Kitchener Rangers 2018 Offseason Thread

[ScoresFromCentre]

I heard several fans call Farwell’s postgame show at the end of the regular season with a sky is falling attitude, saying the Rangers wouldn’t get out of the first round. While I didn’t specifically hear anyone in the media opining on the three losses to end the season — two to Guelph — isn’t that just stating a fact? That’s just what happened. To me it sounded like fans were a lot more concerned about the skid to end the season.

Fans will be fans. There were a couple pages of "sky is falling" posts in the Knights topic during their Memorial Cup-winning 2015-16 season when they lost three in a row in January. There was a bit of the same in this topic when the Rangers lost a few after the big post-deadline winning streak. You'd think by now we'd all figure out that no team is as good as it looks when everything's clicking* or as bad as it looks when everything's going wrong, but we're emotional creatures.

On the Pope thing I know he thought he thought he was doing his job asking Mascherin about wanting to be traded from the Panthers but why take the wind out of his sails after the game? Mascherin gave him the right answer. The question should not have been asked IMO. They need to stick to the series.

I'm sure Mascherin didn't want him to ask the question, but he probably expected it. It's newsworthy. Not a bad thing for a young guy to develop the ability to tune out the distractions during the playoffs, either. He handled it well.

*Except the 08-09 Spitfires. They were actually that good.

 

[GeoBlue]

DiPietro stood on his head.

Sarnia threw 52 shots at him last night and could only get 2 by him. This guy is a workhorse. Too bad Windsor could only score one.

 

[BarDownskie]

I realize this is the Rangers thread but I was asked about DiPietro 2 weeks ago by 2 different people and both had nearly the same question. "What happened to DiPietro" I gave a fairly vague answer given I've only seen him once this season in October. My reply was that nothing happened to him talent wise, however the team in front is not even close to as good as it was last year. Last night was proof of this. Anytime you have 50 saves in a playoff game at this level shows you are "in the zone." He is a big game player and it's hard to believe that he is 18 as a goalie. On another note, to have the extra OA goalie not count against the other 3 OA's next year, could this be the last of young goalies starting in the O at 16-17?

 

[EvenSteven]

On another note, to have the extra OA goalie not count against the other 3 OA's next year, could this be the last of young goalies starting in the O at 16-17?

Probably deserves its own thread, but if you bring in this rule where an overage goalie does not count towards your three OAs on the team, the next step or logical step might be to not draft goalies until they are 17 years old.

It would give these goalies an extra year of experience before they are subjected to an OHL draft. It would also give scouts an extra year to evaluate these guys. It's all bad enough trying to evaluate skaters at 15 and 16 years old for this draft let alone goaltenders.

Almost zero goalies in the OHL play regularly (as a starter or shared futies) at 16 years old. So if you moved the draft age for goalies up just one year to 17 years old, you would at least allow the odd guy like DiPietro, who shows that he can compete at this level at 17, the opportunity to be drafted and to play.

That may be the next thing that Hockey Canada tries to do to try and better develop goaltenders at a young age.

Of course there'd be pros and cons to doing this. Would keeping goaltenders at a lower level for an extra year see the same quality shooter that he would see as a 16-year-old in the OHL in practice and in some of the games he would play. I'm not so sure.

Most of the time goalies at 16 play the bulk of their games at a lower level anyway as they are usually assigned to affiliates for their 16 year old season. So perhaps bringing in a rule where a goalie doesn't get drafted until they're 17 would really be a way to better protect teams from drafting the wrong goalies than for actually developing them.

 

[MediaCritic]

Fans will be fans. There were a couple pages of "sky is falling" posts in the Knights topic during their Memorial Cup-winning 2015-16 season when they lost three in a row in January. There was a bit of the same in this topic when the Rangers lost a few after the big post-deadline winning streak. You'd think by now we'd all figure out that no team is as good as it looks when everything's clicking* or as bad as it looks when everything's going wrong, but we're emotional creatures.



I'm sure Mascherin didn't want him to ask the question, but he probably expected it. It's newsworthy. Not a bad thing for a young guy to develop the ability to tune out the distractions during the playoffs, either. He handled it well.

*Except the 08-09 Spitfires. They were actually that good.

Haha but what about the 09-10 Spits that a newspaper writer proclaimed as “done” before they came back from 3-0 down versus Kitchener? You nailed it...we are emotional creatures in our responses to such things. I’m sure many fans felt the same as the writer, and almost as many were mad at him for saying it.

I remember a conversation on this board not three months ago where the media was being ripped for being too friendly with the team. Somebody even wrote how they’d ask the questions if they were Pope so they could maintain the friendship and still get the answers. Now he does that, and he gets criticized again. How quickly we forget how we felt...

As for the game tonight, I expect it to be closer....but not by much. The Rangers are still a vastly superior team. I expect to be up 2-0 in the series by the time we head to Guelph on Tuesday!

 

[EvenSteven]

Haha but what about the 09-10 Spits that a newspaper writer proclaimed as “done” before they came back from 3-0 down versus Kitchener? You nailed it...we are emotional creatures in our responses to such things. I’m sure many fans felt the same as the writer, and almost as many were mad at him for saying it.

I remember a conversation on this board not three months ago where the media was being ripped for being too friendly with the team. Somebody even wrote how they’d ask the questions if they were Pope so they could maintain the friendship and still get the answers. Now he does that, and he gets criticized again. How quickly we forget how we felt...

As for the game tonight, I expect it to be closer....but not by much. The Rangers are still a vastly superior team. I expect to be up 2-0 in the series by the time we head to Guelph on Tuesday!

The media is 100% too friendly with the team most of the time. There is a difference between being ultra critical of the team, the way Jeff Hicks was years ago, and asking a "gotcha" question every other interview as Pope seems to do.

There is also a difference between giving an objective, leaning towards homer opinion on incidents such as the Smith / McCrank thing and pretty much throwing the player under the bus as was done. I get it they (Farwell and Brown) were predicting whether there'd be a suspension and how long, but I don't remember either giving Smith the benefit of the doubt. Both stated the player had to learn you don't put a hand on an official. Most fans had the same opinion though but for a small few - myself being one.

I stand by my opinion that Mascherin's NHL contract situation, and McKee's benching of players (what happens in the room should stay on the room) should be off limits. Of course, it was up to McKee how he answers such questions. A simple "coaching decision" answer or "giving said player a rest" answer would be much more appropriate I'd think.

However, and we don't know this, but if Pope asks the interviewees off air if it's ok to ask said questions, then it's all good as far as I'm concerned.

 

[bobber]

Let's hope we see a better start tonight and show the Storm right off the hop that the Rangers mean business. They started back in their end the last game and struggled for a bit before taking over. Just like to see them put pressure on the Storm in the offensive end from the beginning.

 

[Rangers True Blue]

Let's hope we see a better start tonight and show the Storm right off the hop that the Rangers mean business. They started back in their end the last game and struggled for a bit before taking over. Just like to see them put pressure on the Storm in the offensive end from the beginning.

The Rangers sure can't sit back! I'm with you. Tough and fast right from the start. Friday is yesterday's news and tonight, Guelph will do their best to take one. Rangers need to play every game as if it's their last game.

 

[Ward Cornell]

Let's hope we see a better start tonight and show the Storm right off the hop that the Rangers mean business. They started back in their end the last game and struggled for a bit before taking over. Just like to see them put pressure on the Storm in the offensive end from the beginning.

Strange on how when the Rangers used their size and weight and laid some hits that the momentum went into their favour.

 

[SYWTom]

Why so quiet around here?
I know it was a Sunday night game but we’re up 2-0 now! Wouldn’t be how I draw up a win, but they found a way to do it.

Onto Tues/Wed, anyone else making a trip to Guelph?

 

[bobber]

Last night was an example of not knowing what Ranger team will show up. One long time STH by us said the Rangers thought they won the series on Friday. I mentioned a while ago that coaches have to be able to make adjustments to their game plan to counteract their opponents system. IMO Guelph's coach did exactly that especially in the second where the Rangers had no answer to the Storm and struggled in the defensive end. In the end I give the Storm credit for showing the Rangers they can compete and our goalie Culina for saving the Rangers butts and getting the win. Rangers need more from the vets on the team. You can play like that against the Storm but a team like the Soo would blow you out of the water with so many giveaways and missed face offs.

 

[Tim Wallach]

Kitchener has to realize their upper hand in this series is only an upper hand if they apply it - and that's depth. Guelph is a short-handed squad who is prone to turnovers in their own end if you fore-check hard and consistently. They also lack break-away speed and prefer to cut across the middle on zone entries.

So two things that Kitchener needs to do a lot better are to get two forwards in hard on that fore-check all night and have the defence step up more in the neutral zone and right at the blueline. They aren't bad at times, but you can't let up at all. Take the fight right out of the Storm. They aren't dangerous until they have it down low. I thought Gentles in particular was giving up the blue too easily.

The Rangers can run them out of the building if they use their advantages.

 

[bobber]

Kitchener has to realize their upper hand in this series is only an upper hand if they apply it - and that's depth. Guelph is a short-handed squad who is prone to turnovers in their own end if you fore-check hard and consistently. They also lack break-away speed and prefer to cut across the middle on zone entries.

So two things that Kitchener needs to do a lot better are to get two forwards in hard on that fore-check all night and have the defence step up more in the neutral zone and right at the blueline. They aren't bad at times, but you can't let up at all. Take the fight right out of the Storm. They aren't dangerous until they have it down low. I thought Gentles in particular was giving up the blue too easily.

The Rangers can run them out of the building if they use their advantages.

Merkley simplified his game somewhat last night and skated the puck out of the Storm end and dumped it nicely into the Rangers end and stayed back on the blue line on many occasions. The Rangers seemed to be too slow at gathering the puck in and moving it out. They would get out battled in the end zone and not move there feet to back check the puck carrier which gave the Storm several scoring chances. Smitty can be pest to most teams. I would like to see him create more havoc with Storm players and get them off their game. In the play offs a little bit of hate for your opponent goes a long way. You can be friends after the war. Also Bunner is the captain. He has to live up to that C on his jersey and lead a bit more than he has. Huge player that should be a wrecking ball out there in the play offs. I am sure the Rangers will take the Storm as advertised but as Tim said they have to use all of their advantages.

 

[Rangers True Blue]

To be clear sportscasters......Guelph never actually shot a puck into the net last night. But if you listen to the way they report it, they did. Those at the game know better. Fluke once-in-a-million bounce off the glass. If had been a bit higher, it would have hit the net. So technically it was Rangers 2 The Glass 1.

Guelph reminded me of the old Plymouth Whalers team with three players positioned in front of Popovich and two to the outside. They took away the center and created havoc by the net. Good on them. However, apparently there is no such thing as holding or hooking. I couldn't keep up to the number of times this was done preventing key Ranger players from well.....playing. My whole section commented on this.

Not sure if you heard McKee's comments but he said that they never really looked a video from the first game. Yet, after that game, he noted that periods 2 and 3 were really a 2-2 tie so they needed to look at that. ??? IMO Guelph made adjustments and Rangers did not. Again, good on Guelph.

Puck bounce......not there last night but Rangers did indeed have more scoring chances than Guelph (whose shot count was rather meaningless considering all the outside stuff. Culina himself concurred). Totally agree that Rangers need to ramp up their speed and their hitting. Although, Masch was a wrecking ball and that Damiani never gives up on the puck....joy to watch.

There were two goal calls during the second that were questionable. None of use could understand why McKee didn't ask for reviews. #1 hit inside the net post making a clanging not clinking sound and appeared to make the net move #2 was the scramble with Logan Brown in front and Popovich sliding backwards into the net followed by the puck HEY.....they would have been worth a look. You never know and it's playoffs....hello.

Remember when we were begging for a goalie early in the season? Super Mario was fabulous in net....and really.....should have had a shut out.

 

[RangerNation]

Not pretty, but they got it done, which is all that matters. Brown said it best, this might be the game that got away for Guelph. They had a chance to tie to the series, but fell short. I expect the Rangers to come flying in game 3. Game 2 was too close.

 

[Melrose]

Speaking of adjustments, Rangers should dedicate a practise to do nothing but SHOOTING. Thought Guelph's tender was giving up juicey rebounds all night when they did shoot.

 

[OhSheila]

Last night's game either showed Guelph they can play with the Rangers or it showed the Rangers they have play at a higher, more consistent level to take the Storm out.

The Storm out shot the Rangers by a decent margin. Mario shouldn't have to be "Super Mario" so often. I give the Storm credit, they bounced back nicely from game 1.

Here's hoping the Rangers start strong Tuesday night and keep the pressure on all game long. That and as was said above, hit the net.

I love the emotion in the game last night. A ticked off Sherwood is a very dangerous Sherwood .

 

[bobber]

Speaking of adjustments, Rangers should dedicate a practise to do nothing but SHOOTING. Thought Guelph's tender was giving up juicey rebounds all night when they did shoot.

Hi Melrose. I think you are correct on the shooting. I think if the Rangers just focussed on getting puck on net with some velocity they could generate 15-20 more shots a game. They spend too much time trying to set up a highlite reel goals. Most goals are score from dirty scrambles in front of the net on rebounds but some just catch the goalie cheating or are not expected. They also have to hit the net. How about those no look back passes?

 

[robertmac43]

Hi Melrose. I think you are correct on the shooting. I think if the Rangers just focussed on getting puck on net with some velocity they could generate 15-20 more shots a game. They spend too much time trying to set up a highlite reel goals. Most goals are score from dirty scrambles in front of the net on rebounds but some just catch the goalie cheating or are not expected. They also have to hit the net. How about those no look back passes?

I agree 100%. I felt like especially last night Mascherin was passing up decent shooting opportunities to either pass or try to dangle around someone. Looks nice when it works, but more often than not a hard shot would be more effective.

 

[three dog night]

I was surprised the crowd was smaller for game two.

 

[robertmac43]

I was surprised the crowd was smaller for game two.

Yeah the corners of the arena just never seem to be filled anymore, I wonder if this trend will change as we get deeper into the playoffs (he says hopefully).

 

[SYWTom]

Yeah the corners of the arena just never seem to be filled anymore, I wonder if this trend will change as we get deeper into the playoffs (he says hopefully).

Attendance was still much better then round one the last few years.
Sunday night games almost always are lower attended. Round 2 (hopefully) will see some sell out crowds!

 

[GeoBlue]

Why so quiet around here?
I know it was a Sunday night game but we’re up 2-0 now! Wouldn’t be how I draw up a win, but they found a way to do it.

Onto Tues/Wed, anyone else making a trip to Guelph?

Oh? Um, what? The game is over? I didn't know. THE SCOREBOARD CLOCK DOESN'T WORK!

 

[EvenSteven]

I was surprised that the crowd was as big as it was in game one. Historically, crowd size is usually well below the season average for the first round of the playoffs.

I'm expecting another close game tomorrow night. I expect Guelph to pull out all the stops and play a desperation game to try and get a win as opposed to going down 3-0.

If we win tomorrow night, I expect game four to be much like game one.

 

[robertmac43]

Attendance was still much better then round one the last few years.
Sunday night games almost always are lower attended. Round 2 (hopefully) will see some sell out crowds!

That's true! I thought we would see more Storm fans filling the Aud as well.