Kitchener Rangers 2024-25 Season Thread, Part IV

Status
Not open for further replies.
Maybe not, but maybe so. Hage is hitting it out of the park at Michigan. Second on the team in scoring as an 18 year old. And Rehkopf's 48G in 57 games, and 7G in 6 playoff games? Even though Longacre may have stalled a bit in development (not NHL drafted and still at USHL), I’d like our chances just the same.

Imagine a top six of:

Rehkopf Hage Pridham
Swick Humphreys Miseljevic

That top line is the answer for Windsor’s top line.

No room for Ellinas.

But not having a second import of quality hurts us this year too.

Had we had that import, that would be a deep team when you fill out the third line with he, Ellinas and Lam.
Hage was never coming so you'd have to sub in a player we could have picked and reported at that spot; Longacre looks like a borderline replacement level player and plain bad pick.
My only real complaint with this season (I see it as playing with house money and good experience for the kids who will need to be great to have a 2 year window) is the Import situation. I feel like maybe we've been relying too heavily on just getting guys based on where they were drafted in the NHL, and not based on scouting them and seeing how individual guys would fit with our team.
 
Hage was never coming so you'd have to sub in a player we could have picked and reported at that spot; Longacre looks like a borderline replacement level player and plain bad pick.
My only real complaint with this season (I see it as playing with house money and good experience for the kids who will need to be great to have a 2 year window) is the Import situation. I feel like maybe we've been relying too heavily on just getting guys based on where they were drafted in the NHL, and not based on scouting them and seeing how individual guys would fit with our team.
The point of that post was IF Hage reported.

If MM knew it was a reach he’d report, and then shied away from taking the gamble, the next forward taken was Beaudoin. So swap out Beaudoin for Hage in that top six.

Is that top six better than today’s top six supposing we did not move Rehkopf? Enough to get past Windsor? Not sure.

Agree on Longacre though. But we could debate whether or not development at the OHL level vs lower leagues would have improved his fortunes as a player.

I agree with the import situation. Import slots should be filled by top end players. It looks like MM doesn’t have the same relationship with the right agents to direct their European prospects here.
We’ve had some good imports, but if you look down the 401, our imports more often than not pale in comparison.
 
  • Like
Reactions: bobber
Jussi rolls four lines. Regular season anyway. Hlacar is a part of that, no?
My point is Hlachar has pro size and is tough as nails. I am sure I heard someone on the tube mention the coaches are trying to get more production out of him. He is a deterent to opposing players taking privileges to a certain degree. When he reacts he mostly over reacts. Gets booted from the game and suspended. Arber Xhekaj is an example of a player that was a great asset once he tempered his aggressiveness. This is the point I was trying to convey.
 
My point is Hlachar has pro size and is tough as nails. I am sure I heard someone on the tube mention the coaches are trying to get more production out of him. He is a deterent to opposing players taking privileges to a certain degree. When he reacts he mostly over reacts. Gets booted from the game and suspended. Arber Xhekaj is an example of a player that was a great asset once he tempered his aggressiveness. This is the point I was trying to convey.
Did Arber ever temper it here? It seems to be something coach's are still working with him on at the pro level. As much as I/we loved him, there were many nights he had people pulling their hair out because he put us down a man and took himself (our top D) out of games.

Arber is also a much better player than Hlacar, although I've seen more promising flashes from Hlacar in these playoffs than I had seen previous. I don't think he's near enough to have turned the tables in this series, but he'll be a nice player next year.
 
I'm a little worried next year even with everyone a year older, bigger and stronger that to be truly competitive we probably still need a veteran Goaltender, a stud import to play top six and a Landon Sim or Sam McCue type player.
 
  • Like
Reactions: rangersblues
…….. an example of a player that was a great asset once he tempered his aggressiveness. This is the point I was trying to convey.
The Rangers have been successful here and there in this area over the years.

A guy like Adam Keefe comes to mind.

Hlacar can be an asset. With 7 goals in 40+ games this year, no reason he can’t put up 15 over 68 next year.

He just needs to eliminate the high hits. To his credit, in the game 3 post game, Jussi called the hit that he got the one gamer for, a clean hit.

I agree. Because there’s no way this league would have given him only one game if they felt it was a dirty head shot. He's a repeat offender for giving out head shots. Players of his stature, an on ice heat score, are easy to throw the book at.

Again, I still feel the one game was simply a hat tip to the on ice officials who ruled the play worth a major.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: All the Answers
As most know I’m a big Jussi fan, how has his playoff coaching been? Last year vs London he looked overwhelmed but in fairness to him the talent levels between the two teams was quite large. Now Windsor has really taken it to the Rangers but has he responded or tried anything to get his team going? Experience like this is invaluable for coaches as well, especially considering the expectations of the Rangers in the future. Deep playoff runs the next couple of seasons …….
 
  • Like
Reactions: All the Answers
He is a deterent to opposing players taking privileges to a certain degree. When he reacts he mostly over reacts. Gets booted from the game and suspended.
I know his name is going to draw claims of dirty, spineless and a cheater etc etc. BUT Landon Sim in London is a perfect example. Londons Win / Loss record when he is out of the lineup is significantly different. Two years ago he missed a large amount of time injured but when he returned the team went on a tear all the way to the OHL Final. Like you say you can’t underestimate a players contribution in this role.
 
I know his name is going to draw claims of dirty, spineless and a cheater etc etc. BUT Landon Sim in London is a perfect example. Londons Win / Loss record when he is out of the lineup is significantly different. Two years ago he missed a large amount of time injured but when he returned the team went on a tear all the way to the OHL Final. Like you say you can’t underestimate a players contribution in this role.
I really dislike Sim. He often crosses the line and gets away with a lot that goes unnoticed. That said he's the exact type of player you need and want on your team.
 
As most know I’m a big Jussi fan, how has his playoff coaching been? Last year vs London he looked overwhelmed but in fairness to him the talent levels between the two teams was quite large. Now Windsor has really taken it to the Rangers but has he responded or tried anything to get his team going? Experience like this is invaluable for coaches as well, especially considering the expectations of the Rangers in the future. Deep playoff runs the next couple of seasons …….
Jussi is a good coach as most would agree. I do find it mystifying the way the Spits handled the Rangers so easily. My only thought on this is the point most have implied. Rangers need more size and sandpaper types that get into dirty areas. You have to have more than two or three.
 
As most know I’m a big Jussi fan, how has his playoff coaching been? Last year vs London he looked overwhelmed but in fairness to him the talent levels between the two teams was quite large. Now Windsor has really taken it to the Rangers but has he responded or tried anything to get his team going? Experience like this is invaluable for coaches as well, especially considering the expectations of the Rangers in the future. Deep playoff runs the next couple of seasons …….
So far Jussi hasn't found a way to stop the Spits top line. Quite possibly he doesn't have the means to do it though.
 
  • Like
Reactions: All the Answers
There's been a lot of good posts regarding this team and how the team should look in the future, but I think we'd be looking at it through a different lens right now if we had been getting excellent goaltending from Jackson Parsons like we had for 95% of the year. Not to say that all the goals are his fault obviously because the overall team D has let him down and we haven't scored enough goals in most of the games, but if we we're still getting a .920 save percentage out of him we might be looking at this series different right now.
 
There's been a lot of good posts regarding this team and how the team should look in the future, but I think we'd be looking at it through a different lens right now if we had been getting excellent goaltending from Jackson Parsons like we had for 95% of the year. Not to say that all the goals are his fault obviously because the overall team D has let him down and we haven't scored enough goals in most of the games, but if we we're still getting a .920 save percentage out of him we might be looking at this series different right now.
I don't think many goalies would have a much better save percentage than Parsons has this series. Although the Spits haven't had a lot of shots relatively speaking, most are real high quality.
 
I don't think many goalies would have a much better save percentage than Parsons has this series. Although the Spits haven't had a lot of shots relatively speaking, most are real high quality.
The way the Rangers have played in this series the Spits really don't need that many shots to win. Defensively the Rangers have disappeared. The Rangers just don't have the guns to match the Spits head on. They have tried to play the Spits game and so far it's completely backfired. They have to tighten up completely and find a way to limit the Spits top lines chances. A fan can dream I guess.
 
I don't think many goalies would have a much better save percentage than Parsons has this series. Although the Spits haven't had a lot of shots relatively speaking, most are real high quality.
I think limiting the amount high quality shots against starts with taking way fewer penalties, which should be obvious based on how things have gone so far this season.
 
  • Like
Reactions: rangersblues
Status
Not open for further replies.

Users who are viewing this thread

Ad

Ad