This year’s Kitchener Rangers squad is built from the back end
Posted Sep 23, 2011 05:21:05 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Jason Akeson’s franchise record 84 assists and tied-for-the-league-best 108 points won’t be around to help the Kitchener Rangers this year. The same goes for Matt Tipoff’s career high 25 goals. Gabriel Landeskog’s offence is now property of the Colorado Avalanche and the sensational Swede is considered to be among the most likely to crack an NHL line-up this year as an 18-year old.
Heck, you can even add Jerry D’Amigo’s name to the mix. The Toronto Marlie, who joined the Rangers late last season, added 12 goals in 21 games.
It forces a fan of the Kitchener Rangers to ask where the goals are going to come from this year.
Head coach and general manager Steve Spott says the answer lies on the blueline.
“When you’ve got Murph (Ryan Murphy) and Melk (Julian Melchiori) and some guys like that, those guys are going to have to create from the back end. They’re going to have to join the rush and they’re going to have to be a threat,” Spott concedes, while joking that this version of the Kitchener Rangers will have to win a lot of 3-2 and 2-1 games. “Our power play is going to have to be good and we’re going to have to score some dirty goals this year. We just don’t have the natural offence that we had last year so I think, for us this year, it’s going to be trying to create from the back end and allowing our defencemen to join the rush.”
The Rangers, though, appear to have the talent required to do just that.
Murphy’s skill is well-documented at this point and he’ll get a good look from the Carolina Hurricanes (who selected Murphy 12th overall in this summer’s NHL entry draft) before getting down to business with the Rangers this season.
Melchiori, a draft pick of the Atlanta Thrashers (now Winnipeg Jets), will be looking to bounce back from a series of injuries to end last season.
And then there’s Max Iafrate, son of former NHL’er Al, acquired in a trade with the Plymouth Whalers earlier this month.
Suddenly it gets easier to imagine a team that can get it done from the blueline.
“It’s going to have to be the foundation of our team this year,” Spott says of the defence. “I think we’ve got a good combination of size, grit and skill. And obviously with (Anaheim Ducks property John) Gibson, Frank Palazzese and young Jack Moylan, we like our depth in net.”
While the focus will undoubtedly fall to the defence corps, the Rangers offence is not to be overlooked.
Import Tobias Rieder is coming off a strong rookie campaign during which he scored 23 goals and became a 4th round draft pick of the Edmonton Oilers.
Matia Marcantuoni, already touted by some as a potential top five selection in next summer’s NHL draft, will be looking to build on his gold medal success this past summer. Marcantuoni, playing for the Team Canada squad coached by Spott, won gold at the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament in the Czech Republic, featuring the world’s best players under the age of 18.
Size for the Rangers will come from the likes of Ben Thomson and Andrew Crescenzi, who will both be looking to put up better offensive numbers this year.
And that entire group will be led by newly-minted captain Michael Catenacci, who scored 17 times last year and will be looking to top 20 in his overage campaign.
“I like our middle with the likes of Catenacci, Crescenzi and (import pick) Radek Faksa. Curtis Meighan is going to be a very good player for us,” Spott lists. “Our challenge is going to be on the wings. We graduated a lot of quality wingers off of last year’s team.”
In other words, the defence on this Rangers team never rests.
The new campaign opens with the Windsor Spitfires in town tonight. Don Cameron will describe the action for you and the pre-game show begins at 7 PM on 570 News.
Rogers TV also kicks off its Rangers broadcast season tonight.
The coverage will feature a new look broadcast team, with 570’s Gary Doyle providing the play-by-play and former Rangers goaltender and Memorial Cup winner Scott Dickie handling the colour.
Gary, of course, did colour on 570’s Rangers broadcasts for 15 years so he is more than familiar with the team.
Returning to the Rogers TV broadcast team this year is host Ryan Kovarik.
