Kitchener Rangers 2023-24 Season Thread (Part 2)

[Ward Cornell]

Bottineau is flying tn and developing , Kyrzakos was a great hire. Great start against the mustard packs.

agreed on Bottineau...finally getting consistent icetime

 

[Krangers08]

agreed on Bottineau...finally getting consistent icetime

Using his body a lot more and using power moves/speed to drive the next. Seems to be the offensive leader on the 4th line

 

[K2]

Premature Teddytossulation in Sarnia

 

[Krangers08]

Premature Teddytossulation in Sarnia

Think they call a delay of game? Teams get one for trash throw on ice.

 

[Ward Cornell]

Bottineau with another sweet feed to Pug.

 

[rangersblues]

Michael Misa says hello. I’d happily trade either of Lam or Reid for him.

Since you answered with such a smart ass comment

Do you really think a team that's hosting the Memorial Cup is going to put Michael Misa on the market you

Countdown to ban 3, 2, 1

 

[StingUpdates]

Honestly not sure Ive ever seen such an absurd, drastic change in play, success from 1 yr to the next when the yr before was supposed to be the great season.

Your squad this season would skate CIRCLES around last year's team & I have no doubts about that. So in sync. So structured. Passing especially thru the neutral zone is exceptional. Great at keeping Fs from getting to high danger areas.

The confidence they have in themselves & their teammates is very apparent. Even when it got to 4-3 they didn't look panicked whatsoever. Good sign.

Best team I've seen by a decent margin. Hopefully Vilmanis put on a good enough effort today for McKenzie to think he'd look good in Blue haha. Think he'd be a great add for u depending on that other imports situation.

Best of luck!

 

[Krangers08]

Anyone have Pug having 11 goals/16 points on their bingo card? 4th line has 35 combined points

 

[RangerNation]

Fewest games needed for @OHLRangers to reach 20 wins (Internet Era):
24 - 2007-08 (20-3-0-1)
26 - 2015-16 (20-3-3-0)
28- 2023-24 (20-7-1-0)
29 - 2002-03 (20-5-3-1)
29 - 2011-12 (20-8-1-0)
30 - 2009-10 (20-7-1-2)
30 - 2010-11 (20-7-2-1)
*1997-2004: W-L-T-OTL; 2005-Pres: W-L-OT-SO


Totally forgot how well that 2008 team started. Unreal

 

[EvenSteven]

Fewest games needed for @OHLRangers to reach 20 wins (Internet Era):
24 - 2007-08 (20-3-0-1)
26 - 2015-16 (20-3-3-0)
28- 2023-24 (20-7-1-0)
29 - 2002-03 (20-5-3-1)
29 - 2011-12 (20-8-1-0)
30 - 2009-10 (20-7-1-2)
30 - 2010-11 (20-7-2-1)
*1997-2004: W-L-T-OTL; 2005-Pres: W-L-OT-SO


Totally forgot how well that 2008 team started. Unreal

Let’s see how we fared in those years:

07-08
All in as host team. Significant additions: Steve Mason.
Scott Tregunna.
Ben Shutron.
Brandon Mashinter.

15-16
Murray Hiebert at his best. In a year where there was/should have been a push to go all in, he shat the bed. From putting in limbo, multiple 2nds in the Tortora trade to gifting Guelph a 3rd rounder in the inane Fabbri trade, he pretty much ran things into the ditch. His “we did our deadline deal early (Liberati)” didn’t hold water.

02-03
All in. Memorial Cup.
Significant additions:
Gregory Campbell.
George Halkidis.
Nathan O’Nabigon.
David Clarkson.

11-12
One of the best OA groups we’ve ever had (Catenacci. Randell. Sol). Spott shat the bed at the deadline. One of the best players on the market at the deadline, Austin Watson, would only ok a trade to London or Kitchener. Spott whined about prices that year as we watched London get Watson in a steal of a trade. “I thought our offer was better” he said. Yeah sure. And who beat us single handedly in the post season? Austin Watson.

09-10
Spott stubbed toe. Admitted himself after the fact he should have traded for help at the deadline. Major misjudgment of his team.

10-11
Another less than spectacular trade deadline by Spott. But who could blame him if he was still stunned over the premature graduation of Skinner and Morin. Then the kick in the pants of having Ben Thomson use his NTC to nix a trade for Barrie’s Taylor Carnevale, did in our deadline, and our chances. Essentially it became a “stand pat” year.

23-24
What to do, what to do?

 

[Offside by a mile]

Well, I'm still on Team Sell at the deadline.


Primarily because I don't believe in our Fwd Depth. Our 3rd line is a Contending team's 4th line. Lets be real. I can't say im disappointed with their play at all as Romano/Stark and Ellinas are all Rookies. But i have to trust my eyes. They are rarely a threat to score. When their on the ice it feels a bit like a hamster in a wheel "killing time" and developing (which again I'm fine with) I think all 3 of those players will have wonderful OHL careers but they aren't a 3rd line of an OHL Championship team. The kicker is we already have a wonderful 4th line, that plays with energy and chips in a bit offensively here and there.


For Reference:

Ellinas-28 GP- 2 G, 9 A- 11 Pts ( Had some time on the 2nd line)

Roamno-18 GP-2 G, 1 A- 3 Pts

Stark-18 GP-2 G, 0 A-2 Pts


When i look back on the closest we've been to and OHL championship appearance i look to the 2017-2018 Team.

That 3rd line was made up of Nick McHugh(18), Riley Damiani (17) and Greg Meireles (18) - did they light the score board up each night? - No, but they were an absolute dominant shut down line, that played against the top line of the opposing team every night, I think back to the job that line did against the Sarnia team lead by Jordan Kyrou (109 Pts that season) in the 2nd round of the playoffs and i would argue that line was the difference maker. Kyrou ended up with 2G,0A in the series.

Who's playing against the Top line in a playoff Series? Right now it's a Matt Sop lead line- take his offense production off our team and I’m left wondering where are scoring is coming from. It can't all be rested on the Rehkopf line- although they are the unreal I’ll admit.

So the lack of scoring depth combined with the inability to address these needs ( draft pick cupboard) has me still in sell camp.

Has anyone else moved their perspective one way or the other?

 

[RangerNation]

Well, I'm still on Team Sell at the deadline.


Primarily because I don't believe in our Fwd Depth. Our 3rd line is a Contending team's 4th line. Lets be real. I can't say im disappointed with their play at all as Romano/Stark and Ellinas are all Rookies. But i have to trust my eyes. They are rarely a threat to score. When their on the ice it feels a bit like a hamster in a wheel "killing time" and developing (which again I'm fine with) I think all 3 of those players will have wonderful OHL careers but they aren't a 3rd line of an OHL Championship team. The kicker is we already have a wonderful 4th line, that plays with energy and chips in a bit offensively here and there.


For Reference:

Ellinas-28 GP- 2 G, 9 A- 11 Pts ( Had some time on the 2nd line)

Roamno-18 GP-2 G, 1 A- 3 Pts

Stark-18 GP-2 G, 0 A-2 Pts


When i look back on the closest we've been to and OHL championship appearance i look to the 2017-2018 Team.

That 3rd line was made up of Nick McHugh(18), Riley Damiani (17) and Greg Meireles (18) - did they light the score board up each night? - No, but they were an absolute dominant shut down line, that played against the top line of the opposing team every night, I think back to the job that line did against the Sarnia team lead by Jordan Kyrou (109 Pts that season) in the 2nd round of the playoffs and i would argue that line was the difference maker. Kyrou ended up with 2G,0A in the series.

Who's playing against the Top line in a playoff Series? Right now it's a Matt Sop lead line- take his offense production off our team and I’m left wondering where are scoring is coming from. It can't all be rested on the Rehkopf line- although they are the unreal I’ll admit.

So the lack of scoring depth combined with the inability to address these needs ( draft pick cupboard) has me still in sell camp.

Has anyone else moved their perspective one way or the other?

I am still in soft buy camp. 1 D, 1 Forward (import). I think at face value, we can nitpick this team up and down as not being a contender. However, the league this year is the most balanced I have seen in years. No true contender, while a strong case could be made for Saginaw now.

Our 4th line really feels like our 3rd line the last few games. I'm not even sure Jussi even looks like line numbers though, as he rolls everyone.

Sop is on a mission. Not sure why we are hypothetically taking Sop out of the lineup, but if we did, Misaljeviks 31 points is still top 20 in the league. Lam has also proven he can play toe to toe with the top players.

The parity in this league has me not wanting this to go to waste. By no stretch is this the best team we have seen in Kitchener, but it's the best team after 28 games in this league, this year, which shouldn't be ignored

 

[GeoBlue]

Well, I'm still on Team Sell at the deadline.


Primarily because I don't believe in our Fwd Depth. Our 3rd line is a Contending team's 4th line. Lets be real. I can't say im disappointed with their play at all as Romano/Stark and Ellinas are all Rookies. But i have to trust my eyes. They are rarely a threat to score. When their on the ice it feels a bit like a hamster in a wheel "killing time" and developing (which again I'm fine with) I think all 3 of those players will have wonderful OHL careers but they aren't a 3rd line of an OHL Championship team. The kicker is we already have a wonderful 4th line, that plays with energy and chips in a bit offensively here and there.


For Reference:

Ellinas-28 GP- 2 G, 9 A- 11 Pts ( Had some time on the 2nd line)

Roamno-18 GP-2 G, 1 A- 3 Pts

Stark-18 GP-2 G, 0 A-2 Pts


When i look back on the closest we've been to and OHL championship appearance i look to the 2017-2018 Team.

That 3rd line was made up of Nick McHugh(18), Riley Damiani (17) and Greg Meireles (18) - did they light the score board up each night? - No, but they were an absolute dominant shut down line, that played against the top line of the opposing team every night, I think back to the job that line did against the Sarnia team lead by Jordan Kyrou (109 Pts that season) in the 2nd round of the playoffs and i would argue that line was the difference maker. Kyrou ended up with 2G,0A in the series.

Who's playing against the Top line in a playoff Series? Right now it's a Matt Sop lead line- take his offense production off our team and I’m left wondering where are scoring is coming from. It can't all be rested on the Rehkopf line- although they are the unreal I’ll admit.

So the lack of scoring depth combined with the inability to address these needs ( draft pick cupboard) has me still in sell camp.

Has anyone else moved their perspective one way or the other?

I am still for staying on course and see what January brings. 12 games between now and the trade deadline and I have the feeling if we cannot take 8 or 9 of those, we sell. Also need to keep an eye on who the other contenders are trading for. If we cannot keep up, we sell.

 

[Krangers08]

Who becomes the 2c when Rehkopf heads to camp? Is the defence strong enough to hold it down while Rehkopf and Mesar are gone?

 

[GeoBlue]

Who becomes the 2c when Rehkopf heads to camp? Is the defence strong enough to hold it down while Rehkopf and Mesar are gone?

Personally, I would move everyone up the depth chart so Sop would be there. I would keep the 4th line the same but move ALL of them up to 3. And the 3rd line becomes the temporary 4th line with whomever they bring up, if they indeed do.

 

[Billyjack]

Well, I'm still on Team Sell at the deadline.


Primarily because I don't believe in our Fwd Depth. Our 3rd line is a Contending team's 4th line. Lets be real. I can't say im disappointed with their play at all as Romano/Stark and Ellinas are all Rookies. But i have to trust my eyes. They are rarely a threat to score. When their on the ice it feels a bit like a hamster in a wheel "killing time" and developing (which again I'm fine with) I think all 3 of those players will have wonderful OHL careers but they aren't a 3rd line of an OHL Championship team. The kicker is we already have a wonderful 4th line, that plays with energy and chips in a bit offensively here and there.


For Reference:

Ellinas-28 GP- 2 G, 9 A- 11 Pts ( Had some time on the 2nd line)

Roamno-18 GP-2 G, 1 A- 3 Pts

Stark-18 GP-2 G, 0 A-2 Pts


When i look back on the closest we've been to and OHL championship appearance i look to the 2017-2018 Team.

That 3rd line was made up of Nick McHugh(18), Riley Damiani (17) and Greg Meireles (18) - did they light the score board up each night? - No, but they were an absolute dominant shut down line, that played against the top line of the opposing team every night, I think back to the job that line did against the Sarnia team lead by Jordan Kyrou (109 Pts that season) in the 2nd round of the playoffs and i would argue that line was the difference maker. Kyrou ended up with 2G,0A in the series.

Who's playing against the Top line in a playoff Series? Right now it's a Matt Sop lead line- take his offense production off our team and I’m left wondering where are scoring is coming from. It can't all be rested on the Rehkopf line- although they are the unreal I’ll admit.

So the lack of scoring depth combined with the inability to address these needs ( draft pick cupboard) has me still in sell camp.

Has anyone else moved their perspective one way or the other?

I'm in the fill the import spot, trade Schmidt (unless Martin is unable to come back full strength) and go with what we have but please do not trade one of Romano, Stark, Reid or Lam!!!!! , add a D

 

[Krangers08]

Who’s letting the bears fly tomorrow. I’m going with my guy Ellinas or a snipe from Lam.
Morey is a sleeper

 

[Matttheleaf]

Who’s letting the bears fly tomorrow. I’m going with my guy Ellinas or a snipe from Lam.
Morey is a sleeper

Gonna take Sop this year, although I really want to pick Carson simply because he scores a goal a game statistically.

 

[Billyjack]

Mesar orSwick

 

[rangersblues]

Let’s see how we fared in those years:

07-08
All in as host team. Significant additions: Steve Mason.
Scott Tregunna.
Ben Shutron.
Brandon Mashinter.

15-16
Murray Hiebert at his best. In a year where there was/should have been a push to go all in, he shat the bed. From putting in limbo, multiple 2nds in the Tortora trade to gifting Guelph a 3rd rounder in the inane Fabbri trade, he pretty much ran things into the ditch. His “we did our deadline deal early (Liberati)” didn’t hold water.

02-03
All in. Memorial Cup.
Significant additions:
Gregory Campbell.
George Halkidis.
Nathan O’Nabigon.
David Clarkson.

11-12
One of the best OA groups we’ve ever had (Catenacci. Randell. Sol). Spott shat the bed at the deadline. One of the best players on the market at the deadline, Austin Watson, would only ok a trade to London or Kitchener. Spott whined about prices that year as we watched London get Watson in a steal of a trade. “I thought our offer was better” he said. Yeah sure. And who beat us single handedly in the post season? Austin Watson.

09-10
Spott stubbed toe. Admitted himself after the fact he should have traded for help at the deadline. Major misjudgment of his team.

10-11
Another less than spectacular trade deadline by Spott. But who could blame him if he was still stunned over the premature graduation of Skinner and Morin. Then the kick in the pants of having Ben Thomson use his NTC to nix a trade for Barrie’s Taylor Carnevale, did in our deadline, and our chances. Essentially it became a “stand pat” year.

23-24
What to do, what to do?

You can add to 2009-10 that Spott screwed up the deal and basically gave away our best goalie by a country mile, Mavric Parks to clear the way for 2 seasons of substandard goaltending with Brandon Maxwell. Who knows how far we get with Parks? All we needed was one more win vs Windsor.

 

[GeoBlue]

You can add to 2009-10 that Spott screwed up the deal and basically gave away our best goalie by a country mile, Mavric Parks to clear the way for 2 seasons of substandard goaltending with Brandon Maxwell. Who knows how far we get with Parks? All we needed was one more win vs Windsor.

Even Josh Unice was having a great year. I would have been tempted to run with him.

 

[Ward Cornell]

You can add to 2009-10 that Spott screwed up the deal and basically gave away our best goalie by a country mile, Mavric Parks to clear the way for 2 seasons of substandard goaltending with Brandon Maxwell. Who knows how far we get with Parks? All we needed was one more win vs Windsor.

And way too slow to pull Maxwell and run with Morrison.

Mesar orSwick

I'm running with Stark or Bottineau.

 

[rangersblues]

Even Josh Unice was having a great year. I would have been tempted to run with him.

Unice was 08-09. We traded him to Windsor with Shutron and Timmons.

 

[Ward Cornell]

I can't recall seeing it mentioned here but Hunter B was not invited to the US camp for the WJHC.

 

[Krangers08]

I can't recall seeing it mentioned here but Hunter B was not invited to the US camp for the WJHC.

Yea Hudson and Casey are the offensive D on the team.