One thing I know is they will have to be very smart about it or they won't have a head coach.
He won't stick around for a fire sale.
They need to make a couple smart moves and hopefully find homes for Miedema, Uens and Vaccari and hope to fill a couple spots in the cupboard.
If they can reduce their OA problem and fill some spots without completely gutting the team it at least gives them a couple months to make a proper decision closer to the deadline when they can measure how the team will compete with what is likely going to be a pretty weak East next season.
If they are 5-8 place team i agree they should look at moving a Bishop or Battaglia for the restock.
Guys like Dervin and Hopkins are also able to bring massive returns if they really need to go all out.
If the Coach puts himself ahead of the goals of the team, then the coach should pack up and leave. The Coach is there to execute the Vision, not the other way around. I understand that the needs of the coach may not match the needs of the organization and that’s normal. But, under those circumstances, the coach is the one that lands at the bottom of the organization chart. As such, they are the ones that go.
The Fronts have two 1st round picks this coming draft plus Hopkins, and Williamson. Outside of that, they have virtually nothing going into 2026-27. Maybe Dervin depending on is College plans. And, Hopkins will be on his last season that year. They have no 2nd or 3rd round picks in 2025 so unless they hit on deep picks, they basically have the two guys they draft in round one this year. So, essentially they have four key players after next season. That is an awful situation to be in.
They have no choice but to structurally rebuild. Trading Battaglia will get them a fifth player to add to the other four but the better the player, the lessor the picks. As a winger, his value isn’t as high. Owen sound was fortunate in so far as they could point to Barlow’s draft position as a value escalator. So, even though Battaglia is more productive, I don’t think he would be worth more than Barlow but it will depend on what the market looks like next year. Barrie won’t have anything to trade so it looks like Brantford is the main player. Maybe Niagara. The west has been frugal lately with London being so dominant. We will see how the market unfolds.
Miedema and Soto will have value but as wingers that are not very defensively responsible, they won’t garner as much as the centres and D-Men. They will nail down enough picks to likely fill in the current gaps and that’s about it.
So, the plan should be to trade Miedema and Soto for the picks to get them back to square one and then trade Battaglia to get that elite young player. Any deviation from that is unacceptable. They won’t compete next year by keeping e very one and if they keep everyone, they will have no chance to compete for the next full cycle because they won’t have draft picks and they don’t have enough youth with high ceilings to be competitive the follow two season.
So, Mann is in a tough spot. He either eats his bowl of shit next year and sucks it up, or he eats his half bowl of shit for the next three years. He needs to pick one. If he doesn’t want to eat shit, then he needs to request out of his contract at the ed of the season and look for another opportunity.
This is the same reason why Ottawa fans are so pissed that Pinelli wasn’t traded. We don’t have enough future assets to make up for the two years of buying. Ottawa has Ekberg, Amidovski, Eshkawkogan, Nelson, and whomever they draft in round one this year (and maybe whomever they draft in round one of the Import draft? A bit of a crap shoot). We may be able to add Dietsch and Jackson to that mix and potentially Marrelli as an OA. So, Ottawa has more for 2026-27 than Kingston while not trading Pinelli, and even we are like….”ummmm, we are screwed.”
IMO, there is no way around it for Kingston. They don’t need to trade everyone but they need some early picks in 2026 and they need an elite prospect for Battaglia. I don’t think they will get both for Battaglia. They can get the picks but won’t get the elite player. They will get a serviceable player or two like Owen Sound but nothing major. They have to pick one or the other. Either way, Mann is behind the bench of a team will a ton of holes. And, to be completely real, this was discussed ad nausea early last fall when we were talking about whether this is a go-go year for Kingston because to do so would essentially require them tearing the team down to the timbers next year. Well, now we are there. There should be no confusion about what should happen next.
