Kitchener Rangers 2023-24 Season Thread (Part 3)

[bobber]

Tanner Lam on the OHL highlites number one highlite for the week. Kid can dangle.

 

[Matttheleaf]

Not trying to raise any alarms about Parsons as I really like him and think he is one of the best goalies in the league, but over the last 15 games he has played (he's played 29) he's had 9 games with a save percentage under .900. In the first 14 games of the season he only had 4 games with a sub .900. I know a bunch of this has to do with the recent run of games without top forwards, running extra rookies and a thinner D group, but Parsons has to get back to being an elite goalie to put this group to the next level.

 

[Krangers08]

Tanner Lam on the OHL highlites number one highlite for the week. Kid can dangle.

Seems like Kitchener hit every aspect you’d want with the first 5 picks
Reid- we all seen what he’s done and will develop into
Romano- speed and smarts (evangelista like)
Lam- will put up a lot of points and highlight reals
Stark- two way centre that every team needs
Arquette- plays with heart and will be a solid top 9 guy
Macniel- a shutdown guy to pair with Reid
Now if they can find a pure shooter in this years draft it’s a great compliment of players

 

[Rangers True Blue]

The only question that I have now is, when will we name a captain?

OR do we need to?....

 

[Matttheleaf]

OR do we need to?....

I don't know if you need too, but I think it can be an important part of a team. However, if the team feels 100% fine with the handful of A's we have then I'll be good with that too.

 

[Jives]

Seems like Kitchener hit every aspect you’d want with the first 5 picks
Reid- we all seen what he’s done and will develop into
Romano- speed and smarts (evangelista like)
Lam- will put up a lot of points and highlight reals
Stark- two way centre that every team needs
Arquette- plays with heart and will be a solid top 9 guy
Macniel- a shutdown guy to pair with Reid
Now if they can find a pure shooter in this years draft it’s a great compliment of players

Goalie Edwards looks good too. They have some NCAA commits that might see a coach they want to play for and jump ship next year. Lam played with one of them in Halton last year….maybe he talks him into coming.

 

[GeoBlue]

I don't know if you need too, but I think it can be an important part of a team. However, if the team feels 100% fine with the handful of A's we have then I'll be good with that too.

Seems like Peterborough just named their captain today!

 

[Comet09]

Even it's easy to say "It's simple". This is why we are on these boards and not in an OHL franchise office making trades. If it was that simple a lot of HF Board posters would be putting in resumes with all the OHL teams. Not me I'm too old. If polled the majority of Ranger fans would skin MM alive if he traded the best rookies we've had in years. Rangers acquired a coach with one hell of a resume. Four or five players stepped right up to the top of the league. Don't know if someone dropped a horse shoe off at the Aud but it has been quite a surprise. Many on here were against selling off any of the 07s and also wanted to keep the 24 picks. I believe you were one of them at different times. Personally I like the trades MM came up with this deadline. Am sure if he had more assets he would of done more. You have your opinion and I respect this also. Anyway Rangers have their roster settled. Players are probably happy to get the stress of the trade crap over and done with. Time to move on to the second half of the season.

Well said, Bobber! A ton of ideas thrown around here and in the end, the deal the team brokered makes the most sense in terms of potential to compete now and in the future. We are in a better spot now than a week ago. There will be some quick to judge in the event we don't get far in the playoffs, but hindsight as we know is 20/20. I don't see anyone from our base or outside of the team thinking we didn't improve our team's chance for success this year. I can't wait for this second half!

 

[SFC]

Did anyone else feel like the cost for Sale and Savard was a little light? I know there was some funny business going on with Sale but Barrie should have had the leverage here with the deadline creeping up and Kitchener looking to add but with so many other pieces off the table. Very odd to see no conditionals, as well. Just feels like Kitchener got everything they wanted here and Barrie got very little, feels like something has to give.

Just smells funny to me. Wouldn't surprise me to see an 07 go the other way in the offseason, or perhaps a couple 2nds for a non-impact player once Kitchener recoups some futures. (I don't see a vet going the other way, Barrie won't be a contender next year IMO.)

Anyway, as long as it's not Lam going back the other way (and I doubt it) I'm happy with this and I'll be extremely impressed if this really is the whole deal.

 

[Tim Wallach]

Did anyone else feel like the cost for Sale and Savard was a little light? I know there was some funny business going on with Sale but Barrie should have had the leverage here with the deadline creeping up and Kitchener looking to add but with so many other pieces off the table. Very odd to see no conditionals, as well. Just feels like Kitchener got everything they wanted here and Barrie got very little, feels like something has to give.

Just smells funny to me. Wouldn't surprise me to see an 07 go the other way in the offseason, or perhaps a couple 2nds for a non-impact player once Kitchener recoups some futures. (I don't see a vet going the other way, Barrie won't be a contender next year IMO.)

Anyway, as long as it's not Lam going back the other way (and I doubt it) I'm happy with this and I'll be extremely impressed if this really is the whole deal.

I don’t see it that way at all. Kitchener gave up 8 picks, all in the first 5 rounds for a player who likely had two months left in an underwhelming year in Barrie and a solid #4 defenceman.

I think you could argue it was an overpay as much as an under, but I can promise you there is no 07 going back in the summer.

 

[Jives]

If Sale comes back next season it’s a huge winning trade for the Rangers. I think it’s a fair trade in Sale does not return. 99% certain this is not a 2 part trade. MM didn’t want to part with any 2007s and any 2024 picks. He was interviewed after and if it was a 2 part trade he wouldn’t have been that quick to point that out. Sale said Kitchener….that brought the price down for sure.

 

[EvenSteven]

If Sale comes back next season it’s a huge winning trade for the Rangers. I think it’s a fair trade in Sale does not return. 99% certain this is not a 2 part trade. MM didn’t want to part with any 2007s and any 2024 picks. He was interviewed after and if it was a 2 part trade he wouldn’t have been that quick to point that out. Sale said Kitchener….that brought the price down for sure.

If he was parting with an 07, he’d have parted with Romano over Lam I think and he’d have done it in a bigger deal at the deadline.

 

[digicamo]

If he was parting with an 07, he’d have parted with Romano over Lam I think and he’d have done it in a bigger deal at the deadline.

My understanding is that there was a larger deal with Romano and Scott on the table and it fell apart. Maybe that was the Mayich deal? Or we got outbid on another deal maybe?

 

[Krangers08]

savard will become a big piece of this team. Seems like everyone has grew with these coaches. Kitchener wasn’t the only one asking for him

 

[Krangers08]

Colts could very well give those picks back for a certain Barrie native

 

[EvenSteven]

Even it's easy to say "It's simple". This is why we are on these boards and not in an OHL franchise office making trades. If it was that simple a lot of HF Board posters would be putting in resumes with all the OHL teams. Not me I'm too old. If polled the majority of Ranger fans would skin MM alive if he traded the best rookies we've had in years. Rangers acquired a coach with one hell of a resume. Four or five players stepped right up to the top of the league. Don't know if someone dropped a horse shoe off at the Aud but it has been quite a surprise. Many on here were against selling off any of the 07s and also wanted to keep the 24 picks. I believe you were one of them at different times. Personally I like the trades MM came up with this deadline. Am sure if he had more assets he would of done more. You have your opinion and I respect this also. Anyway Rangers have their roster settled. Players are probably happy to get the stress of the trade crap over and done with. Time to move on to the second half of the season.

When I said, “It’s simple”, I meant McKenzie’s ANSWER to the question, “Is there anything else you could have done to improve the team more than you did”, is very simple. I laid out the answers in my post.

I didn’t say it was simple to do the job. I didn’t say that you or me or anyone on here could do the job as well. But I will say, MM came here with no resume except for playing college hockey, minor pro, and being Bob McKenzie’s son. Really. Zero coaching experience. Off the ice and into an assistant coaching spot in the OHL. Didn’t have to cut his teeth at the JrB level or in the OJ or the GTHL, etc. That’s not a rip on him. Just pointing out fact.

But make no mistake, he’s developed into a fine hockey executive and we’re very lucky to have him. And his goal at this deadline was to improve this team while protecting the future (something we all wanted him to do) and he did.


My takeaway from this deadline from a Ranger point of view:

We improved the team somewhat this year but it seems we looked to the future as much or more so. Based on the trade, it seems MM’s goal was to improve this team by bringing in non graduating players, who’d be back next year (Savard) and had a decent chance to be back next year (Sale).

Going into the post season, I fear that our D won’t be deep enough for a long playoff run. If we go out in rounds two or three, it’ll be because of our D. This team can score at will most nights, but I hope we don’t have to score 5+ goals to win games.

For me, a lot hinges on Martin’s return and his ability to continue his offensive pace while being a beast - especially in the post season. If he stays healthy and is the player we know he can be, that’s great. But if he cannot, we may rue the day we chose to keep him as the third OA over bringing in an OA D. We dealt with Barrie in the Sale / Savard deal. Expanding that deal to include Connor Punnett would have been huge for this blueline.


In 1990, after a post season injury to D Rick Allain, the Rangers were forced to run through the Memorial Cup tourney in Hamilton going with four D exclusively. Two OT games vs Oshawa, double OT in the final, and the quartet were running out of gas. The longer that last game went, the pendulum swung in Oshawa’s favour.

In 1997, we got to the final four but lose to Oshawa in six games. Geoff Ward was quoted afterwards that he wished he’d have had more depth on defence. There had been a deal in play for veteran stay at home D Chris Van Dyk. But it fell through late at the deadline.

In 2008, there was a reason we traded for Scott Tregunna in the 11th hour. DeBoer said he wanted depth on D and the forward had played D before and we used him back there at times in the post season.

In 2010, after not being able to close out Windsor after being up 3-0 in games, Spott said that he wished he’d have addressed the D at the deadline, that he didn’t know how good we were.

I hope we don’t have to add this season to the list.

 

[EvenSteven]

My understanding is that there was a larger deal with Romano and Scott on the table and it fell apart. Maybe that was the Mayich deal? Or we got outbid on another deal maybe?

There was mention on the Windsor board that a deal with the Rangers “fell through” because a player wouldn’t waive his NTC.

No mention of player(s) either way or if the player refusing to waive was a Ranger or Spit.

I doubt their only 04 D (Toms) would have been the desired target. But since we brought in 05 Savard, perhaps there was a bigger deal in place with Windsor for a younger quality D plus an 04 depth forward?

Then the Barrie deal would have only been for Sale?

Then once the Windsor deal fell though, the Sale deal was expanded to include Savard?

All speculation of course.

 

[EvenSteven]

This is early, but:

Brantford
10x2nds. 8x3rds. 5x4ths.

Flint
6x2nds. 9x3rds. 4x4ths

Peterboro
5x2nds. 7x3rds.
3x16 year old additions.

These are the draft pick cupboards / additions of teams that sold off large at the deadline.

These are examples of asset pools that we should look forward to with next year’s sell off of quality graduating players.

 

[MVarley]

Tanner Lam on the OHL highlites number one highlite for the week. Kid can dangle.

nice goal , gonna be a good player!

 

[EvenSteven]

Colts could very well give those picks back for a certain Barrie native

Mercer being the only Barrie native on the roster, unless his game ramps up, I doubt Barrie gives us those picks back for him.

 

[EvenSteven]

Seems like Kitchener hit every aspect you’d want with the first 5 picks
Reid- we all seen what he’s done and will develop into
Romano- speed and smarts (evangelista like)
Lam- will put up a lot of points and highlight reals
Stark- two way centre that every team needs
Arquette- plays with heart and will be a solid top 9 guy
Macniel- a shutdown guy to pair with Reid
Now if they can find a pure shooter in this years draft it’s a great compliment of players

So, with Sale being an NHL 1st round pick, we’ll be dipping into the import draft this summer with at least one selection while protecting Šalé and Pobezal.

I’m betting that pick will be an 07 born player which would further fortify the 07 group.

But if Sale is returned to us at some point next year, what happens? First glance since we’re likely rebuilding is we trade him off as soon as he’s returned to allow us to keep Pobezal and our ‘24 import drafted player protected.

But, Seattle had say on Sale becoming a Ranger. They’ll likely have say on his movement if he’s returned here. Could they force us from trading him until the deadline or at all as a condition of him being returned here? That would force us to release one of the protected imports as we did this year when Mesar was returned (Kivijarhu).
They’d likely have say on where we’d move Sale to as well.

I know we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it, but it’ll be interesting how it all pans out.

 

[Jives]

Mercer being the only Barrie native on the roster, unless his game ramps up, I doubt Barrie gives us those picks back for him.

Dirracolo is also a Barrie native. If there is a 2 part trade and it envoles both or one of those players I’m all for it. I’d prefer Mercer as he doesn’t fit with the timeline of the 2007 kids. Dirracolo we would be trading on the low. While his game is not great now he has 2.5 year to improve to fight for an OA spot when the 2007s are 19. I like his chances at being a shut down solid D as an OA.

 

[Jives]

There was mention on the Windsor board that a deal with the Rangers “fell through” because a player wouldn’t waive his NTC.

No mention of player(s) either way or if the player refusing to waive was a Ranger or Spit.

I doubt their only 04 D (Toms) would have been the desired target. But since we brought in 05 Savard, perhaps there was a bigger deal in place with Windsor for a younger quality D plus an 04 depth forward?

Then the Barrie deal would have only been for Sale?

Then once the Windsor deal fell though, the Sale deal was expanded to include Savard?

All speculation of course.

My guess would be Martin for Peer as MM might of got worried with Martin health. No inside info….just a complete guess. Another option is someone just making stuff up. MM might I of taking a call and it got no further because he said he is happy with his 3 OAs.

 

[EvenSteven]

My guess would be Martin for Peer as MM might of got worried with Martin health. No inside info….just a complete guess. Another option is someone just making stuff up. MM might I of taking a call and it got no further because he said he is happy with his 3 OAs.

If MM were contemplating moving on from Martin, I’d hope he’d target an OA D.

Just a guess here, but maybe there was a Kit / Win deal in place where Romano and Cristoforo were the primaries? And Romano vetoed?

I know Windsor values Cristoforo going forward but if he quietly expressed desire for a change, it could have triggered something.

Again, complete guess.

 

[SFC]

I don’t see it that way at all. Kitchener gave up 8 picks, all in the first 5 rounds for a player who likely had two months left in an underwhelming year in Barrie and a solid #4 defenceman.

I think you could argue it was an overpay as much as an under, but I can promise you there is no 07 going back in the summer.

This is certainly how I'd be selling the trade if I were Barrie, and there's no doubt that there are good players to be had in the fourth and fifth rounds. But seconds and young players are what really get deals done in this league and I'm surprised McKenzie was able to get Barrie to essentially take his inventory of second-tier assets (the exception being that SAG 2nd 2026).

Sale showed well at the WJC two years in a row, including as a double-underager. I believe he's the third-highest-drafted guy playing in the OHL right now (Barlow, Dvorsky) Yes his numbers weren't great for Barrie but Barrie is weak. I wouldn't be surprised to see him be a 1.5 PPG guy on the Rangers the rest of the way with the right linemates.

If indeed this is it I think it was a very, very good trade for the Rangers.