Sunday, September 6, 2009

Hey! We've Got Dibs On Dubi!

All of this back and forth between Glen Sather and the Brandon Dubinsky camp may end up costing the Rangers as Toronto may be ready to step in. Puck Daddy has a wrap of the goings on north of the border and the signs point to Brian Burke putting out an offer sheet. Now, the main target of his affections is said to be Phil Kessel but that simply doesn't make as much sense. While it would be nice revenge for the Tuukka Rask/Andrew Raycroft fleecing, I don't see other motivation. Burke's track record shows a penchant for rough-and-tumble, big players who are quick to fall in line and read the company motto. Kessel has none of those qualities.

Brandon Dubinsky, on the other hand, does. Dubi would help fill the hole in the middle still empty after the Mats Sundin Vancouver money grab retirement. Nik Antropov couldn't do it, or wasn't willing to. Dubi is a big kid with good hands that is willing to stand up for his teammates and fight - even though he isn't particularly good at it. He would be a big boost to the Leafs' youth movement up front and could take the pressure off guys like Kulemin and Grabovski.

While that is good for Toronto, it would be terrible for the Rangers. Letting Dubi go, even with three draft picks possibly coming back in return, would decimate this team. There isn't much salary cap space to bring in someone else and, let's face it, there aren't many good puck movers on the market right now.

Sather never replaced Scott Gomez, and to lose Dubinsky for nothing (in the short term) would leave us with Chris Drury, Arty Anisimov, Brian Boyle and Tyler Arnason up the middle. That would be fine for a first year expansion franchise, but not for the New York Rangers.

5 comments:

Noah's Art said...

any offer that toronto makes, the rangers will match and then he stays. theyre going after kessel. dubi has said he wants to be with the rangers and a contract is in the works. burke wants kessel. end of story. he was going after kessel at the draft, not dubinsky. if he wants any rangers, it would probably be staal.

NYRangers Roundup said...

I agree with you 100% Scotty, losing Duby would be a huge blow to the team and fans. I dont trust Burke and know that he has something sneaky planned up his sleeve. Lets hope for the best and hope that Sather speeds things up on our end.
www.NYRangersRoundup.blogspot.com

The Dark Ranger said...

Burkie was hired to shake shit up and that is exactly what he is doing - he talked his crapper off on getting Heatley and Brian Murray wasn't even interested in engaging...

Do unto others...just ask Dustin Penner!

I'd bet Aaron Voros that Burkie isn't interested in Dubie too.

tdr

Scotty Hockey said...

Noah - Burke has a solid defense now (that he paid heavily for), so offense - at center or wing - is highly needed.

Roundup - I've learned not to hope for anything when it comes to Sather ...

TDR - I wouldn't bet for Voros, and that's all I'll say bout that.

Anonymous said...

You know, I always had an inkling that you were completely dumb scotty, and didn't know what you were talking about, but now this just confirms it. Burke and Sather are boys, they aren't going after each other RFAs. If you didn't know that you should spend less time blogging and WHINING and more time paying attention to the game and it's surroundings, dummy.