Kitchener Rangers 2023-24 Off-Season Thread (Part 2)

[EvenSteven]

The Rangers announcement says Eight Rangers Invited to Canada’s Program of Excellence Summer Camps but in fact, one in particular is not signed with the Rangers.

Celebrating Xu as a Ranger “prospect” invited to Team Canada summer camps in the same light as our current signed prospects is right up there with, for example, celebrating past Ranger “prospects” Jacob Trouba and Adam Fox playing on Team USA at the WJC the way we did John Gibson and Jeremy Morin.

Just sayin.

 

[Rangers True Blue]

Celebrating Xu as a Ranger “prospect” invited to Team Canada summer camps in the same light as our current signed prospects is right up there with, for example, celebrating past Ranger “prospects” Jacob Trouba and Adam Fox playing on Team USA at the WJC the way we did John Gibson and Jeremy Morin.

Just sayin.

Exactly. He's a Rangers Prospect not a signed Ranger. Currently, he's committed to Harvard (according to Elite Prospects). Gibson and Morin WERE Rangers....Trouba and Fox never signed or played for the Rangers. So in that light, Xu is not a Ranger and Rangers shouldn't claim as much.

 

[frontsfan67]

Exactly. He's a Rangers Prospect not a signed Ranger. Currently, he's committed to Harvard (according to Elite Prospects). Gibson and Morin WERE Rangers....Trouba and Fox never signed or played for the Rangers. So in that light, Xu is not a Ranger and Rangers shouldn't claim as much.

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What they’re doing is just being hopeful that he can change his mind. Don’t think anything becomes official until they play a game. Don’t think Kitchener gets Xu there’s no point in picking him and then not caring about the guy a month later.

 

[EvenSteven]

What they’re doing is just being hopeful that he can change his mind. Don’t think anything becomes official until they play a game. Don’t think Kitchener gets Xu there’s no point in picking him and then not caring about the guy a month later.

I’m not saying that I don’t care about him. But what I am saying though is that I’m not gonna hold my breath on him wearing a Rangers uniform now that he’s committed elsewhere.

After the season starts, whoever it is on here who gives us that periodic update of Ranger prospects and how they’re doing at the lower levels (much appreciated by the way), I’m much more interested in how our signed players playing at junior B are doing rather than players we’ve drafted who aren’t signed who are committed elsewhere.

Now there is always the possibility that Xu, or any other NCAA commit who we have drafted, has a change of heart and reports to the Rangers - even after playing in the NCAA. We have had that happen before (D’Amigo. Bracco).

But until then, the only reason I may be interested in how they are doing, at the NCAA level, is if they are doing poorly or not playing regularly and then as a result may report here. That’s happened before as well (Auffrey).

 

[frontsfan67]

I’m not saying that I don’t care about him. But what I am saying though is that I’m not gonna hold my breath on him wearing a Rangers uniform now that he’s committed elsewhere.

After the season starts, whoever it is on here who gives us that periodic update of Ranger prospects and how they’re doing at the lower levels (much appreciated by the way), I’m much more interested in how our signed players playing at junior B are doing rather than players we’ve drafted who aren’t signed who are committed elsewhere.

Now there is always the possibility that Xu, or any other NCAA commit who we have drafted, has a change of heart and reports to the Rangers - even after playing in the NCAA. We have had that happen before (D’Amigo. Bracco).

But until then, the only reason I may be interested in how they are doing, at the NCAA level, is if they are doing poorly or not playing regularly and then as a result may report here. That’s happened before as well (Auffrey).

While it seems very unlikely he comes- what if he does? It’s still Kitchener’s job to try and sway the kid to come whether it’s now or in a year from now. They’ve taken chances before and it’s worked out. Just sit back and let management do their thing.

 

[EvenSteven]

While it seems very unlikely he comes- what if he does? It’s still Kitchener’s job to try and sway the kid to come whether it’s now or in a year from now. They’ve taken chances before and it’s worked out. Just sit back and let management do their thing.

Agreed. He still might.

 

[Krangers08]

New setup for Schaubel.

 

[Krangers08]

2nd round import pick Ondrej Kos plans to start the year in Finland

 

[Ref Hannah]

If you want to split hairs they could say nine to national camps!

 

[Rangers True Blue]

2nd round import pick Ondrej Kos plans to start the year in Finland

It will be interesting to see what St. Louis says. I read that Kos needs to adapt to the NA game and that's not happening over there.

 

[Ref Hannah]

Anyone willing to update the foggy goggle depth chart/lineup?

 

[GeoBlue]

Anyone willing to update the foggy goggle depth chart/lineup?

Sorry, my goggles are foggy as well.

 

[Matttheleaf]

Anyone willing to update the foggy goggle depth chart/lineup?

Ill give it the old college try.

This would be if we have everyone at the start of the year without trades. In this scenario most of the forwards return from last year except our first round forward pick. First two lines would be pretty competitive but this depends on if Sale comes back, or if Swick and Misa are still around at the start of the year. The bottom half is filled up with more returning players from last year who may either move on, like Mercer or Pug, but these bottom 6 players will probably move up as the year goes on and players get traded. The D sure is something this year. Lots of LD on this team but there is currently only two natural RD in Campbell and MacNeil. Even before Ando gets traded (should if we are rebuilding) we may still want to search the market for a RD either through trade or free agency. In net I have both Parsons and Malboeuf at this very second since they are the only two full time goalies on the team. Since this lineup has 5 OA's on it 1 of them will need to be traded before the year starts and another by the deadline to cut down to 3. If you can get rid of one of the goalies before the season starts it will give you some time to decide which forward you will want to move on from, as well as an option to help solidify the defense potentially.

*Rookie **OA
F
Ellinas-Rehkopf-Swick**
Sale-Romano-Misaljevic**
Bottineau-Mercer-Lam
Stark-Headrick*-Pugliese**

D
Andonovski-Campbell
Reid-Dirracolo
Bilecki*-MacNiel

G
Parsons**
Malboeuf**

Roster with trades before the season starts. In this one Swick has been traded as I believe that of our OA forwards he gives us the best return as a drafted player and for how he played down the stretch and into the playoffs. We can also slot in a veteran traded player into our bottom 6 to give it some respect still. On D a right shot defenseman is brought in to help even out the lines. It also allows Bilecki to be the 7th D and potentially develop more in another league. In goal Parsons is traded as he once again would give more value than Malboeuf in my opinion. Edwards can be the backup or another goalie if we so choose.

*Rookie **OA
F
Ellinas-Rekopf-Misa**
Sale-Romano-Lam
Stark-Mercer-Bottineau
Trade-Headrick-Pugliese**

D
Andonovski-Campbell
Ried-Trade
Dirracolo-MacNiel
Bilecki*

G
Malboeuf**
Edwards*

As the season goes on we may see one of our other OA's traded like Misa if there is a market for him, and we should also be trading Rekopf and Andonovski to a contender to fully restock our draft stock.

 

[Krangers08]

Ellinas-Rehkopf-Lam
Sale-Romano-Swick
Headrick-Stark-Bottineau
Hlacar-Cameron-Anstis
Arquette
Andonovski-Reid
Dirracolo-Macniel
Campbell- OA/project D*
Belecki
Parsons
Edwards/Schaubel (10 games)
gone-misaljevic-Pug-Mercer-Malboeuf
Just for Fun*

Trade landing spots predictions
Swick(Brampton) Mercer (Barrie or Kingston) Misaljevic (Niagara) Rehkopf (Oshawa) Andonovski( Barrie/Brantford) Sale (Brantford) Pug-Malbouef (OUA)
Additions-Sarnia sting D ( they have extras) Trading for a players rights. Mayich or Sirman from OTT

 

[rangersblues]

The thing about trading Swick before the season starts is his value may go up as the season goes on. I think keeping him on a line with Razor also might increase Razor's value.

We can keep 2 OA goalies early and dress one. That gives one of them (likely Parsons) a chance to raise their value if the preseason market isn't there. Then trade either Misaljevic or Pugs before the season starts.

 

[Rangers True Blue]

Some great takes on a lineup from both Mattheleaf and Krangers08.

It shows the many choices that Jussi and team will need to make and trade decisions MM will need to pursue to arrive at the 2024/25 Rangers. And this was without any imports that may join the team and of course, LaBrash is sitting in the wings.

I would like to see either one of the current goalies get traded so Edwards can be the 2nd goalie and Schaubel (already noticed by Team Canada) as the 3rd.

Antsis and Arquette IMO need to be in the lineup for sure and Cameron needs to get some ice time. With some players sitting up in the box this season, it should help add to the competitiveness and effort.

 

[Matttheleaf]

I think something that the Rangers have been lacking for a while is a that true captain that inspires a team to be the best version of itself. We have recently had skilled guys like Pinelli, Meireles or Damiani become the captains annd they are good players, but I don't think they were true captain material. If you go a few years before that Bunnaman and Hugg were also decent captains but seemed to lack that true leadership ability in my mind. I think it's been 10+ years since we've had a true good captain. I know that is subjective and hard to say especially because these guys are teenagers or young adults and we don't fully see them become great leaders until they potentially play in the NHL but I think this team has been missing a captain with the quality of like Roy, Richard's, or even Landeskog (his time was cut short here, but he has been a solid captain in the NHL since he got there). I guess what I'm trying to say is if we want to be successful in next year's playoffs or even in the year that we potentially host the memorial cup we need to start thinking about captains now and if that means giving Ried or Romano an A this year to see what they do with a leadership role then I say do it.

 

[Krangers08]

Motew is headed to Nova Scotia to play for STFX

 

[EvenSteven]

We had a couple very good players who were easily captain material recently in Xhekaj and Petizian. True heart and soul guys.

This team just hung the “C” on the wrong guy.

 

[Gondrex]

I believe that the Rangers drafted (5) former captains in the 2023 draft. So hopefully somewhere among those picks it increases the odds of successful leadership in the next couple years or so.

 

[Matttheleaf]

I believe that the Rangers drafted (5) former captains in the 2023 draft. So hopefully somewhere among those picks it increases the odds of successful leadership in the next couple years or so.

I think Ando could be a good captain this year, but I don't know how the team feels about naming him as captain and then he only plays here for half of the year before he's traded.

 

[EvenSteven]

I believe that the Rangers drafted (5) former captains in the 2023 draft. So hopefully somewhere among those picks it increases the odds of successful leadership in the next couple years or so.

I think Ando could be a good captain this year, but I don't know how the team feels about naming him as captain and then he only plays here for half of the year before he's traded.

If Andonovski deserves to be captain, he should be named captain. It should not matter that he may be on the block in January. What kind of message is that sending?

Also, it would tack on a little more trade value at the deadline. It’s not like we haven’t done this in the past. We have traded captains at the deadline before. Ryan Milanovic comes to mine.

Sure, we’ve drafted five former captains at lower levels. We’ve also done that in the past and stubbed our toe when it came to naming captains. Mike Petizian was captain at a lower level and lead his team to a OHL cup championship. Yet we went in a different direction despite the obvious choice.

 

[Matttheleaf]

Some more talk about captains. According to Wikipedia (and my memory of the Captains wall at the Aud) last year was the only year that we have never had a captain. Although Elite Prospects has us as having no captain during the 70-71 year and the 91-92 and 92-93 year. Not sure if anyone can verify this as I was not around for these years

 

[K2]

Although Elite Prospects has us as having no captain during the 70-71 year and the 91-92 and 92-93 year. Not sure if anyone can verify this as I was not around for these years

Ted Scharf was Captain in 1970-71, Mike Polano was in 1991-92 & 1992-93.

It’s not like we haven’t done this in the past. We have traded captains at the deadline before

Rizk & Shutron

 

[RB76]

I agree Reid has displayed some early characteristics of leadership potential and might be a good candidate to wear an “A” this year.

I also believe if Jussi wants this team to play his way and compete with the likes of London and challenge for a memorial cup in 26/27, the Organization needs to set clear expectations and demand accountability from the players.