Saturday, September 19, 2009

It's About Time

MSG reported at the top of their Boston telecast that Brandon Dubinsky re-signed with the Rangers and was given a two year deal. Here is the official release from the Rangers:
New York, September 19, 2009 – New York Rangers President and General Manager Glen Sather announced today that the club has agreed to terms with restricted free agent forward Brandon Dubinsky.

Dubinsky, 23, has skated in all 82 regular season games in each of the last two seasons. In 2007-08, his first full season, he led all NHL rookies in hits (196) and ranked seventh among rookies in points (40). He tied for sixth on the Rangers in goals (14), ranked fifth in assists (26) and sixth in points (40). Dubinsky ranked third on the team in faceoff winning percentage (51%), winning 512 of 995 faceoffs. He also skated in 10 post-season contests, finishing tied for second on the team in goals (four) and ranked fourth in points (eight). Dubinsky was named MVP of the NHL YoungStars Game at the 2008 All-Star Game, notching two goals and an assist. He was also selected as the winner of the Steven McDonald award by the fans, given to the player who performs “above and beyond the call of duty.”

Last season, Dubinsky registered seven multi-point efforts, including two three-point performances. He led the team in faceoff winning percentage (53.6%), finished fifth in assists (28) and sixth in points (41). He ranked seventh in the NHL with 251 hits. Dubinsky also appeared in seven post-season contests, finishing with one goal and three assists for four points. He was selected to appear in his second NHL YoungStars Game at the 2009 NHL All-Star Weekend.

The 6-1, 205 pounder has skated in 170 regular season contests with the New York Rangers, recording 27 goals and 54 assists for 81 points, along with 193 penalty minutes.
Zipay says two years, 1.7 mil this year and two mil next. A bit of an increase from the 500+ that was initially offered ...

I guess MSG's smear campaign worked ... the wrong way. Good for Dubi. Now here is a thought - what kind of welcome will he get at the Garden when he plays his first game? In this economy, how many people were siding with a spoiled kid who refused to work until he got paid more money than many will make in their lifetime?

Another question is what kind of shape is he in? Can he play Monday night against the Wings?

8 comments:

Gazza said...

I really think Dubinsky's signing is due to the Kessel deal. Since they didn't get Kessel, they decided to sign Dubinsky instead.
It's kind of conspicuous that the day after Kessel signs somewhere else, the Rangers re-sign someone for more money than they thought he was worth.

jetblue jimmy said...

how do you think the lines will shake out?
Im thinking a 1st line of: Prospal, Drury, Gaborik
2nd: Higgins, Dubi, Cally 3rd: Avery, Anisimov, Kotalik 4th: some combo of Lisin, Boyle, Brash, Voros, Arnasson

Sammael said...

hey JJ, wouldn't Kotalik be with Drury? I thought that was the reason they got him?

Great news on Dubi!!!!!!! I was very disheartened by this whole thing. I was getting ready to start burning pictures of Sather in my chiminea.

NYR34 said...

Well now that it's out of the way, let's get on to it.

I really dug that article on the whole ordeal from Prospect Park - I pretty much agreed on the whole smokescreen angle.

Scotty Hockey said...

Very good point Gazza, and I certainly can't disagree with you. I just bet the Rangers weren't willing to give up the picks.

I am waiting to do lines until the roster is set - too unsettled at this point. Dubi played with Jagr, perhaps he can play with Gabby. But Gabby is wicked fast so who knows if he has the speed to keep up. Arty had that kind of speed today ... just sayin'.

Anonymous said...

Gazza has definitely got it right. I said it all along that as soon as Kessel was signed somewhere, the Rangers would have Dubinsky under contract within 24 hours.

If there was any shot of the Rangers getting Kessel, Dubes was gonna have to go. So they help out as long as they possibly could.

Funny how they offered Dubes 700K and he lowered his asking price to 1.1 million, and then was signed to a 2 year deal worth 3.7mil??

Sather just likes to scum over his players as we have seen countless times including Avery's arbitration a couple of summers ago.

He also likes to scum over the fans as we all know by the signings of Redden and Brashear and many others.

In any case I'm glad he's finally signed, and I just hope that missing so much of the training camp doesnt have a negative effect on his playing or his confidence.

We will see.

RENO
section 316

Pete said...

I don't think the fans are likely to think of Dubi as greedy and spoiled, Scotty, for a few reasons:

1) I think most fans would agree that Dubi deserved a raise, compared to his teammates, even though personal performance was not as great as we would all have hoped from last year. The kid plays with his heart...that's pretty much all we ask, right?

2) Because he's a young guy holding out, instead of an old guy making waves, human nature is towards rooting for Dubi, not against him.

3) If we as fans were easily disgusted by the wages our sports idols were making, in comparison to our own, we probably wouldn't watch sports on a professional level.

I think Dubi will be welcomed back to the fold, and deservedly so. However, I think it would be fair to say that the boy better show us why he deserved that money, and fast, or the boo birds will be on him like flies on shit.

Andrea said...

I'm with Pete. Dubi's been a fan favorite at the Garden and we can be a pretty sentimental bunch. Hell, I'm unemployed, my seat prices went up and I don't begrudge him for getting his piece of the Dolan pie. And I applaud him if he did contact Sather to plead for a resolution.

In dreamland, fans could allocate which percent of their ticket payments go to which players.