Kitchener Rangers 2024-25 Season Thread, Part III

[SoupNazi]

Continued from Kitchener Rangers 2024-25 Season Thread, Part II

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[Jives]

In the end it all started by 1 poor loser shooting the puck when he knows he shouldn’t be shooting the puck. Whether that was at a Ranger player or not he knew the game was over. They should be able to make a suspension on common sense cause without that poor loser player doing that none of this happens.

 

[bobber]

What's up with Hlacar? Could of used him last night for a tune up or two.

 

[Jives]

What's up with Hlacar? Could of used him last night for a tune up or two.

He needs to play. Whether it’s in Jr B or get some OHL games in…either will do. We will have 3 healthy scratched forwards once Stark is healthy. I prefer the 0 healthy scratches of last year and use Jr B call ups when needed (last year MacNeil and Arquette). MacNeil needs to play too.

Anyone have an update on Stark?

 

[LostRangers]

He needs to play. Whether it’s in Jr B or get some OHL games in…either will do. We will have 3 healthy scratched forwards once Stark is healthy. I prefer the 0 healthy scratches of last year and use Jr B call ups when needed (last year MacNeil and Arquette). MacNeil needs to play too.

Anyone have an update on Stark?

IMHO, he has tried too hard to impose his physical game, and that has lead to bad penalties, or taking himself out of the play. His pugilistic skills could use some fine tuning. He seems to lose his balance easily when he tries to throw punches. That should happen either in the O, or with a Jr. B club. Wherever that may be is up to management, but don’t think we are optimizing his development watching from the press box.

 

[Ward Cornell]

Not being at the game last night nor atthe northern road trip.
I wonder what the game attendees think of Xu? From the comfort of my lazyboy, he looks like he could be a solid addition right now to the d-corps.

 

[East Avenue Bully]

Okay, it sounds like MM is not selling. Parsons, Swick, Ando and Missile are staying.

I like their chances against any team in the West, except London.

Hopefully MM has learned and doesn't go full nuy and only looks to get value adds and pickups of NCAA options. Valentini probably won't make a difference right now, but it'd be amazing experience for him and the other young players to go two or maybe three rounds into the playoffs.

When Cowan, Barkey or Dickinson lose their cool seems to be when teams have the best fun vs the Knights, watched Guelph give them a scare when Cowan got beat down after a clean hit levelled Barkey on replay.

Get under their skins and make them lose their cool.

 

[Jives]

Valetini would be just fine on the 3rd line and 2nd PP. He would be a great addition even at his age. He is super talented.

 

[digicamo]

Not being at the game last night nor atthe northern road trip.
I wonder what the game attendees think of Xu? From the comfort of my lazyboy, he looks like he could be a solid addition right now to the d-corps.

Xu looked excellent last night. Considering he would’ve been a late 1st rounder if he wasn’t planning on Harvard he defintely looks the part. Getting him and Bilecki for a 2nd and 8th was excellent value.

 

[bobber]

Headrick looked like the perfect set up man on the power play. He can weave in and out of holes and make quick passes. Not a bad compliment for a rookie that has only been on the ice for 3 games. 3 points in those games. My grandson calls his sister "Half Stack" . Might be a good handle for Headrick. Kid goes into scrums in front of the opposing net. Scouting reports on both him and Lam say they can make a play out of nothing and score from difficult angles. Headrick's first goal was an example. Kid always smiles and compliments his team mates.

 

[LostRangers]

Okay, it sounds like MM is not selling. Parsons, Swick, Ando and Missile are staying.

I like their chances against any team in the West, except London.

Hopefully MM has learned and doesn't go full nuy and only looks to get value adds and pickups of NCAA options. Valentini probably won't make a difference right now, but it'd be amazing experience for him and the other young players to go two or maybe three rounds into the playoffs.

When Cowan, Barkey or Dickinson lose their cool seems to be when teams have the best fun vs the Knights, watched Guelph give them a scare when Cowan got beat down after a clean hit levelled Barkey on replay.

Get under their skins and make them lose their cool.

I pray he doesn’t do that. Our current picks may include the 2nd and 4th from Sudbury. We lose those if Hage doesn’t show for Sudbury. Someone has a list on the Sudbury thread with all the contenders picks. We need more to make a run. If we don’t have a strong team, the Soo also wants to host. They are doing the right thing and accumulating picks, and feel they got jobbed out of last year’s Mem Cup.

 

[EvenSteven]

I pray he doesn’t do that. Our current picks may include the 2nd and 4th from Sudbury. We lose those if Hage doesn’t show for Sudbury. Someone has a list on the Sudbury thread with all the contenders picks. We need more to make a run. If we don’t have a strong team, the Soo also wants to host. They are doing the right thing and accumulating picks, and feel they got jobbed out of last year’s Mem Cup.

Hage will NOT report to Sudbury. Those picks are gone.

 

[EvenSteven]

Xu looked excellent last night. Considering he would’ve been a late 1st rounder if he wasn’t planning on Harvard he defintely looks the part. Getting him and Bilecki for a 2nd and 8th was excellent value.

The 08 group.

Evan Headrick 1st rounder.

Alex Bilecki 2nd rounder.

Weston Cameron was ranked late 1st to mid 2nd in some mock drafts (Brock’s mock draft had him at #19. Elite Prospects at #21).

Jacob Xu ranked late 1st to mid 2nd. (Brock’s mock had him as an honourable mention. Elite Prospects at #16)

Avry Anstis is a player. Was a Rangers or bust guy. Good numbers at Shattuck St.Mary’s last year.


Thats a strong, deep, draft group. Factor in Valentini, who was ranked top three on the draft. Should he report, MM likely feels he can afford to move Headrick in a deal for a big add at the deadline.

It’s out there that he’s buying, so let’s get into that mindset. He may feel it more important to preserve the top picks in the next draft than refuse to move Headrick?

I like what I see in Headrick. But here’s hoping he refuses to waive his NTC and MM uses 07’s who won’t be in our plans and our 2nd’25(Pet) to get better. To make a significant add, one of those will have to be included in the deal.

Moving Headrick vs moving an 07 or two plus that 2nd? Based on what we’ve seen so far, I may want to keep Headrick and sacrifice the 2nd +++ in a package for veteran help.

When I say either/or, that means I’m really not looking at a huge add. A huge add likely means Headrick AND multiple 2nds and 3rds. Unless of course, Headrick, or those multiple 2nds and 3rds can be replaced by good 07’s.

 

[East Avenue Bully]

I pray he doesn’t do that. Our current picks may include the 2nd and 4th from Sudbury. We lose those if Hage doesn’t show for Sudbury. Someone has a list on the Sudbury thread with all the contenders picks. We need more to make a run. If we don’t have a strong team, the Soo also wants to host. They are doing the right thing and accumulating picks, and feel they got jobbed out of last year’s Mem Cup.

I agree.

But Josh Brown's recent Record Rangers article alluded to conversation(s) he had w Rangers management (MM) saying he's told Ranger vets in trade rumours that they are staying put.

It sounds like he may want to make most of an epic Parsons year and see what happens. Sounds like a soft buy. I'm hoping he stays w the sell plan.

There may be other stuff: maybe Valentini is joining, maybe Sale is coming back, maybe Pinelli is being traded for?

Dunno how any one of those would move the needle enough. If both of the last two...

 

[LostRangers]

Hage will NOT report to Sudbury. Those picks are
Barrie - 2x 2nd, 2x 3rds, 4x 4ths
Brampton - 6x 2nds, 2x 3rds, 3x 4ths
Brantford - 7x 2nds, 4x 3rds, 3x 4ths
Erie - 2x 2nds, 4x 3rds, 5x 4ths
Flint - 3x 2nds, 8x 3rds, 5x 4ths
Kingston - 6x 2nds, 8x 3rds, 4x 4ths
Kitchener - 4x 2nds, 3x 3rds, 4x 4ths
London - 1x 2nd, 5x 3rds, 3x 4ths
Niagara - 3x 2nds, 4x 3rds, 5x 5ths
Oshawa - 2x 2nds, 2x 3rds, 6x 4ths
Sudbury - 6x 2nds, 5x 3rds, 4x 4ths
Windsor - 6x 2nds, 5x 3rds, 4x 4ths

We are bottom third in picks on this list. We need more, unless we have been told the host is the Soo’s to lose?

 

[Ward Cornell]

The 08 group.

Evan Headrick 1st rounder.

Alex Bilecki 2nd rounder.

Weston Cameron was ranked late 1st to mid 2nd in some mock drafts (Brock’s mock draft had him at #19. Elite Prospects at #21).

Jacob Xu ranked late 1st to mid 2nd. (Brock’s mock had him as an honourable mention. Elite Prospects at #16)

Avry Anstis is a player. Was a Rangers or bust guy. Good numbers at Shattuck St.Mary’s last year.


Thats a strong, deep, draft group. Factor in Valentini, who was ranked top three on the draft. Should he report, MM likely feels he can afford to move Headrick in a deal for a big add at the deadline.

It’s out there that he’s buying, so let’s get into that mindset. He may feel it more important to preserve the top picks in the next draft than refuse to move Headrick?

I like what I see in Headrick. But here’s hoping he refuses to waive his NTC and MM uses 07’s who won’t be in our plans and our 2nd’25(Pet) to get better. To make a significant add, one of those will have to be included in the deal.

Moving Headrick vs moving an 07 or two plus that 2nd? Based on what we’ve seen so far, I may want to keep Headrick and sacrifice the 2nd +++ in a package for veteran help.

When I say either/or, that means I’m really not looking at a huge add. A huge add likely means Headrick AND multiple 2nds and 3rds. Unless of course, Headrick, or those multiple 2nds and 3rds can be replaced by good 07’s.

Headrick, Lam and Ellis can stick handle in phone booth unfortunately its the same phone booth at the same time. Then you have another player like Arquette, not sure if a true contender can have more than 2 players of that stature in the lineup. There's just "something" about Headrick that tells me that he's a keeper over the other players.
I see no need for a trade for a Pinelli type, where they may keep games closer in a playoff series but won't change the series result.

 

[rangersblues]

Valetini would be just fine on the 3rd line and 2nd PP. He would be a great addition even at his age. He is super talented.

Valentini would be a great addition on his own. But if we pack the 3rd and 4th lines with young first and second year players we're going to run into the same problem as past years in the playoffs - not enough grit.

 

[Matttheleaf]

Seeing more and more noise that the Rangers are in the mix for Pinelli.

Maybe we can get him for cheap cause his brother played here and was the captain

 

[LostRangers]

Draw your own conclusions…Royster out of the lineup tonight for the Otters. Nobody else.

 

[East Avenue Bully]

Please don't overpay

 

[EvenSteven]

Maybe we can get him for cheap cause his brother played here and was the captain

Yeah. That oughta get the price down.

 

[Matttheleaf]

Yeah. That oughta get the price down.

Never doubt the big brother telling his little brother to request 1 place or nothing

 

[EvenSteven]

Never doubt the big brother telling his little brother to request 1 place or nothing

Fair point. But we’d still have to pay. I doubt we’d get him at a super discount.

Ranger fans won’t like what we’d have to give up to get him. BUT, as I said earlier, he’d be the closest thing to Petizian this team has seen since Petizian.

There is that.

 

[EvenSteven]

If it’s quality grit the Rangers should be looking for, and Pinelli is too expensive by MM’s standards, who’d be good, inexpensive targets?

Sam McCue? Character guy. Just under a point per game. Plus player on a bad team. Physical 200 foot player. Decent chance at an OA season.

Any other suggestions?

 

[Krangers08]

Weston Cameron scored 2 tonight in his return from suspension