two guys on tv are volunteers so ill reserve judgement but they also are a daisy and peaches and everything is nice in the organization type people.

Sean Furfaro I think would have more opinions but he's got to keep the peace as well. Which is an issue from the top. But he didn't shy away from asking players some tough questions so I appreciated that.

It's weird that an organization whose owned by the STH and values our opinions continues to hold grudges if the media prints an ounce of truth.

Missed calls and ‘dirty hits’ abound in Rangers’ loss

Kitchener blanked 4-0 by rival London Knights.

www.waterloochronicle.ca

I keep up on a lot of the scouting reports done for OHL players and he is popular and highly touted at this point. I touched on it in the post above but I'd love to see it.

If we were to do a deal with Ottawa where the primaries in the deal were Pinelli and Mesar for Mews and Marrelli, as Brown suggests, the picks coming back our way would be minimal. That means Ottawa would still have a ton of picks to bring in, say, Schmidt on the backend and Morrison to fill their last OA spot.

Off the hop, Ottawa people may not want to part with one or both of their 1sts, but when you can point up at a banner, their absence in the lineup after this year would be a lot easier to take.

 

[bobber]

Like the rest of Ranger fans base Josh Brown was dreaming about trades with Ottawa. I doubt they part with Mews. On a side note, perusing league rosters you may notice that Rangers really lag behind in the rookie department. Rangers have only 3 on the roster. Morey 2005, Scott 2005 and Bottineau 2006. As an example, Ottawa at the top of the league has 7 listed. Four 05s and three 06s. They may not play them all but going forward you have some young guys being groomed for bigger rolls. Blair Scott will play today. The Storm made one trade and seem to have woken up and are moving up the standings a bit. Not sure what MMs line of thought is on trades? Maybe he is overvaluing his players and other GMs are not interested. It doesn't help when they look at the standings and see the Rangers one point out of being tied for last place in the league. The vultures are circling.

 

[EvenSteven]

Like the rest of Ranger fans base Josh Brown was dreaming about trades with Ottawa. I doubt they part with Mews. On a side note, perusing league rosters you may notice that Rangers really lag behind in the rookie department. Rangers have only 3 on the roster. Morey 2005, Scott 2005 and Bottineau 2006. As an example, Ottawa at the top of the league has 7 listed. Four 05s and three 06s. They may not play them all but going forward you have some young guys being groomed for bigger rolls. Blair Scott will play today. The Storm made one trade and seem to have woken up and are moving up the standings a bit. Not sure what MMs line of thought is on trades? Maybe he is overvaluing his players and other GMs are not interested. It doesn't help when they look at the standings and see the Rangers one point out of being tied for last place in the league. The vultures are circling.

My biggest fear is that McKenzie, in waiting for this thing to turn around, will wait too long to either buy or sell. That might leave him holding the bag with regard to his not being able to move out veteran players because other contenders have done all their shopping, or, teams selling off high end players will have already done so and he will be resigned to either trading for secondary help which means no help at all, or standing pat.

 

[rangersblues]

Like the rest of Ranger fans base Josh Brown was dreaming about trades with Ottawa. I doubt they part with Mews. On a side note, perusing league rosters you may notice that Rangers really lag behind in the rookie department. Rangers have only 3 on the roster. Morey 2005, Scott 2005 and Bottineau 2006. As an example, Ottawa at the top of the league has 7 listed. Four 05s and three 06s. They may not play them all but going forward you have some young guys being groomed for bigger rolls. Blair Scott will play today. The Storm made one trade and seem to have woken up and are moving up the standings a bit. Not sure what MMs line of thought is on trades? Maybe he is overvaluing his players and other GMs are not interested. It doesn't help when they look at the standings and see the Rangers one point out of being tied for last place in the league. The vultures are circling.

Realistically what Rangers player would even play a key role on a contender besides Mesar and Pinelli?

 

[bobber]

Realistically what Rangers player would even play a key role on a contender besides Mesar and Pinelli?

Smart GMs know when to hang on to rookies or 2nd year players that will impact their lineup the following seasons. Having a ton of 2nds, they have to know which ones to keep and the 2nds to use as fodder. Mesar to me is spinning his wheels here. With right linemates he might blossom into the "phenom" that Rogers commentator calls him on Ranger tv. At the moment Mesar is the "invisible phenom". Not sure what the limitations are dealing an import. Pinelli is probably the player on this squad being asked about the most. Just going by MM's comments along with the coach I really don't see anything happening in the near future here. The only bright spot in this is the Ranger scouts get to pick higher. As long as there isn't another draft lottery. Someone on another thread mentioned the league hasn't made that decision yet.

 

[EvenSteven]

Realistically what Rangers player would even play a key role on a contender besides Mesar and Pinelli?

I detect some sarcasm!

But in any case, Schmidt and Costantini is the answer to your question. But that’s it.
Maybe Martin but I’d expect he plays an OA season here.

 

[EvenSteven]

Smart GMs know when to hang on to rookies or 2nd year players that will impact their lineup the following seasons. Having a ton of 2nds, they have to know which ones to keep and the 2nds to use as fodder. Mesar to me is spinning his wheels here. With right linemates he might blossom into the "phenom" that Rogers commentator calls him on Ranger tv. At the moment Mesar is the "invisible phenom". Not sure what the limitations are dealing an import. Pinelli is probably the player on this squad being asked about the most. Just going by MM's comments along with the coach I really don't see anything happening in the near future here. The only bright spot in this is the Ranger scouts get to pick higher. As long as there isn't another draft lottery. Someone on another thread mentioned the league hasn't made that decision yet.

Of course there will be a draft lottery. You don’t expect the powers that be in the league office to give up the power to decide the draft order one through four?

Make no mistake, the draft lottery was rigged last year. There was no way after that sideshow that went on in Niagara were they gonna allow Niagara to come anywhere close to winning the lottery. Therefore, they placed Niagara fourth.

Sudbury has picked first overall multiple times in the last decade or so. No way they need to be picking first overall again. Therefore, they relegated them to the third pick.

Erie has had an exceptional player already in their history. Connor McDavid. No way this league is going to allow another exceptional player to land on a team that just had one a few years ago. Therefore, they get to pick second.

That leaves Saginaw. Without checking, I don’t believe they’ve ever had the first overall pick in their history. Certainly not an exceptional player. And they keep their noses clean the eyes of the OHL. Therefore, of the four teams involved in the “lottery”, they were the best choice to have the first overall pick.

This “draft lottery” isn’t going anywhere. They will say it draws interest to the league yada yada yada. But at the end of the day, they will decide the draft order period.

 

[bobber]

Of course there will be a draft lottery. You don’t expect the powers that be in the league office to give up the power to decide the draft order one through four?

Make no mistake, the draft lottery was rigged last year. There was no way after that sideshow that went on in Niagara were they gonna allow Niagara to come anywhere close to winning the lottery. Therefore, they placed Niagara fourth.

Sudbury has picked first overall multiple times in the last decade or so. No way they need to be picking first overall again. Therefore, they relegated them to the third pick.

Erie has had an exceptional player already in their history. Connor McDavid. No way this league is going to allow another exceptional player to land on a team that just had one a few years ago. Therefore, they get to pick second.

That leaves Saginaw. Without checking, I don’t believe they’ve ever had the first overall pick in their history. Certainly not an exceptional player. And they keep their noses clean the eyes of the OHL. Therefore, of the four teams involved in the “lottery”, they were the best choice to have the first overall pick.

This “draft lottery” isn’t going anywhere. They will say it draws interest to the league yada yada yada. But at the end of the day, they will decide the draft order period.

If the Rangers finished last in the league, I somehow feel they would get rooked. Somewhere in my daydreams I see Dale Hunter dressed up as a warlock stirring a pot.... Never mind.

 

[Jives]

I’m kind of hoping Erie beats the Rangers pretty bad. It’s getting close to sell time or fire coach. They will just use injuries as the excuse today though.

 

[EvenSteven]

If the Rangers finished last in the league, I somehow feel they would get rooked. Somewhere in my daydreams I see Dale Hunter dressed up as a warlock stirring a pot.... Never mind.

To be honest, I doubt Kitchener or London for that matter, would ever get the first overall pick if either ever missed the playoffs.

They wouldn’t fit the criteria. They are “have” teams. It would go to the non playoff team that needs a break or is a “have not” team.

I’m kind of hoping Erie beats the Rangers pretty bad. It’s getting close to sell time or fire coach. They will just use injuries as the excuse today though.

A win by the Rangers today only prolongs the inevitable.

 

[bobber]

I’m kind of hoping Erie beats the Rangers pretty bad. It’s getting close to sell time or fire coach. They will just use injuries as the excuse today

As OHL fans here in KW not much to root for these days. Erie has the Rangers number usually.

 

[TheBlueMonster]

I’m kind of hoping Erie beats the Rangers pretty bad. It’s getting close to sell time or fire coach. They will just use injuries as the excuse today though.

They've been using it and that's what ticks me off.

It's either injuries and illness are running through the team or somehow the gift of time is the water that gets the team going. Except we continue to not see improvement at all.

I hate to say it because I will always support the players (From a far at this point, I wont be dropping 1600 to watch anymore) but I too hope that this isn't a particularly close game.

MM needs to open his damn eyes and quit thinking that we the fans are stupid. Whole organization does.

 

[EvenSteven]

Erie has the Rangers number usually.

If nothing else, they’ll take it to us physically today. They knocked us around the last couple times we played them.

 

[rve24]

If the Rangers finished last in the league, I somehow feel they would get rooked. Somewhere in my daydreams I see Dale Hunter dressed up as a warlock stirring a pot.... Never mind.

Mark is the one that would wear the warlock outfit n stir the pot

I get the frustration, I really thought this team would be in the top half all year.

Best, most unbiased, logical, passionate board on HF ohl. I hope it turns around for the faithful. And take care of Mesar as a Habs fan

Ya n last year still stings. Well earned.

 

[Coaches Coroner]

Game is not televised but I think we can all agree JP's Magic and Friends is probably more entertaining programming than the Rangers game would have been.