Kitchener Rangers’ All-In Approach Fueling Recent Hot Streak

Even the unbearably cold temperatures haven’t been able to cool off the scorching hot Kitchener Rangers. With a 4-3 overtime road victory over the Erie Otters, they have now won seven straight games and have points in nine straight.

This run really started with the Rangers’ acquisition of Dylan Edwards from the Erie Otters. At the time of the deal, I described Edwards as “the missing piece to a team that has been borderline elite all season.”  

Edwards was only the first addition ahead of the OHL trade deadline; each move since has made the team more dominant. However, since this trade with the Otters, the Rangers are 12-1-0-1.

I have been high on this team all season; my lone criticism at times has been consistency, which is why I have reserved my thoughts on how much this team has improved with this handful of players.

After nearly 15 games of strong play, concerns about consistency have faded. It’s time to share my thoughts on how all these moves at the deadline have transformed this team.

Jack Pridham’s Hot Hand

While there is a handful of new faces that have been incredibly impactful, I just can’t justify not talking about Jack Pridham, the Chicago Blackhawks 2024 third-round pick, first.

After coming to Kitchener from the British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL) last season and scoring 27 goals in 48 games, expectations were huge for Pridham coming into his overage season in the OHL. While he has been good for this team all season, earlier in the season, he felt snake-bitten, with his shot not quite dialed in.

My best comparison would be 2024-25 Auston Matthews, where he was getting his usual volume of chances but just wasn’t able to beat goalies with his elite release, as he was doing on command the season prior.

During this remarkable 15-game stretch, Pridham has truly resembled the 69-goal Matthews, tallying 17 goals and 11 assists for 28 points.

Just to clarify, I am not comparing Pridham the player to Matthews the player. That would be on the insane side of this, considering Matthews has nearly 450 goals after being drafted first overall. Just talking about the circumstances, even the most talented goal scorers can go through phases of doubting the accuracy of their shots.

We knew he had an incredible shot, and it was just a matter of time before he dialed it in, and now that he has, it feels like every time he releases the puck, it’s going to find its way into the back of the net. This incredible run has him three goals away from the scoring league lead and four points from the league lead in most times finding the stat sheet.

Jared Woolley Is a Game Breaker

Before the Rangers acquired Jared Woolley in a trade from the London Knights, his name was often heard as an opponent. Now, Rangers fans have seen that he’s always involved when on the ice for their side.

For starters, he’s a massive body with a long reach that just shuts his half of the ice down. He couples that with excellent skating for his size, tremendous puck-moving, and tons of physicality.

While we haven’t seen him show up on the stat sheet as much as he was when he was with the Knights, Woolley has been making great plays in the offensive end. He is incredibly polished when you look at blueliners around the OHL. While I thought Jacob Xu was more than capable of playing on the Rangers’ blue line, Woolley’s dominance has been a huge factor in what has taken this team to another level.

Matthew Andonovski

When Matthew Andonovski returned to the Rangers after starting the season in the American Hockey League (AHL), the team faced a unique challenge: managing its overage player limit.

With the addition of Edwards through trade and already having Pridham — at the time the top two overage scorers in the OHL — Jakub Chromiak was the overager who had to leave to make space for former Ranger captain Andonovski.

On the surface, I thought Andonovski for Chromiak was a fairly lateral move.

Chromiak had been excellent for the Rangers; he was playing in every situation, just as Andonovski could if needed. However, I was underestimating how much his size and intensity could bring to this team.

Whether you love or hate his antics at times, it’s been evident in the way other teams are trying to go after him. He’s living rent-free in a lot of minds and giving the Rangers a huge leg up in the mental game.

Maybe I am overthinking it, but many of these Rangers players have been playing much more confidently and a few inches taller now, with Mount Andonovski and Mount Woolley soaking up big minutes, and playing a punishing brand that the Rangers were lacking earlier in the season.

Sam O’Reilly Heating Up

Last season, during the Knights’ run to the Memorial Cup, Sam O’Reilly averaged 1.15 points per game in regular-season play. This season, the Edmonton Oilers‘ 2024 first-round pick’s average dropped to 1.00 per game before he was traded from London to Kitchener.

Since the deal, O’Reilly has nine points in seven games. After an adjustment game, he’s found points in five of his last six, including three multipoint games and two game-winners.

After seeing him in a Rangers uniform on a consistent basis, you can see the value he brings to areas the stat sheet can’t show. The hockey IQ is on another level. He is in such a good position on defense that defending looks effortless. He sees the ice well and excels at making plays in tight spaces to open up the ice for teammates.

O’Reilly’s not the flashiest player in the world, and his awareness makes his impacts much quieter, with the game seemingly coming so easily to him. His consistency has, without a doubt, worn off on the rest of the Rangers, who had struggled to peak for long stretches earlier in the season.

Gabriel Chiarot Breakout Coming

Looking at the point totals, Gabriel Chiarot stands out as one Ranger still adjusting. After being traded from the Brampton Steelheads, where he had averaged 0.81 points per game through 31 games, he has only four points in 10 games since joining Kitchener.

However, that’s not entirely the case. He has been creating a bunch of quality scoring chances, and it feels like he deserves more than the two goals he has in his time with the Rangers.