How the Rangers can be a great team next campaign

The hits started last summer for the Kitchener Rangers.

That’s when the Ontario Hockey League team learned it would be without star defenceman Donovan Sebrango.

Instead of returning to the Aud, the Detroit Red Wings prospect was able to make the leap to the American Hockey League, thanks to a loophole that gave players a chance to turn pro a year early if they skated in the AHL during the OHL’s pandemic-driven shutdown in 2020-21.

And the hits kept on coming. First-round import pick Filip Mesar decided to play in a men’s league instead of reporting to Kitchener. Then up-and-coming forward Jesse Fishman suffered a season-ending knee injury in training camp.

The team endured COVID-related sickness, suspensions to key players and, ultimately, dealt its top rearguard, Arber Xhekaj, and NHLdrafted forward Declan McDonnell at the OHL’s trade deadline in a bid to rebuild.

The Rangers were on the playoff bubble for the final weeks of the season and finished seventh in the Western Conference with a losing record of 30-31-5-2.

It was a disappointing season, full stop. But things improved in the playoffs.

For all the underachieving, the Rangers overachieved, or perhaps finally played to their potential, by knocking off the second-ranked London Knights, before falling to west champs the Windsor Spitfires.

Only four teams made it further in the post-season than the Rangers. And that gives management — and fans — confidence things can improve fast.

The team is due. Make that overdue. It has been 14 long years since the Rangers cracked the OHL final.

Here are some things to consider, if the club wants to make gains next season.