Episode 2: Trades, Pre-Season & Gretzky’s Surprise

0:12Justin: Welcome to the AudPod, where we're talking Kitchener Rangers hockey with the AudBalls themselves, Andrew and Justin. Take it away, fellas.

0:29Andrew: Hey. Hey, Andrew.

0:30Justin: What?

0:31Andrew: What's up?

0:32Justin: I'm up one nothing.

0:33Andrew: You're up one nothing?

0:34Justin: Yeah.

0:35Andrew: On the fact check.

0:36Justin: No.

0:37Andrew: Oh.

0:38Justin: The Flames beat the Oilers in the Young Guns Classic this weekend.

0:41Andrew: Only here's what I'll tell you about this. Only a franchise in loser mode gives a. I didn't even know they played.

0:52Justin: Right.

0:53Andrew: Because I am still thinking about the hockey, the important hockey that I watch in July. June. July.

1:01Justin: Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Well, I'm only going to get one win this season, so I'm taking it now.

1:06Andrew: Okay. That's great. Yeah. You print the. Print the box score and hang it on your wall.

1:12Justin: I will.

1:12Andrew: Okay.

1:13Justin: Maybe put it up behind me next week.

1:15Andrew: Be my guess.

1:16Justin: Okay. Rangers talk in the Young Guns. Uh, what's it called? The Young Stars Classic, I think. You didn't watch. I don't. You have no idea.

1:24Andrew: You were paying attention to it.

1:25Justin: I was paying attention. I forgot what it's called.

1:27Andrew: The playoffs already.

1:28Justin: Yeah. So you're still in depression mode. Uh, Bruce Davich.

1:32Andrew: Yeah.

1:32Justin: Killer assist, blue line pass straight. It was good. He then scored, I. I think against Winnipeg, like he had a clapper from the. From the point that just, like, destroyed everyone.

1:43Andrew: I hate it, but I'm happy for it as a Ranger fan. If I can take the hat off for a second. Yeah. I'm happy he's succeeding.

1:50Justin: Yeah.

1:51Andrew: As an Oilers fan, I'm thinking about that. I don't even know who's going to play third pairing. Right. Defenseman.

1:57Justin: I know.

1:58Andrew: Here. I know.

1:59Justin: And that makes me so happy since the Oilers have. What? Well, it's the only 900,000 left in CAP.

2:04Andrew: The only way they can lose. Right. Is to just sabotage themselves. When you have two of the best players on earth, how can we make it as hard as possible for the

2:16Justin: Aud the only thing that brings me joy in life these days. So, yeah, I'm glad we're here. Okay, so let's. Let's take a look at the trades. Let's. Let's hop into the box. Scores of the last five games. Sure. And the Aud the end, let's do a little rapid fire. What did we learn from last week? Okay, so trades. Carson Rakoff.

2:37Andrew: A million draft picks.

2:38Justin: 10 draft picks.

2:39Andrew: He's not going to play for them.

2:40Justin: Yeah. He's going to be in Seattle. He's going to be in the ahl. Right. Like, hope so. I hope so too, breaking down those. Those picks, Rakoff went to the Brampton Steelheads. They got 3 seconds, 20, 25, 20, 26, 27. They got 3 thirds, 2 20, 25s, and a 28, 3 4, a 25, a 26 and a 27. And then they got 1 seventh for

3:04Andrew: 20, 26 and a partridge in a pear tree. I like, though, just the one extra. Yeah, that was the one that put it over. If you've ever played fantasy sports and you're trying to make a trade and it's like you ask for that one extra draft pick and then the other manager says, no, like, what are you.

3:20Justin: What are you. What are you doing? What are you doing?

3:23Andrew: It's like, oh, no, I have to have that sixth round pick.

3:25Justin: I really wanted that 17th round. I have to have it. That's going to be the difference.

3:31Andrew: No, it's not. Just give the pick. Don't be afraid to lose a trade. They're not. They're not worried about it.

3:36Justin: No. We talked about this last week. Rangers are going into rebuild.

3:39Andrew: Here's the thing is, I got the feeling a couple years ago when they played Windsor in the first round and they were the eighth seed, I got the feeling that they weren't necessarily in a position to be challenging a number one seed and they beat the Aud that's when I got like, so on the bandwagon. Even my wife, we went to the playoff games and we were just so, like, enamored with the Rangers fan culture and being a part of the movement, that is being a Rangers fan. And I got the feeling that they were. The Rangers were ahead of schedule. So I have a feeling. And then last year they were a better team and they came up a little bit short. This year it feels like a full rebuild. But I have a feeling that they will compete because the Juice isn't going to have them. That's what I'll never. That's the coach.

4:27Justin: Okay, why don't you.

4:29Andrew: You fire up that name for us, Justin?

4:32Justin: I don't want to drive. I don't even. I don't even know where to begin, you see, but man, his hair, you know, it's perfect to have hair like that.

4:41Andrew: He's a beautiful man.

4:42Justin: Yeah, I would.

4:43Andrew: I would march into battles.

4:45Justin: He's also a bit scary.

4:47Andrew: The Juice. The Big Juice.

4:49Justin: The Big Juice.

4:49Andrew: He's finished, man. He doesn't mess around.

4:52Justin: He doesn't mince words. Absolutely not. He says what he means and he

4:56Andrew: means what he says, and it's scary.

4:58Justin: We had a trade yesterday. So we should talk about that one too.

5:01Andrew: We did. That was exciting. I was like, we are now covering

5:04Justin: the Rangers and there's stuff happening. There's actually stuff to talk about. You know what I loved most about this trade is that the Rangers in their article about the trade, put in how to say the last name of a player.

5:17Andrew: You know why? Because they're listening.

5:19Justin: They were listening.

5:20Andrew: No, you're out there and you're listening to us and you're probably wondering, do they fire off a cease and desist?

5:26Justin: Okay, so Kitchener gets forward. Andrew Vermeulen.

5:30Andrew: That's how I would have thought. I mean, that's the funny thing is it wasn't a hard no.

5:34Justin: I could have figured that one out. Yeah, probably.

5:36Andrew: No, you could not with the track record you have.

5:39Justin: So they traded him to Niagara for a 20, 28 ninth round pick. So he was a. He was a bottom sixer.

5:45Andrew: Hey, bottom six experience is going to be something they're going to need. Because if there's runaway games or there's games where get out of hand, you can't have the stars out there playing hockey and getting in trouble. And.

5:58Justin: And he's playing. He's playing the game against Brampton this week. So. Perfect.

6:02Andrew: Yeah.

6:02Justin: So we get to see Brantford. Oh, Brantford.

6:05Andrew: See, I get them confused, too.

6:06Justin: Yeah. They're the same place, right?

6:08Andrew: No, Brampton is where my wife is from.

6:10Justin: Oh.

6:11Andrew: Brantford is where Gretzky is from. The two most important people in my life. I love. I love one slightly more than the other. Gretzky. No, I was too young.

6:26Justin: I missed it. Okay. Want to talk through some games? Now, there's a huge disclaimer that we got on this because you and I have been chatting all week.

6:34Andrew: Yes.

6:35Justin: It's very challenging to find any sort of video replay of these preseason games.

6:40Andrew: I would say it's impossible. Yeah, I'd say it doesn't exist. No one is filming it. It's not being broadcast.

6:46Justin: I think. I think you're correct. Like I. We couldn't find it anywhere. So game one Eeriotters they won't. Shootout. Okay. This is another exciting. I love little facts like this.

6:59Andrew: I love facts that you come up with unless they're wrong.

7:02Justin: They won 43. That's going to come up again.

7:05Andrew: Okay. Foreshadowing. Okay.

7:07Justin: We got. We got goals from the first line. We got a good goal from the. From the top line. Trent Swick did. I don't believe he played this first game. We got. We got a pug life Goal. Beauty from the fourth line. So Pug life's been really rocking the fourth line in preseason.

7:24Andrew: Yeah. I think, like, bottom six is where he's going to play, because that's the type of game he plays.

7:29Justin: For sure. Yeah. Grindr, him and Vermeulin probably rocking it together.

7:34Andrew: Right?

7:35Justin: This game got scrappy. These preseason games get scrappy, man.

7:39Andrew: Sam O'Reilly skimmed all these games and I was shocked. I was overwhelmed with the. To penalties like blindside, check to the head.

7:49Justin: Fighting, fighting, roughing, fighting like slashing. I was like, okay, all right. This is preseason, boys. The end of the game is just misconduct, misconduct, misconduct. I was like.

7:59Andrew: And this is not being aired anywhere.

8:03Justin: What a shame. Yeah. Huge shame.

8:05Andrew: I mean, I. I prefer the game for the beauty and the sportsmanship.

8:09Justin: Yes, Maze, absolutely. The scraps are fun. The scraps are fun.

8:18Andrew: The CTE is not fun.

8:19Justin: No. And it. You know what? There was. There is a negative side to the beautiful game. Yuri got a power play goal. So discipline probably good. The Juice probably preached some discipline for sure. Third period, five game misconducts, and the Rangers took 10 penalties in the game. Game one. Yur. They felt them. Tanner Lam got the shootout winner.

8:43Andrew: Nice.

8:44Justin: Beautiful.

8:44Andrew: I think he's going to play a lot of minutes.

8:46Justin: He is.

8:46Andrew: And he looked good in limited minutes last year.

8:49Justin: Yeah, I agree.

8:50Andrew: He seemed like a little spark plug.

8:52Justin: Yeah, he's got. He's got the. He's got the firecracker in him.

8:55Andrew: Right. Yeah.

8:56Justin: Okay. Game two was against the Saginaw Spirit. They won in a shootout.

9:02Andrew: 43, three. He was right there is foreshadowing. Four to three, shadowing four to.

9:08Justin: Oh. Jason Schaubel was in goal. Okay.

9:12Andrew: Okay.

9:12Justin: Yeah. This was exciting. You know, obviously still three goals against, but it was. It was like 20. 23 shots or 24 shots that he saved. It was like, you know, pretty solid.

9:24Andrew: Yeah.

9:24Justin: Outing. You know, he's young, so it's exciting that he's getting some time.

9:29Andrew: True.

9:29Justin: He got a win. This was a much calmer game. Way less penalties. Only five penalties total.

9:34Andrew: They were sore.

9:35Justin: Six, ten. Yeah, but who scored? D, Pug Life and Elenz.

9:44Andrew: Okay, well, Elena, I think I. I think you can earmark that. If Ellen is playing top line, he's going to be one of the. The leading scorers. If not the leading scorer.

9:54Justin: Absolutely.

9:55Andrew: Is that an early prediction?

9:56Justin: Yeah. You're doing well.

9:57Andrew: We put that in early prediction. Luke Ellen leads the team.

10:01Justin: He's not. He's not. Sorry, I'm. He hasn't played top line. He hasn't no, he's second line.

10:06Andrew: I said if he plays top line.

10:08Justin: I. Yeah, yeah. Okay. If he plays top line. I don't think. I don't. We'll see. Let's. Let's talk through the rest of these games because I think there's some exciting things coming. So they did let in a shorty, and then Elena's and Pug Life both

10:20Andrew: scored in the shootout. Okay.

10:22Justin: So it was like Elena's was pretty fire, that game.

10:25Andrew: Beauty.

10:25Justin: He also has not played every game. Like, I mean, that's. That's. You got to rotate these guys to

10:30Andrew: Sam O'Reilly his spot. He doesn't need to earn his pot.

10:33Justin: Yeah, for sure. Yeah. He need. They need chemistry matches with him. They don't need. They don't need to see if he can play. He's pretty solid. Game three, Brantford Bulldogs. That's where your wife and Gretzky are from?

10:47Andrew: No. Oh, just Gret. Okay. My first wife, Princess Diana. They look the same in the Soo They definitely did. That's what I mean. Yeah, that's when we were married.

11:03Justin: Game 3, Brantford Bulldogs. They won in a shootout, 4 to 3.

11:09Andrew: 4 to 3.

11:11Justin: Jackson Parsons in net.

11:13Andrew: There you go. Yeah.

11:14Justin: Our boy Trent Swick with the goal assist.

11:18Andrew: And a shootout goal. Oh, wow. Yeah, I think I saw that one. I saw, like, a Rangers PR person. Like, Instagram angle.

11:29Justin: Okay.

11:29Andrew: Of that goal. Yeah, I saw that one. And I, for some reason, thought there'd be more footage of the preseason.

11:36Justin: We really missed out.

11:37Andrew: Apparently, we just need to get a job with the Rangers so we can see the preseason.

11:44Justin: So the Rangers scored all three Shootout goals in this game. So, unfortunately, the Rangers, they were up three. Nothing let in three goals.

11:52Andrew: They have to work on that because last year, they were a much better team than, I think, the roster coming into this season. And that was their issue, was they. They. They would take their foot off the gas a little bit. I think that when you're maybe a little bit more inexperienced and a little less talented, you know, will push it a little bit more when the games are close and when you're ahead. So I think that might be the bright spot about that, is that you have something like this happen in preseason. You escape with a win. That should be a teachable moment. The Juice says, don't do this.

12:29Justin: Game four, Brampton Steelheads. They won in a shootout.

12:38Andrew: In a shootout, five to four. Okay, well, that's different. Through it all, it doesn't work the same.

12:43Justin: This is when we're really starting to see Romano Swick and Arquette as top line. Like. Like, we've seen this in the last couple games, so that's. That's been a pretty solid top line. It's not in the fifth game, but I like that SW Swick being centered by Romano. That seems to be some fire. So this was another scrappy one.

13:02Andrew: Yes, it was.

13:04Justin: Sixteen penalties in the game.

13:05Andrew: Yeah. This is with the blind side penalty, I think.

13:09Justin: Yeah.

13:10Andrew: Yeah, you're right. Yeah.

13:12Justin: So many misconducts. There were so many misconducts at the end of this game. It was insane. Yeah. But we're here for the art of the game.

13:20Andrew: We are. We don't want to glorify the violence. No, absolutely not.

13:24Justin: The captain got his first goal.

13:26Andrew: Good.

13:27Justin: Yeah, this was a good one. Power play goal. Swick got two assists and a shootout goal.

13:33Andrew: Perfect. He's on fire.

13:34Justin: But you know who was more on fire? Romano. Two goals and an assist. They also. The top line also took 12 shots in this game.

13:43Andrew: Wow.

13:43Justin: Six of them by Romano. It might not be a cohesive Tommy Kut I think we're going to have one of those cohesive lines that's going to work.

13:50Andrew: I think you're right. I think the. The first line, if they're playing together like that much, that's set. I think, like, Swick is just going to be looking like a man amongst boys. Selfishly, I hope he stays with the Rangers because I think he'll put up some crazy numbers and he'll just be like a force. And I think everyone who plays with him will benefit from it. And I think that you've got pug life and who's.

14:15Justin: Who's Vermeulin?

14:17Andrew: Yeah.

14:17Justin: New guy.

14:18Andrew: Yeah. I think you've got some strength maybe in the bottom six now. And then, you know, if Ellen does come back, which I expect him to, and he's playing on the second line, then I think he's. He's a talented player who could take a step this year. Yep.

14:32Justin: I. I agree wholeheartedly. Okay. Game 5, Oshawa Generals. They won in a shootout, 4 to 3. 4 to 3. Came back.

14:42Andrew: Back to it.

14:43Justin: So Jason Schaubel got another game as goalie. Arquette got bumped down to the third line. Tanner Lam did get bumped up to the first line with Swick and Romano. So it was like. That was. Seemed like it was. It was pretty good. Another 14 penalties and, like, buttload of misconducts. Look, five preseason games, I. I think they had, like, 25 misconducts. Oh, insane. Cameron Reid eight shots. No, he. He's the guy we talked about. Last week in the 2025 NHL Draft. Watch.

15:14Andrew: Yeah.

15:15Justin: So yeah, eight shots. That's, that's going to be good. Again. This is the bring come back to earth moment. They won.

15:21Andrew: Yeah.

15:22Justin: Went in a shootout. They outshot the Generals 39 to 21. Wow.

15:28Andrew: Is Ottawa, Ottawa. Is Oshawa going to have a, a down year because they were condemned contender last year? Perhaps.

15:35Justin: Perhaps.

15:36Andrew: Yeah.

15:36Justin: Yeah. They could, they could also, they could be on the same swing. I'm unsure about that. Yeah. One thing that maybe, maybe this is my homework assignment for, for next week is, is starting to, to look into some of the other teams. Yes. Honestly, I, I probably couldn't name all the OHL teams. I learned this week that the Rangers are in the Western Conference. It made me feel good about myself. Yeah, I was like, oh good Western. I like being a West Western Conference boy.

16:01Andrew: It feels like home.

16:03Justin: So we, we've talked about the trades, we've talked about the games.

16:05Andrew: Yep.

16:06Justin: Let's do, let's do a little rapid fire research from last episode. What'd you learn?

16:12Andrew: I'm ready. I learned that as far as Number of 16 year olds that are allowed to be on the team on the roster that they're allowed to register for 16 year old players. The first two players selected from the priority selection draft can be signed and then a maximum of two more wild carded players can also be signed.

16:30Justin: Oh cool.

16:31Andrew: However, any other 16 year olds are eligible to be called up as an affiliated player or floating affiliate player and it can play a maximum of 10 games.

16:40Justin: But where do they go if they're not on the team?

16:42Andrew: Where do they go if they're not on the team? They go to an affiliated team. There are Junior B affiliates in the GOJHL or the Go Go JHL or the no Joe hl, which is the Greater Andrew Junior Hockey League or the Northern Andrew Junior Hockey. Yes, I remember I specifically said they wouldn't go to Junior B because I would think that they'd go to Junior A. But no, some players choose to go to Junior A. If players choose to go to major junior, they would go to somewhere like a Junior B team until they're ready to take the next step. They used to have a affiliate here in Kitchener called the Kitchener Dutchman. As of right now, I couldn't find any single one team that was affiliated with Kitchener Rangers. For example, Western Weston Cameron played. Already played two games with the Cambridge Redhawks this season. 24, 25. Oh wow. So I think they just kind of have, you know, players go where floaters opportunity. And of course the Kitchener Junior Rangers exist and there's lots of different levels of that.

17:43Justin: Are they. Oh, and so they're like U16, U. U16 AAA.

17:47Andrew: U16 double A. U U18 double A, U15, U14. And then there's like girls teams. There's lots of opportunities with the Kitchener Junior Rangers.

17:58Justin: What I'm learning is, is that Kitchener has like a deep rooted hockey culture.

18:03Andrew: It seems like there is so much minor hockey in this area that there's more than enough opportunities if you don't make the major junior hockey team that you can marinate for another year before you can make the big squad.

18:18Justin: So speaking of that, I was learning. I learned a little bit about draft picks. So there's. I learned that you can't trade first rounds, which we talked about.

18:25Andrew: That's true.

18:26Justin: I also learned about the two different drafts. So the priority selection draft and then the U18 draft. So the priority selection draft is the one where the Evan Headrick comes from. The players like that. It's a U16 AAA draft. 15 rounds.

18:41Andrew: Wow.

18:41Justin: Like insane amount of rounds.

18:43Andrew: 15 rounds. 15 years old. Yeah.

18:45Justin: It smells like teen spirit in there.

18:47Andrew: Exactly. Yeah.

18:48Justin: And the Aud then the, the other draft is a U18 draft.

18:51Andrew: So it's a.

18:51Justin: It's only three rounds if you missed.

18:54Andrew: So being drafted in the 15 round. But you are a late bloomer. It happens.

18:58Justin: It's nice that there's a built in mechanism to deal with that because it. You wouldn't want to miss an opportunity just because at 15 and a half you weren't at your prime.

19:07Andrew: Now how does that work in with the. The Rangers signed Matthew Hlacar as a free agent.

19:14Justin: Yeah.

19:14Andrew: Do we know when they become free agents?

19:17Justin: So. So players cannot be traded if they're in high school. Well, that's not 100 too. They can be. They have like essentially like a no move clause if they're in high. If they're in high school.

19:29Andrew: That's amazing.

19:30Justin: So they can imagine. We.

19:32Andrew: We got to get you to just drop out so we can trade you or start failing all your classes because we need you to. We need. We need draft picks for you. So if you could just. If you could just phone in the next few assignments so that you just expelled or flunked or. No, I know that would never happen.

19:51Justin: So the no move, you can, you can ask the parents. You can ask the parents. And as long as you help them move, it's usually. It's accepted.

20:00Andrew: Like the team has to go and carry boxes.

20:04Justin: Okay. Yep.

20:05Andrew: That's great.

20:06Justin: The Instagram is filled with the juice. Just carrying boxes for players that they trade.

20:10Andrew: Is that true?

20:11Justin: Absolutely not.

20:12Andrew: Okay. Because I would be terrified. Before our thank yous, we should talk about going to the home opener.

20:20Justin: Yeah, we definitely got to go to

20:21Andrew: the home week from Friday when this releases. So I would like to say to you, Justin, and to my. My beautiful wife, please, could I go with Justin to the cave? We're coming back from the cottage that day and I promise we'll do something fun that day. And then Justin and I will go off once you're doing the bedtime routine

20:44Justin: with our little three month old nugget next episode. So we got one more preseason game.

20:48Andrew: Okay.

20:49Justin: And then we're going to be previewing the start of the season. Okay. So I'm hoping that by the time we are recording this next episode, we will know what the opening night lineup will be.

20:58Andrew: Oh, for.

20:59Justin: For the team. So we can. We can do a little. Little looking back at these preseason games that we just looked back at. I'm excited to see where Trent Wick

21:07Andrew: and

21:10Justin: where they're going to line up, because I want to know.

21:13Andrew: All right, so thank you. I want to thank the Kitchener Public Library, the central branch, specifically for hooking us up with this wonderful studio and all this equipment and having all the knowledge for how to make it work a hundred percent.

21:29Justin: And I would also like to thank Ken Born for our killer logo.

21:34Andrew: Oh, it looks so good. We almost look professional just because of your dad.

21:39Justin: You can find us online at, on Instagram, @theaudpodcast and on Twitter or X or whatever you want to call it.

21:47Andrew: We're calling it Twitter.

21:48Justin: Okay.

21:48Andrew: Thank you. @theaudpodcast.

21:51Justin: And that's aud, like the one on

21:54Andrew: the thing you're listening on like the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium.