Kitchener Rangers 2021-22 Season Thread

[rangersblues]

Let's not forget that a lot of other teams are in the same unknown territory. After no hockey for a year and a half, it is almost a blank slate. I say the best strategy is to throw out the best lineup you have and see where you are at the trade deadline. We could end up being sellers, sure, but the rookies may also surprise and we might run away with it. I've seen it happen in the 80's.

I don't think we can afford to be buyers. Most believe standing pat shouldn't be an option. I'm not sure what else that leaves.

 

[GeoBlue]

I don't think we can afford to be buyers. Most believe standing pat shouldn't be an option. I'm not sure what else that leaves.

Well, I never said we be buyers.

 

[MatthewsMoustache]

I don't think we can afford to be buyers. Most believe standing pat shouldn't be an option. I'm not sure what else that leaves.

Stand pat is an option when you have a cupboard of picks and a decent core of returning players. The Rangers only have 1 of those things.

 

[Rangers True Blue]

gone by 17th pick

His brother was supposed be "gone" too.....as was Leblanc....

 

[Rangers True Blue]

Agreed, though whenever the next season commences there will quite possibly be more unknowns & surprises than we've seen in some prior decades.





Possibly, but he would likely need to help our chances by making it known that we're his exclusive OHL report ... if he actually does want to play here.



If there's going to be fans in the stands in 2022, making the playoffs could well be a fiscal essential. Successful as we've been the last 20 years, we're a not-for-profit with a small 'business continuance' reserve that has only been depleting the last 14 months.

No reason why there can't be fans in the stands this fall.

 

[GeoBlue]

Stand pat is an option when you have a cupboard of picks and a decent core of returning players. The Rangers only have 1 of those things.

I'm just saying that it is going to be a very unique year and normal reasoning might not apply. There are going to be many "unproven" players throughout the league and some will surprise and some will disappoint. The best strategy might be to see where you are at a few weeks before the trade deadline, see who is loading up and make your decision then. Obviously, if we are floundering near the bottom in December, it is time to talk about trading Sebrango, Valade, etc.

 

[Ward Cornell]

Question:....any predictions on league wide "drop in attendance?
I suspect it will be about 75% max and probably closer to 50%.

 

[sbpointer]

Question:....any predictions on league wide attendance?
I suspect it will be about 75% max and probably closer to 50%.

Was it even that high league wide pre pandemic? Or do mean allowed capacity?

 

[Ward Cornell]

Was it even that high league wide pre pandemic? Or do mean allowed capacity?

sorry...I meant a drop in attendance!....edited to reflect it now!
thank-you

Not sure if I see too many parents that would like to have a family night with their kids out at a hockey games amongst thousands of people quite yet. Then the older folks may be cautious while others have just moved onto other things in the lifes.

 

[MatthewsMoustache]

Question:....any predictions on league wide "drop in attendance?
I suspect it will be about 75% max and probably closer to 50%.

The OHL is weird to me in that regard. I think the bigger markets like London and Kitchener will be able to do their regular numbers (or close) just because of the size of their 'casual' fanbases. For every person that doesn't want to go, someone else is dying to get out on a Friday night with their family. On the other end, small markets/small cities like Owen Sound, Peterborough, Sarnia, etc. all have the small but diehard fans because there's really not much else in those places, so I think they will be fine too.

Where they might be in trouble is with teams like Ottawa, Mississauga and the American teams. Ottawa and Mississauga don't have large fanbases based on the size of their cities and there's so many things that you could do in those areas to begin with. And with the American teams, everything will have been open there for so long by the time the OHL starts that some people will probably realize they could go without it.

 

[EvenSteven]

Agreed. Had there been a season and an opportunity to recoup the assets given up for Ingham, Hawel, Noel, Wale, it's a different story. They don't have a strong enough top 6 forwards after Valade, Pinelli, Petizian, McDonnell. With Ville supposedly leaving as well, that leaves Sebrango, Xhekaj, Motew and LeBlanc. So with all that they're probably 2 forwards and 2 defence away from being a legitimate contender.

I hope if they are going to retool, they sell hard. Sebrango, McDonnell, Petizian and Xhekaj are all gone after 21-22. They don't have to move them all, but they could get a ton for Sebrango and probably McDonnell depending on how his first half goes. Petizian and Xhekaj have never really had the opportunity to be the top guys on a team, so unless they are adamant on going to a winner, I wouldn't be upset if they kept them and allowed them to be first line/top d pairing players which they likely wouldn't be on a team going all in.

I wouldn’t be so quick to rule out McDonnell as an OA possibility in 22-23. Even though he’s NHL drafted, going as low as he did doesn’t guarantee playing pro after his 19 year old season.

As Geo said above, next year will be a crap shoot across the league regarding everything from player development to who the contenders are or aren’t. Truly, anything is possible. Team’s season as well as player development could go either way.
That being said, our empty cupboard has me believing if we do have a good start this year and are among the top teams in the west, we won’t have to assets to use at the deadline that other teams do have to improve. Therefore, the wise thing to do may be to sell off who we have of value who we know won’t be back in 22-23. IMO, as it stands now, those guys are Petizien, Xhekaj and Sebrango.

As of right now, I’m looking at a possible OA group of three of Valade, Serpa, McDonnell, Langdon for the 22-23 season. Could a Langdon or Serpa be flipped for an OA D? Perhaps if the need is there. Is it possible that the other two put together extraordinary seasons and graduate after next year? That’s possible too.

But looking at three of those returning in 22-23, it’s possible we’d have an OA group that could rival the Sherwood, McEneny, Culina OA group from the 17-18 season.

To be a top contender, like we were in 17-18, you need a strong OA group. If we can have that strong OA group from within as opposed to having to trade for some or all of that group, we’d have that much more in the way of assets with which to make additions in other areas.

 

[EvenSteven]

Question:....any predictions on league wide "drop in attendance?
I suspect it will be about 75% max and probably closer to 50%.

I think whatever attendance that teams/government allow in the buildings will be reached.

If we were talking this time last year, it may be a different story. Streets were near deserted a year ago during lockdowns but that’s not the case these days. More and more people are done with being “scared” into not leaving their homes.

Sure some people will shy away from attending games but I think there’ll be enough to go to games because they’ve had it with lockdowns along with the fact most will have been vaccinated.

 

[K2]

I'm just saying that it is going to be a very unique year and normal reasoning might not apply.

Indeed - it's never been like this before with discontinuous player development questions and we're in a near 100% unknown situation with two draft classes. Could be new dynamics with NCAA eligible/declared kids in play now too? Interesting times ahead.

I think whatever attendance that teams/government allow in the buildings will be reached.

I hope so but I've noticed that our attendance has been both softening AND greying for years and we may have a substantial cohort of age 70+ folks who have moved onto other things, feel reluctant to attend games cheek-by-jowl or simply 'aged out' having lost enthusiasm for fighting for parking, climbing stairs, loud late-nights, etc during the pause in play? Could be STH and walkup folks have reduced incomes or depleted discretionary budgets to take families to games and that extends to visiting team's travelling fans and perhaps to teams like ours that were donating 100's of seats per game when flush with revenue as well. Luxury suite leases were already lackluster and probably in steep decline at least this year. IMO, odds are against normally strong attendance in our rink and there's potential for a significant STH attrition. Again, time will tell.

I think there’ll be enough to go to games because they’ve had it with lockdowns along with the fact most will have been vaccinated.

I'm still undecided on whether I feel like returning just yet if we're on the ice in September and I'll be fully vaccinated and am probably still slightly younger than the average STH. Seems pretty mixed thoughts in my circle with 'wait and see' strongly predominant. We'll never see anywhere near 100% vaccination, probably only 65% best case nationally with some stark regional variation on uptake in Ontario anticipated and perhaps even more in the US and with efficacy against ever-changing variants remaining questionable, it won't curtail risk for most near term.

I suspect it will be about 75% max and probably closer to 50%.

I think we're at ~ 50% of 2019 #s if there's fan access to Aud games in 2021. London, Sarnia & Windsor probably see more returnees given their pushback on lockdowns, masking, etc has seemed more apparent to me.

No reason why there can't be fans in the stands this fall.

We'll need way better luck with case numbers and new variant proliferation than anytime since March 2020 for PHO to permit fans indoors IMO and even once good to go, every random case with a trace to a game probably shuts things down for a couple weeks.

 

[MatthewsMoustache]

 

[MatthewsMoustache]

Kitchener Rangers looking to bolster blue line after key defencemen move on

Potential targets listed by Brown were George Fegaras, Roman Schmidt and Carter Schade. Also mentioned the draft and import draft.

 

[MatthewsMoustache]

 

[EvenSteven]

Kitchener Rangers looking to bolster blue line after key defencemen move on

Potential targets listed by Brown were George Fegaras, Roman Schmidt and Carter Schade. Also mentioned the draft and import draft.

No access to the article for me. But, is Brown just throwing names around or are there actually talks going on with these players.

 

[MatthewsMoustache]

No access to the article for me. But, is Brown just throwing names around or are there actually talks going on with these players.

For Fegaras, he said that he is a "target for the Rangers this offseason''. Didn't say anything about them being actively in talks with Schmidt or Schade, but noted that if either of them are to be drafted (Schmidt's a projected 2nd round pick), that it is possible that NHL teams might want them to develop in the OHL. Given how things went this year as well as the 4 year signing period if they go the college route as opposed to 2 in the OHL, I can't see how any NHL team would want that but who knows.

 

[Coaches Coroner]

For Fegaras, he said that he is a "target for the Rangers this offseason''. Didn't say anything about them being actively in talks with Schmidt or Schade, but noted that if either of them are to be drafted (Schmidt's a projected 2nd round pick), that it is possible that NHL teams might want them to develop in the OHL. Given how things went this year as well as the 4 year signing period if they go the college route as opposed to 2 in the OHL, I can't see how any NHL team would want that but who knows.

I think the reasoning is the same as any other year, the team has final choice in signing the player if they go CHL, where as an NCAA player could potentially end up at a point where they decide to finish college and sign as a UFA with a team of their choice, leaving the drafting team without sole decision when it comes to a players rights.

That said, doesn't sound like Brown has any real info, just general and kind of obvious spit balling.

 

[K2]

Potential targets listed by Brown were George Fegaras, Roman Schmidt and Carter Schade. Also mentioned the draft and import draft.

Fegaras should be at camp (whenever) and likely signed if he simply shows as well as hoped.

Schade was playing USHL (drafted #1) and committed to Penn State so he's unlikely as is Schmidt, who is now off of USDP to BU, making them increasingly unlikely to show here unless they get drafted well and quickly dislike college (...Bracco). Same for Daniel Laatsch (D) & Caden Brown (F) who are committed to Wisconsin. As nice as it would be to get a few top US kids here @ 18 it's perhaps even more of a long shot than ever with the COVID uncertainties, etc in play here ... ? Schmidt is our best chance (IMO) but we'll need some luck.

 

[MatthewsMoustache]

Fegaras should be at camp (whenever) and likely signed if he simply shows as well as hoped.

Schade was playing USHL (drafted #1) and committed to Penn State so he's unlikely as is Schmidt, who is now off of USDP to BU, making them increasingly unlikely to show here unless they get drafted well and quickly dislike college (...Bracco). Same for Caden Brown (F) who is committed to Wisconsin. As nice as it would be to get a few top US kids here @ 18 it's perhaps even more of a long shot than ever with the COVID uncertainties, etc in play here ... ? Schmidt is our best chance (IMO) but we'll need some luck.

Agreed. Seems like they had hope for Schmidt drafting him in the 2nd round, but like you mentioned with COVID uncertainties he’s probably been swayed the other way.

 

[MatthewsMoustache]

I think the reasoning is the same as any other year, the team has final choice in signing the player if they go CHL, where as an NCAA player could potentially end up at a point where they decide to finish college and sign as a UFA with a team of their choice, leaving the drafting team without sole decision when it comes to a players rights.

That said, doesn't sound like Brown has any real info, just general and kind of obvious spit balling.

For sure. I think Fegaras could be penciled in for 1 of the 3 spots they’re needing to be filled as he has no NCAA commitment. One of them will probably be filled in the draft. And the last one will likely be filled by a new OA. Can’t see them keeping Dickerson unfortunately. He’s not a top 6 forward but the bottom 6 will be filled by guys that are younger like Serpa, Martin, Sop, LeBlanc, Swick and anyone else they sign or draft.

 

[Rangers True Blue]

Looking forward to seeing Sebrango do this with the Rangers in the fall........

 

[Coaches Coroner]

anyone know the deal with Justin Wu (G)? Listed as being with the Brantfor 99ers of the OJHL this season, no NCAA commitment still

 

[MatthewsMoustache]

anyone know the deal with Justin Wu (G)? Listed as being with the Brantfor 99ers of the OJHL this season, no NCAA commitment still

From my understanding, he and his family are focused on making sure he gets his education. They’ve made it seem as though he’s been hesitant with the Rangers camps and what not to keep his eligibility. He’s kind of in a tough spot though having only played 1 game in the NCDC in 19-20 and not playing at all in 20-21.

With Cajan and Parsons signed, I can’t see him ever being a Ranger. Will probably have to get some actual games in with the 99ers before an NCAA team takes him on though.