Kitchener Rangers 2024-25 Season Thread, Part I

[frontsfan67]

To your point...even an injury would tip the scales in our favor!

Unless it is swick

 

[EvenSteven]

Really hope we start to see more from Mercer moving forward. Now that the OA situation is dealt with the pressure on some of these bubble players is on to start finding a role.

Once Andonovski is traded, our 05 group will be hurting. If this team is to be a top contender / elite team in 26–27, our 07’s and 08’s will have developed to the point where next season should be a strong season as well (top four in the conference). That being the case, it would be nice if we could put together three decent OA’s for next year. Mercer has a long way to go before he can be considered a solid OA in a year where should go at least couple rounds deep in the playoffs. After his rookie year, I had him pegged as a Scott Timmins type player. His development seems to have stagnated.

This is where Olivier Savard is missed. He’d have been a good OA D option next year and would have mitigated the pain of moving Andonovski this year.

 

[K2]

If this team is to be a top contender / elite team in 26–27, our 07’s and 08’s will have developed to the point where next season should be a strong season as well (top four in the conference). That being the case, it would be nice if we could put together three decent OA’s for next year

It seems probable that we will use the 'gap' to add an OA goalie as we have so often done (Teichmann, Paterson, Culina, ADB, Constantini ... VanBuskirk, etc) or a stud 19YO (Ingham, etc) following our regular MO for years. Such a move surely underpins our chance of near-term success, if we're developing nicely the next couple years, given the age of current G prospects.

 

[EvenSteven]

It seems probable that we will use the 'gap' to add an OA goalie as we have so often done (Teichmann, Paterson, Culina, ADB, Constantini ... VanBuskirk, etc) or a stud 19YO (Ingham, etc) following our regular MO for years. Such a move surely underpins our chance of near-term success, if we're developing nicely the next couple years, given the age of current G prospects.

As far as the goaltending goes, I would’ve hoped that Edwards would’ve been our number one next year at 18 years old. A tandem of Edwards/Schaubel with Edwards being the number one would eliminate the need for the addition of a veteran, if/when next year is a contention year.

The year before we hosted in 08, we had a team that was high end. We made it to the third round against Plymouth where the consensus was that Kitchener vs Plymouth was the de facto OHL championship series. If our 07 and 08 groups develop as planned, that is where we could see ourselves next year.

The way our draft cupboard looks now, I don’t think we can burn assets to bring in graduating help for next season. That’s the difference between next year and the 06–07 season. DeBoer was able to make additions to that season’s team in the way of quality vets. I’m not so sure MM will have the assets to be able to make those types of additions and keep a full draft cupboard available for the following year.

All the more reason to do what we can to trade our graduating assets this year to further fill the draft pick cupboard. As much as it would be nice to keep a guy like Swick here for the duration for what he could bring to the team in leadership, etc., we need to look at the big picture for the next two seasons. I’d much rather deal him for what we can get if it means taking that return and flipping it for a comparable OA for next year’s team.

 

[Buttsy]

It’s a bit of a balancing act when rebuilding. You want to capitalize on your useful assets but you don’t want to gut the team either. I think so far the plan is working and with your coach he will keep an under skilled team wining enough so it doesn’t let bad habits creep in. Patience is all that is needed at this point and it’s tough in a city like Kitchener who have seen a lot of good hockey over the years. It’s sort of like London can you imagine the suicide rate if the Knights were to finish even 500 for a season, LOL