Kitchener Rangers 2024-25 Season Thread, Part II

[EvenSteven]

With the rumoured barrie and north bay trade I think it’s fair to assume we can cross Barrie off the list without Vaughan.


Oshawa has the assets if they want to counteract with both smith and griffin at their potential disposal. I’m sure they wouldn’t complain about Ritchie and Luchanko right up the middle.


London if they want to try something different and screw their future could go and trade Hawery, he reunites with McLean and they get a potential 2 year player (likely 1 year) and then for them- Cowan and Luchanko up the middle.

Rumoured Barrie / North Bay trade?

 

[frontsfan67]

Rumoured Barrie / North Bay trade?

Possibly Romani and OVS to the colts for Vaughan, Wigle and picks and they reunite with Wakely forming a top 3 line in the OHL

Just speculation right now but based off what OHL4Life has said on Twitter that is exactly how I interpreted it.

 

[GangGreen]

Don't disagree, but I think for most highly thought of prospects, that their NHL team will prevail where the player will play. The NCAA is an older league with physically stronger players. Would the NHL think one yr of NCAA be a better transition for the player than playing against 16 to 20 yr old players.

Agree.
If things stay the way they are, I could see more US players coming to the CHL at 16-17 rather than the NTDP. With more players, both Canadian and US playing NCAA as 19-20 year olds. Net result is CHL becoming a younger league all around.
Guys like Misa, Dickinson, Martone probably better served playing against older players.

 

[Fastpace]

I don't quite agree with the conclusion but this is really well argued.

I guess the way I see it is that the Rangers are still behind where they should be based on the mismanagement of the 22-23 season. (I didn't hate the moves last year, even though they didn't turn out.) I hate the idea of disarming and I agree it doesn't send the best message to the players. But the current pick cupboard isn't going to cut it, even with prices coming down a bit with the influx of USHL and BCHL talent, and even with the Rangers a bit better positioned than most teams to take advantage of that with the number of "flyers" they've taken in past drafts.

The 07-08 Spitfires traded away talent, flamed out in the playoffs, then came back and won back-to-back Memorial Cups. Do I think this team is the 07-08 Spitfires? They don't have a Taylor Hall or a Ryan Ellis but they have a deep roster of young talent and they're in a similar position: inexperienced and behind a powerhouse in the standings, but ahead of where they were expected to be and very well coached. That's the model I say we try to follow.

I would take the Allen return for Ando with a couple conditionals to protect the OA year. (IIRC Hunter doesn't really do conditionals, smartly, presumably because he doesn't want to tie up his picks for a year.) I'd take a couple seconds each for Swick and Misaljevic as well.

Parsons I'm coming around on keeping, I think ES and others are probably right that he's worth more to this team than he'd fetch in trade. Perhaps someone more familiar with the east can speak to whether any of those contenders need a goalie. Brantford and Brampton are obviously set with Leenders and Ivankovic.

London fans, how competitive do you expect your team to be next year?

London each year have players developing at the junior B level. Considering their recent success, Mailloux, Bunk, Cowan and O’Reilly all played one year of Bs, then played their drafting year with the Knights, all four were NHL first round draftees. Then they have Nicholl, Julien, Woolley, all played Bs and were later rounds NHL draftees. This year they have future draftee Medvedev and would have had Noah Jenken (now with Guelph), both also played B last year. Does anyone believe London will not be competitive next season, maybe not first place team, but playoffs bound for sure.

They develop their prospects so well, calling them up for some games, and they have them practicing with the big team on the regular basis, by the time these B players shows up the following year the team hardly ever loses a step. Does this answer your question? I also think other teams around this Western Conference are catching on, and are making the whole conference a lot stronger in the process. IMHO

 

[Fastpace]

Nurmi won't be back. Think Montgomery will stick with US university commitment. And there has been rumours that Dickinson could sign with Michigan if he doesn't stick with San Jose. Probably no reason to play OHL after this year, although I imagine he'll be in the NHL.
Thing is, with the change in the NCAA rules, there could be a lot of talent coming North that wouldn't have before. Probably will benefit London, Kitchener and Windsor the most.
Knights are looking at a 5-8 spot in the conference I imagine.

At the rate Montgomery is playing, he may be signed by Ottawa, they could determine where he will play next year

 

[tjziel]

Don't disagree, but I think for most highly thought of prospects, that their NHL team will prevail where the player will play. The NCAA is an older league with physically stronger players. Would the NHL think one yr of NCAA be a better transition for the player than playing against 16 to 20 yr old players?

I looked into this a a bit further and Sam Dickinson already signed his NHL ELC this summer so I don’t think he’s eligible to go the NCAA route anyways.

Blake Montgomery on the other hand hasn’t signed his ELC, and if Ottawa decides they want to sign him, he doesn’t have to sign either. As BMO said, it’s his dream to play at Wisconsin so I don’t think he will put pen to paper until he’s played a year at Wisconsin.

 

[EvenSteven]

Battalion signs first round pick Ryder Cali - Ontario Hockey League

The North Bay Battalion has signed centre Ryder Cali to an education and development agreement, the Ontario Hockey League club announced Wednesday.

chl.ca

 

[frontsfan67]

What’s the odds pridham comes back next year?

Wonder if they trade him away at deadline along with ando and swick- get a kings ransom worth of picks for those guys keep Misaljevic and hopefully win a round then next year you’re much stronger and have 2+ rounds of playoff experience

 

[EvenSteven]

It’s been said that Chicago might try to get him signed before next year and MM would work on getting him to play his OA season here.
He’s committed to Michigan and might have to wait a year before getting good minutes there if he doesn’t sign with Chicago. Thus the intrigue of playing his OA season.

 

[bobber]

Is Lam injured?

 

[LostRangers]

Not a lot of polish to this game.

 

[Jives]

Is Lam injured?

Would not at all shock me if he was a healthy scratch. He needs to step up his game.

 

[LostRangers]

Would not at all shock me if he was a healthy scratch. He needs to step up his game.

He is not alone.

 

[bobber]

He is not alone.

Rangers look like they were skating in sand tonight. No one taking the lead. Sarnia has had the edge in the 2nd and 3rd. Rangers played like it was the last game before the Christmas break.

 

[LostRangers]

Rangers look like they were skating in sand tonight. No one taking the lead. Sarnia has had the edge in the 2nd and 3rd. Rangers played like it was the last game before the Christmas break.

We have had a few of these games where we get off to a strong start (2 zip o minutes in tonight), and then the team game goes in the toilet and everyone is looking to pad their stats, and we can’t get back to playing team hockey. Cost us tonight in a game you would like to have to hold onto 3rd in the west.

 

[rangersblues]

Rangers look like they were skating in sand tonight. No one taking the lead. Sarnia has had the edge in the 2nd and 3rd. Rangers played like it was the last game before the Christmas break.

Does anyone else think there's been too many different players in the lineup recently and it may have screwed up the team chemistry. They really haven't been as sharp lately, tonight being probably the worst effort since the first Windsor game.

 

[GeoBlue]

Offence has dried up. We have not scored over 3 goals in the past 5 games which is just not enough for Junior A hockey. Fortunate enough to win 3 of those but if you minus Pridham, we are completely flat.

 

[Matttheleaf]

Well the 2nd and 3rd period sure made the drive to and from Sarnia tonight less enjoyable. As soon as the second started it seemed like the ice was horribly tilted in the stings direction and the rangers just couldn't get anything going.

 

[bobber]

Does anyone else think there's been too many different players in the lineup recently and it may have screwed up the team chemistry. They really haven't been as sharp lately, tonight being probably the worst effort since the first Windsor game.

Good point Blues. Bringing players in via trades plus a couple of flyers reporting has to have some effect on the team. Botts being traded probably causes some anxiety. Did the Rangers not go into a bit of a tail spin last year around Christmas?
Sarnia has to get credit for their game last night. They continually broke up Ranger plays causing turnovers. Not sure if the team played different with Schauble in net. He played a decent game. The team in front of him was the problem.

 

[LDN]

I think it’s probably a unique time to be a rangers fan. This year is good cause you’ll get a deep playoff run for sure. Can you win the west? That’s TBD, but it seems like overall your team has really taken huge strides.

Your 07s seem to be your strongest group. You would get a kings ransom for Pridham, Ando and Parsons, but you are a legit contender so is there consideration to add?

 

[Jives]

I think it’s probably a unique time to be a rangers fan. This year is good cause you’ll get a deep playoff run for sure. Can you win the west? That’s TBD, but it seems like overall your team has really taken huge strides.

Your 07s seem to be your strongest group. You would get a kings ransom for Pridham, Ando and Parsons, but you are a legit contender so is there consideration to add?

I really wish this team was 5th to 8th place and the decision was easy for MM. To me it’s easy and we can’t beat the Knights. Does MM try to go for it the 3rd year in a row and fail? I’m guessing he does but it’s the completely wrong thing to do.

The 2007/2008 are very strong. Build around that and try to get to host the Mem Cup. Unload a couple vets for picks and still fight to make it as far as possible in the playoffs.

 

[Rangers True Blue]

Does anyone else think there's been too many different players in the lineup recently and it may have screwed up the team chemistry. They really haven't been as sharp lately, tonight being probably the worst effort since the first Windsor game.

That and the uncertainty of who comes or goes next. The unexpected adds have been great...Pridham for sure....but friendships and bonds prior to all this have been upset by it. The boys haven't been quite the same since. Hey....hockey is a business no different than the NHL or any other sporting league. Anything can happen at any time. Players have to accept it and move on. Otherwise, it will only reflect on their own performance.

 

[EvenSteven]

I think it’s probably a unique time to be a rangers fan. This year is good cause you’ll get a deep playoff run for sure. Can you win the west? That’s TBD, but it seems like overall your team has really taken huge strides.

Your 07s seem to be your strongest group. You would get a kings ransom for Pridham, Ando and Parsons, but you are a legit contender so is there consideration to add?

I don’t think we can sell off all our quality vets. Being realistic, if we can move, say Ando and Swick, bring back a bunch of picks plus a cast off OA D or 19 year old D, we can still be competitive, finish third in the conference, hopefully win a “knock em down, drag em out” round 2 series vs Windsor, then likely be easy third round fodder for London, our season would be a success.

We’ll have had a deep playoff run and the future would be addressed.

 

[Ref Hannah]

I really wish this team was 5th to 8th place and the decision was easy for MM. To me it’s easy and we can’t beat the Knights. Does MM try to go for it the 3rd year in a row and fail? I’m guessing he does but it’s the completely wrong thing to do.

The 2007/2008 are very strong. Build around that and try to get to host the Mem Cup. Unload a couple vets for picks and still fight to make it as far as possible in the playoffs.

Little Mikey is making a run for sure! A leopard doesn't change it's spots! He can't help himself. Besides that...it's good for business!

 

[RangerNation]

I really wish this team was 5th to 8th place and the decision was easy for MM. To me it’s easy and we can’t beat the Knights. Does MM try to go for it the 3rd year in a row and fail? I’m guessing he does but it’s the completely wrong thing to do.

The 2007/2008 are very strong. Build around that and try to get to host the Mem Cup. Unload a couple vets for picks and still fight to make it as far as possible in the playoffs.

The decision should still be easy even at 3rd place. They are 0-2 against London, 1-2 vs Windsor and 0-1 against Oshawa. All top teams. Do what you will against the rest of the league but those are the competition. 1 shootout win, and 6 losses. Granted, all but 1 were close, but it shouldn't be hard for MM to figure this out. They can potentially make it to the 3rd round without doing anything at the deadline.