Kitchener Rangers 2022 Off-season Thread

[Rangers True Blue]

A lot of tough decisions are going to have to be made next season albeit pleasant ones. Whole team comes back minus the OA's. That means we can replace Petizian, Mutter and Nolet inhouse. I assume the OA's in that case would be Valade, Serpa and (you have to give him an opportunity) Fishman. 3 spots open. If Hage reports, that is a give in. It has been hinted that Longacre also might come. One spot left and you can fill in the blank with another promising draft, another Xhekaj, a Feregas, a Mesar, etc. Also possibly a move to improve the OA's? And we still have an import draft to go through!

There will have to be a lot of wheeling and dealing. Only thing settled is Parsons in net because I don't see both Parsons and Cajun sticking around. So add a promising goaltender from the draft to back up Parsons. It will be an interesting training camp.



Too bad it can't be the Rangers. :-(

Parsons and Vandenburg with DiLice as the 3rd G

 

[Rangers True Blue]

Lex Terrence (6th rnd) looked good at the camps and efficiently moved the puck out of the defensive zone.

Prospects by Sports Illustrated: "Terrence is unlike most of the other top defensemen from the GTHL that are available in the draft. Terrence is a more defense first player, focusing on being responsible in his own zone. Terrence has the ability to apply great pressure against opposing attackers, being able to force them to choke up the puck in the defensive zone. Terrence also has a very team first approach to his game, willing to do whatever it takes to push the team towards a win."

 

[OHL4Life]

Enjoyed seeings Game 1 and 3 of the Spring Training Camp this weekend. Hage was on fire this morning (Sunday) and scored 2 sweet goals right off the top. Once he's separated from the opposition, he goes to work fast and efficiently. Sign him, MM. Sign him now! What a great addition to the team.

Again, I know Xhekaj is older at a 05 but the kid is actually really good. He's not afraid of going into the dirty zones and "visiting" the net. He not only plays well but he has that Xhekaj persistence and grit. And in game 3, something set off a "disagreement" between him and 13th round Thomakos. Play was stopped for their fight but like his brother, Florian make short work of it and decimated Thomakos.

Say what you will but a player like Arbor and Mutter is needed on the team to keep the opposition in line. Florian could be that guy AND he would contribute to the offense at the same time.

isnt xhekaj an 04?

 

[K2]

isnt xhekaj an 04?

Yes, June 27, 2004.

 

[EvenSteven]

A lot of tough decisions are going to have to be made next season albeit pleasant ones. Whole team comes back minus the OA's. That means we can replace Petizian, Mutter and Nolet inhouse. I assume the OA's in that case would be Valade, Serpa and (you have to give him an opportunity) Fishman. 3 spots open. If Hage reports, that is a give in. It has been hinted that Longacre also might come. One spot left and you can fill in the blank with another promising draft, another Xhekaj, a Feregas, a Mesar, etc. Also possibly a move to improve the OA's? And we still have an import draft to go through!

There will have to be a lot of wheeling and dealing. Only thing settled is Parsons in net because I don't see both Parsons and Cajun sticking around. So add a promising goaltender from the draft to back up Parsons. It will be an interesting training camp.



Too bad it can't be the Rangers. :-(

Before any decisions can be made, we need some questions answered first:

What will be our import situation? Can we get Mesar and/or Odelius to report?
If both are picked in the first round, I believe we can still protect them and make two more selections in the import draft. In any event, with MM presumably wanting to compete, I don’t think we can go into next season without two imports on the roster.

How many of the high end players that we own the rights to can we get to report?
RD-Hunter Brzustewicz
LW-Cutter Gauthier
RD-George Fegaras
RC-Ryan Fine
RW-Filip Mesar
LD-Calle Odelius

The more of these we get to report, the better we’ll be. We could go from a good team if none report, to an absolute elite team if most or all report. The more that do report, the closer we get to elite, championship calibre status.

I feel that before we make any major roster moves, we need answers to these questions. That doesn’t mean we do nothing in the off season. If a good deal is there, we make it. But I’d think twice about making major “all in” or “sell off”moves until we have answers.

 

[LazyDuck]

Before any decisions can be made, we need some questions answered first:

What will be our import situation? Can we get Mesar and/or Odelius to report?
If both are picked in the first round, I believe we can still protect them and make two more selections in the import draft. In any event, with MM presumably wanting to compete, I don’t think we can go into next season without two imports on the roster.

How many of the high end players that we own the rights to can we get to report?
RD-Hunter Brzustewicz
LW-Cutter Gauthier
RD-George Fegaras
RC-Ryan Fine
RW-Filip Mesar
LD-Calle Odelius

The more of these we get to report, the better we’ll be. We could go from a good team if none report, to an absolute elite team if most or all report. The more that do report, the closer we get to elite, championship calibre status.

I feel that before we make any major roster moves, we need answers to these questions. That doesn’t mean we do nothing in the off season. If a good deal is there, we make it. But I’d think twice about making major “all in” or “sell off”moves until we have answers.

You think MM will bring back Spott? I think that’s what Spott is hoping for after his canning in Vegas.

 

[rangersblues]

You think MM will bring back Spott? I think that’s what Spott is hoping for after his canning in Vegas.

Bringing back Spott actually wouldn't hurt my feelings. He did have some decent teams. Looking back I feel his biggest downfalls resulted from favouring Maxwell and Murphy too much likely due to commitments he made to them as GM. This wouldn't be a problem as coach only. Murphy was talented enough that he had to play. I just feel he was coddled too much and in the end it stunted his development.

The return of Fishman is a real wildcard. It's really unfortunate he got injured and hasn't played for two years now. I thought he was displaying a lot of Petizian's qualities. If he can bounce back quickly that would be a tremendous bonus.

 

[Bra Wavers]

Before any decisions can be made, we need some questions answered first:

What will be our import situation? Can we get Mesar and/or Odelius to report?
If both are picked in the first round, I believe we can still protect them and make two more selections in the import draft. In any event, with MM presumably wanting to compete, I don’t think we can go into next season without two imports on the roster.

Most years the NHL draft is BEFORE the CHL Import draft but this year the NHL draft is a week after the Import draft so that may be a problem.

 

[EvenSteven]

You think MM will bring back Spott? I think that’s what Spott is hoping for after his canning in Vegas.

Spott was GM/Coach when he was here. I doubt he’d come back to just be the coach. Also, after nearly a decade in the pros, I’m not so sure he’d want to take a “step backward” and coach at this level again. Especially if there are pro opportunities still available for him. And as long as DeBoer is a head coach at the NHL level (don’t worry, he’ll get a job in the off season. He’s too good), more than likely there’ll be an asst coach job waiting for him.

And sure, Spott had some good teams here, but his playoff record was seriously suspect. He should have had much better playoff success here based on the calibre of some of his teams.

 

[Jives]

Spott had some good teams on paper. Those teams didn’t succeed. I don’t mind Spott as a GM but I wasn’t a huge fan of him coaching.

 

[EvenSteven]

Spott had some good teams on paper. Those teams didn’t succeed. I don’t mind Spott as a GM but I wasn’t a huge fan of him coaching.

And some would say the opposite. That Spott the coach was ok but Spott the GM had his warts.

Spott the GM got in the way of success more than once. Especially at the trade deadline.

IMO, the best Spott was here was as an asset coach to DeBoer. During that time, he was also a valuable recruiter when it came to getting prospects to report.

 

[LazyDuck]

And some would say the opposite. That Spott the coach was ok but Spott the GM had his warts.

Spott the GM got in the way of success more than once. Especially at the trade deadline.

IMO, the best Spott was here was as an asset coach to DeBoer. During that time, he was also a valuable recruiter when it came to getting prospects to

Spott was GM/Coach when he was here. I doubt he’d come back to just be the coach. Also, after nearly a decade in the pros, I’m not so sure he’d want to take a “step backward” and coach at this level again. Especially if there are pro opportunities still available for him. And as long as DeBoer is a head coach at the NHL level (don’t worry, he’ll get a job in the off season. He’s too good), more than likely there’ll be an asst coach job waiting for him.

And sure, Spott had some good teams here, but his playoff record was seriously suspect. He should have had much better playoff success here based on the calibre of some of his teams.

If DeBoer sits out a year, Spott’s best option would be Kitchener or Europe. He won’t be able to get an AHL Head or NHL assistant job without DeBoer.

 

[bobber]

I doubt the Rangers are considering bringing in a coach from outside the organization. If they did decide to look for someone to take over from McKenzie I would hope its an established coach with a solid winning record. I think we as fans were hoping Spott and even Smith would be the 2nd coming of DeBoer. We hoped we would see a continuation of the type of hockey where every player was held to account. If you watched DeBoer in daily practices he took them as serious as a actual game. If a player screwed up the whistle went. Every player on the ice went back into the position they were in and if a player lost his coverage he heard about it. Todays Rangers seem to make the same errors over and over without consequence.
Just a thought.

 

[HockeyPops]

Isn't this a development league for coaches too? If you can get an established coach with a winning record then you have to ask - why hasn't he made the jump?

 

[bobber]

Isn't this a development league for coaches too? If you can get an established coach with a winning record then you have to ask to- why hasn't he made the jump?

I agree coaches have to start somewhere. There are only so many pro coaching jobs. Not all established coaches are offered pro contracts. I am sure NHL teams are cautious about dishing out big money to a junior coach because he had a winning record. There have been many successful OHL coaches that floundered in pro. Some are back here in the OHL have continued to do well in this league. My guess is if an organization like the Kitchener Rangers were to decide to bring in a new coach you would see many resumes of successful coaches at this level. It's really a mute point anyway because there has been no mention of it other than speculations on here. Even Deboer gets fired in pro.

 

[sbpointer]

Man the way some of the posters on here sound the Rangers should be seeking to be the second stop on the Mike Babcock rehabilitation tour...

 

[bobber]

Man the way some of the posters on here sound the Rangers should be seeking to be the second stop on the Mike Babcock rehabilitation tour...

Reading their board lots of Knight fans were harping on the old Hunter regime saying they were a little long in the tooth recently. Just off season banter to fill the void. Now that you mentioned it Babcock might be okay here in KW. Every coach gets canned in Toronto. Fred Flintstone even got tired of waiting for a cup.

 

[GeoBlue]

Anyone on here happen to know when the upcoming years schedule is usually released?

 

[bcspragu]

isnt xhekaj an 04?

Hes also getting some miles in. Hes the only FA invite at Saginaws camp this weekend

 

[OHL4Life]

Hes also getting some miles in. Hes the only FA invite at Saginaws camp this weekend

ya, most free agents go to a ton of camps

 

[OHL4Life]

Anyone on here happen to know when the upcoming years schedule is usually released?

mid june?

 

[HockeyPops]

I remember Peyton Grainer (G) made the rounds in 2019 before sticking with Flint (briefly)

 

[rangersblues]

ya, most free agents go to a ton of camps

I was talking to a player's father at Rangers Rookie camp a few years back. He was of the opinion that you were better off being invited to multiple camps as a FA than being a late round pick. You get looks from multiple teams and more competitive ice times.

 

[TheAud]

Anyone on here happen to know when the upcoming years schedule is usually released?

Kitchener Rangers

kitchenerrangers.com

Last normal season schedule in 2019-20 was announced June 11th.

18-19 was June 12th: Kitchener Rangers announce 2018-19 season schedule – Kitchener Rangers

 

[Ward Cornell]

I was talking to a player's father at Rangers Rookie camp a few years back. He was of the opinion that you were better off being invited to multiple camps as a FA than being a late round pick. You get looks from multiple teams and more competitive ice times.

he's 100% correct