Kitchener Rangers 2018 Offseason Thread

[Tim Wallach]

It's hard for a 16-year-old defenceman in this league, let alone one on a fairly veteran/loaded D corps. Ladd will get his minutes. We have no injuries right now, and we all know that'll change. Plus, York will sit a bit to give him a look. If we stay healthy, there'll be the odd game he dresses as a 7th D while Peyton or someone sits.

As for Barnaby, I don't have any intel, but I think it's fairly clear from the way things went down that a blow-up occurred. You don't "part ways" with a coach on a Tuesday evening after a 3-1 start to the season with no warning and no explanation unless there was some sort of incident/argument. I know it's speculation, but I'm simply applying logic. Things may have been bubbling for a while, but something happened.

MM needs to find a credible D coach asap.

 

[Ward Cornell]

It's hard for a 16-year-old defenceman in this league, let alone one on a fairly veteran/loaded D corps. Ladd will get his minutes. We have no injuries right now, and we all know that'll change. Plus, York will sit a bit to give him a look. If we stay healthy, there'll be the odd game he dresses as a 7th D while Peyton or someone sits.

As for Barnaby, I don't have any intel, but I think it's fairly clear from the way things went down that a blow-up occurred. You don't "part ways" with a coach on a Tuesday evening after a 3-1 start to the season with no warning and no explanation unless there was some sort of incident/argument. I know it's speculation, but I'm simply applying logic. Things may have been bubbling for a while, but something happened.

MM needs to find a credible D coach asap.

Tim, I will defer to others on this but I'm curious why McKee can't take over the defensive coaching chores? Another general question is what does a HC do when you have a asst coach for forwards and for defencemen? I assume the asst coaches work on the appropriate special teams. I can see the need of 3 coaches behind the bench during a game for line changes and in game coaching.

As an aside, i did mention a few times last season and offseason the need for McKee to help with the d-corps. So this Barnaby move to me wasn't a shock but more of a surprise.

 

[Rangers True Blue]

A former Kitchener Ranger is the coach of Moncton. That's an interesting wrinkle to the Seitz giveaway. http://moncton-
www.wildcats.com/article/wildcats-acquire-dylan-seitz-from-kitchener-rangers

And the beat goes on. An elite player add would be great. Can't believe that there aren't already talks with a team like Erie who are in dire need of picks. I can think of a couple of players that would have an immediate impact on Rangers offense.

With Erie back here tomorrow (Friday) and the boys rested, there's no excuse not to win. And please, do not take Guelph lightly. That would be a big mistake. And on Monday, it's time to put OS on notice. Their recent loss in OT has them in 2nd place behind Kitchener. Let's keep them there.

 

[Tim Wallach]

Ward, it's a good question. Every team has their own delineation of roles. I'm not certain how Kitchener breaks down theirs, but yes - when you have a high-1st round NHL pick who played D for years in the league, you'd think you'd want him carrying the bulk of the D coaching.

 

[Rangers True Blue]

VUKOJEVIC update...........Sept 28th article USHL Fall Classic:
Green Bay Gamblers left defenseman Michael Vukojevic was the best pro prospect on the ice Wednesday, but the ‘01 isn’t eligible until the 2019 NHL Draft. The Oakville, Ontario native was selected by Green Bay in the first round, eighth overall, of the 2017 USHL Phase I Draft.

A Michigan commit, Vukojevic has the size and skating ability to be an elite defenseman. He plays older, communicates well and makes plays in both ends. He’s still adjusting to junior hockey and rushed a couple of breakout passes, but he’s a big time prospect. Kitchener holds his OHL rights.

HOCKEY NEWS - USHL preview Oct 5th.....rankings:
11. Green Bay Gamblers – Maksim Zhukov (VGK) returns in net and that will be big for the Gamblers. Elsewhere, keep an eye on young D-man Michael Vukojevic (2019).

Interesting to note that London's Militec (who is returning from the Pens) played for the Gamblers before heading up to the OHL Knights.

 

[BenchedGuy]

Tim, I will defer to others on this but I'm curious why McKee can't take over the defensive coaching chores? Another general question is what does a HC do when you have a asst coach for forwards and for defencemen? I assume the asst coaches work on the appropriate special teams. I can see the need of 3 coaches behind the bench during a game for line changes and in game coaching.

As an aside, i did mention a few times last season and offseason the need for McKee to help with the d-corps. So this Barnaby move to me wasn't a shock but more of a surprise.

Ward, for a HC its all about micro managing and even that is a full plate. You need at least 2 Asst's to make things run smoothly. I fully suspect it's only a matter of time before another Asst Coach is hired. I get that McKee has a full support cast and its not like some of us amateur coaches but he is still responsible for the moving parts on the ice.

Like some others I am somewhat confused by the Seitz move. Not that he was moved but more that he was waived through the league. I thought there was value with Seitz as he was a decent 3rd/4th line guy. Just caught up in the numbers here again. Moncton is going to get that crash and bang, going into the corners guy. Hopefully he catches on and gets more ice time there.

I still see a move or 2 needed to be made. We have quantity of capable OHL players that I hope to upgrade to quality players. I would like to see one more player upgraded in the top 6 as I don't see Carter as a consistent top 6 guy and 1 more D upgrade.

 

[bobber]

Couple of points on Barnaby and Seitz. First the Rangers should always do their homework when hiring a new coach even if the head coach is his best friend. Barnaby was coaching in an inferior league in the Buffalo area I believe. Just because you played in the NHL doesn't qualify you as a good coaching prospect. I my opinion the team had a huge issue with specialty teams and lacked defensively for a while now as we all witness every game. It looks like a dogs breakfast out there and must of been considered a joke around the league by knowledgeable hockey people. Someone has to take responsibility for this going forward. Good on MM for sticking to his guns.
Seitz seemed like a good prospect when he first came on the scene. He had a bit of size and played on the edge. Last year he annoyed opposing teams on many occasions and drew a few penalties to boot albeit not always at the right time. I think it started to become obvious that he was a one hit wonder. He was rated close to if not the highest player on the Rangers on NHL draft lists but the polish came off during the year. On the other side of the coin though if the Rangers had some coaches here that knew how to develop players this kid could of maybe made some sort of an impact in the OHL.
There has been some talk about Ladd being the first round pick. The team said they were taking a kid that would be around for a few years because they had depth on defense at the moment. Sounds a little like Spott's old philosophy but I hope it works out going forward.

 

[EvenSteven]

I'm not so sure I am in favour of Spott's philosophy of drafting 4+ year players as opposed to the best player available. Sure he made out OK drafting Murphy over Sefton, and Jamie McDonald did well years ago drafting Benoit in the first round. But the rest of spots first rounders left a lot to be desired. Guys like Pederson, Schmaltz and Davies did not work out for us really. The best of those three provided to the team is the return we got for them in trade. Is Ladd destined to provide the same value to us? We are contending this year, I can see him being included in a deal for a ringer.

I think Seitz is a good prospect and I think he will do good in Moncton. I agree with what you said about coaching. Last year, especially early on, he look like he could be developed into a power forward in this league. For a player to go from playing on team USA at the under 18's to being waved through this league says a lot about our development I would think.

His being waived for the league, was there an agreement to allow him to go to the Q? Were other teams asked not to take him on waivers? Years ago we waive Robert Slaney through the league in an effort to get him into the Q and closer to home. I'm wondering if this is the same kind of situation.

 

[rangersblues]

I agree with your assessment ES, especially about the lack of player development. I'm not sure we're out of the woods yet, but I'm confident we will be headed in the right direction soon. MM is not fooling around.

 

[BogeyJ]

Still surprised we couldn't get anything in return. Anyone know if a player can technically be waived to the Q without giving other teams the option to trade for him?

Eiherway, I also thought he showed well and overall am glad he get a place to put up minutes. Also glad we don't have to play against him..

 

[Jeffy3535]

It's been a while since I've been this excited for the pre-game Farwell-head coach interview.

 

[OhSheila]

It's been a while since I've been this excited for the pre-game Farwell-head coach interview.

Post game show should be a beauty too

 

[Tim Wallach]

Still surprised we couldn't get anything in return. Anyone know if a player can technically be waived to the Q without giving other teams the option to trade for him?

Eiherway, I also thought he showed well and overall am glad he get a place to put up minutes. Also glad we don't have to play against him..

Nope. He has to go on waivers and be available to all OHL teams first. It's possible his agent sent a memo to teams saying he had an agreement with Moncton so don't bother wasting waiver money. But the more likely reality is that no one bothered taking a flyer on an 18-year-old with limited upside at a point in the season where they've already committed to a group of kids.

It's been a while since I've been this excited for the pre-game Farwell-head coach interview.

Anything interesting come of this aft's 570 interview?

 

[BogeyJ]

Nope. He has to go on waivers and be available to all OHL teams first. It's possible his agent sent a memo to teams saying he had an agreement with Moncton so don't bother wasting waiver money. But the more likely reality is that no one bothered taking a flyer on an 18-year-old with limited upside at a point in the season where they've already committed to a group of kids.



Anything interesting come of this aft's 570 interview?

I listened to the entire interview, Farwell did not mention nor ask about anything to do with Barnaby. He even went on after the interview explaining why he purposely didn't ask, saying there's no point to ask because he has a credible source that confirmed it was indeed philosophical differences and nothing more, no blow up. So he purposely didn't ask because he figured he'd be beating a dead horse.

 

[Ward Cornell]

I listened to the entire interview, Farwell did not mention nor ask about anything to do with Barnaby. He even went on after the interview explaining why he purposely didn't ask, saying there's no point to ask because he has a credible source that confirmed it was indeed philosophical differences and nothing more, no blow up. So he purposely didn't ask because he figured he'd be beating a dead horse.

and Farwell has been around long enough to know that certain topics are not to be asked about.......No rocking the boating or disturbing the waters.
Having said that...I don't blame him at all for avoiding this issue!

So Guest is back tonight and that probably meant that Seitz was bumped down on the lines at practice. I would imagine this probably prompted Seitz to demand a trade or to be released.

 

[OhSheila]

Except for that stretch from 10:08 to 13:48 in the 3rd period where Erie scored 3 times. The Rangers played well. They used their speed, passing was accurate, playmaking was good and the defence looked strong. ABD looked good in goal too. The Rangers were lucky they had a 4-0 lead built up. They dug in though and got their composure back. Garreffa's goal to make it 5-3 was outstanding.

Nice to see Captain Bunnaman and Eric Guest back in the line up. Both got assists. Jake Henderson was a presence with the opening goal and an assist on Riley Damiani's SHG. Mascherin and Vallati also scored so nice to see goals scored by 5 different players.

Jack York, Alex Peterson, Liam Peyton and Jonathon Yantsis were the scratches.

On to Guelph today at 4. The Storm are 2-2-1 and can't be taken lightly. Some very good young talent on that team.

 

[Rangers True Blue]

Up to the meltdown in the 3rd period.....a surprise I know.....Rangers owned Erie on every level. They made Timpano look like a sieve and eventually bounced him from the game. Despite emotions over Barnaby being let go, the boys had come to play. I still think the PP needs a lot of work but certainly, team defense was furious. Nice to see.

When a time out was called by the Rangers in the 3rd, I thought it was to tell them to get it back in gear and keep pushing. I guess not and the boys were caught sleeping for just enough time to make Erie look good. McKee said Erie was just that good but honestly, Rangers were just that bad.

Anyway, thankfully a zip pass to Joey and a sweet goal on the breakaway sunk the Erie comeback. Hopefully, a lesson learned. PLEASE.

Guelph today.......if Rangers don't take them seriously, it will be a loss. Then, no turkey til Tuesday! OS can be beat and it's time for the Rangers to put them on notice.

 

[Tim Wallach]

If Meireles keeps working and skating that hard he'll get rewarded.

ADB is very solid. I have a feeling he's our #1 in March.

 

[EvenSteven]

Um, I think it's time to run with ADB until he loses.

 

[Rangers True Blue]

(a) The Rangers didn't pay their dry cleaning bill so the team had to wear the Kitchener Minutemen jersey again on Saturday in Guelph OR (b) that was actually a bunch of Jr B and C players wearing said jerseys in Guelph

News flash......if you want to stay at the top, you must actually play hockey and beat the lower teams. Guelph simply outplayed them and Rangers were flat and seemingly, disinterested. It sure wasn't the team that played Erie on Friday night. If they're still mourning the sudden departure of Barnaby, get over it.

OS destroyed Windsor last night and if the Rangers don't come to play tomorrow, they too will be demolished by a team that I'm still convinced they can beat if they play like they want it. We'll see.......

 

[GEO1050101]

RTB thanks for giving the Storm some credit, all to often I read that the rangers didn't play well and that is the reason for a loss., nothing to do how the opposition played. Perhaps the team was looking past the Storm, taking them lightly, and focusing on owen sound on monday. Good luck tomorrow.

 

[bobber]

RTB thanks for giving the Storm some credit, all to often I read that the rangers didn't play well and that is the reason for a loss., nothing to do how the opposition played. Perhaps the team was looking past the Storm, taking them lightly, and focusing on owen sound on monday. Good luck tomorrow.

I don't think the Storm are really that bad a team. Just as good as the Rangers at this point in time in my opinion. If the Rangers thought they would beat the Storm by just showing up they were sadly mistaken.

 

[MoWanchuk1]

I listened to the entire interview, Farwell did not mention nor ask about anything to do with Barnaby. He even went on after the interview explaining why he purposely didn't ask, saying there's no point to ask because he has a credible source that confirmed it was indeed philosophical differences and nothing more, no blow up. So he purposely didn't ask because he figured he'd be beating a dead horse.

but if its an interest to the fans then farwell at least should have asked even if he got the standard answer he says he's a tough journalist however......he does ride with the rangers soooooo its a tough spot i suppose

 

[Ward Cornell]

How in the world the Rangers won this game is beyond me.
In my 50 yrs of watching them play this may be the worst coached team I've seen.

 

[SYWTom]

Big win today.
Defense played pretty well as a whole, would still like to see the forwards speed a little more, but can't complain after a win over OS.

Hopefully we can have a big weekend coming up as well.

Would love to see a number one centre added to our team, Gabe Vilardi would be my top choice.