Ready to reap draft day rewards
Rangers have 3 picks in first 2 rounds of a deep talent pool
KITCHENER — For four years, fans watched the Kitchener Rangers trade veteran players for draft picks with an eye toward the future.
Now, it’s time to start cashing some of them in.
The Blueshirts have three picks in the first two rounds of Saturday’s Ontario Hockey League draft.
And it’s a good time to be top heavy.
“I think it’s a deep draft this year and one of the better ones in the past five years as far as talent goes,” said Mike Mackley, head OHL draft scout for hockey prospect.com.
“I think you’re going to get a good player wherever you pick in the first round, whereas last year maybe after pick 10 or 11 it really
dropped off and you were getting a lot of similar players.”
That’s good news for the Rangers, who own the 17th overall choice as well as picks 32 and 40, originally owned by Niagara and Sault Ste. Marie, respectively. Kitchener also has a single selection in all 15 rounds except the sixth, 13th and 14th.
“A team like Kitchener, with two seconds, is really in a situation to come out strong because they’re going to get three players
that would probably be considered first-round value because of the strength of the draft,” said Mackley.
Like most drafts, this one is full of talented forwards, with 15year-old Quinton Byfield expected to go first overall. The sixfoot-three York Simcoe Express centre is ego free and said to be open to going to any team, even the Sudbury Wolves, who pick first after finishing last with a record of 17-42-9-0.
Kitchener will be losing its elite veterans next season with the departure of forwards Logan Brown, Kole Sherwood, Givani Smith, Adam Mascherin and Connor Bunnaman, along with defencemen Logan Stanley and Austin McEneny and goalie Mario Culina.
That said, the Rangers won’t exactly be barren. The team can still return at least three lines, five rearguards and one goalie.
“There is no real immediate need to fill roles (through the draft),” said Kitchener general manager Mike McKenzie. “We have guys that can step up and do more next year in increased roles.”
So that means the usual bestplayer-available strategy for the Rangers on draft day.
Kitchener is coming off a solid draft that saw them use firstround selection Grayson Ladd as the centrepiece in a package to acquire Brown and McEneny from the Windsor Spitfires this past January.
The team also pulled off the steal of the draft by grabbing — and eventually signing — blueliner Michael Vukojevic in the second round.
McKenzie says the Rangers are more prepared this year thanks to the addition of director of analytics and stats Mike Zsolt.
“We’ve done more statistical analysis of where certain cut-offs are, where goalies and American players go,” he said.
“Little things that may help you make a decision when it’s crunch time.”
It looks like it will be a bit of a down year locally after 19 minor midget players from the Cambridge Hawks, Waterloo Wolves and Kitchener Jr. Rangers went in last year’s draft. Of the three, the Hawks are expected to be the big draw this year.