DUBINSKY Refuses To Be Co-Opertive! Turns Down Another Rangers Offer!

Today The New York Rangers had their first practice of the season. Young fan favorite Brandon Dubinsky was nowhere to be found.

Dubinsky’s Agent and the Rangers met yesterday for negotiations that ended up with no results. It is believed that the Rangers made Dubinsky a one year deal, higher than last year’s pay which was $635,000. The exact amount of that deal has not been released yet.   Dubinsky refused to accept the contract.

Brandon, who has first crack at being the first line center, asked if he can participate in this morning’s meeting and drills but was denied.  Brandon is the first Ranger to have missed an opening practice since Mark Messier in 1994.

I took a look at the Rangers roster and I seen that they have added ten players to their roster.  Three out of the ten are centers.  This is not including their defenseman. 

The three additional players are Paul Crowder, Brodie Dupont and Corey Locke. With Chris Drury, Tyler Arnasson, Brian Boyle,  Vinny Prospal and Artem Anisimov all being centers, are the rangers thinking that Brandon is expendable. 

Brandon has played with some great players.  Jagr, Shanahan and Naslund, but has yet to break out and produce those high numbers that was expected.  Going into his third year he has totaled 40 points in both prior seasons.   Without question Brandon is expected to have a break out year and playing with the likes of Gaborik and Prospal and other additions to this team, this can be the year for Brandon, if he gets signed.  

Brandon has several ways he can look at this.  First, he can accept the offer, go in and try to have a great year. With a one year contract, if he can have a better year, he can then demand a lot more money then he will be able to get now. As well as the multiyear deal that he wants.  Second, he can accept the deal; have a similar season as in the past which would put him in the same boat he is in right now. But he can either try to stay with the Rangers or go elsewhere.   The final thing that can happen is he accepts the deal and has a bad year in which would lower the amount he is worth.  He would again have to go through this process all over again.

This is my outlook on this. Do to the fact that it has not been announced just how much money Dubinsky is looking for, It is hard to say whether he is asking for too much or not.

Brandon has been given every chance to prove his worth.  From playing first line center too power play and penalty killing. Where he has failed, players like Ryan Callahan has excelled.   Now it is not like Ryan scored that many more goals then Brandon. They both score 40 point.  Brandon had 41.  But Callahan showed throughout the season and playoffs that he is more aggressive, when crunch time he showed he can be relied on as he proved in last year’s playoffs.  When given the chance, Ryan played first line and produced better than everyone expected.  Who did everyone notice, Ryan Callahan not Brandon. Brandon fell short to every ones expectations, where as Cally played better then everyone said he would.

Dubinsky has the chance to prove his worth.  As it has been quoted that the first line center position is his to lose.  I personally do not even think he is ready for that spot and his style of play will conflict with the playing style of Marion Gaborik.   So at this point he needs to just accept the Rangers deal. Anything more can hurt the team if they are trying to obtain Kessel.  

I compare Dubs with Cally do to the fact that they are similar in a lot of ways as well as the fact that they have come up into the organization together.  But I also have to bring in another former Ranger into this picture, Blair Betts.

Betts is considered to be a top notch PK player.  He lacked aggressiveness and did not like to play the physical game.  He also had issues scoring. Although I believe Betts would have been a much better player scoring wise, if he had been given the chance to play second or third line with the better players, that didn’t happen.  However Betts was making between $650-750,000.   Brandon is more physical and a better goal scorer.  So I put Dubs somewhere in between Cally who is making 2.3 million a year and Betts. He is worth 1.4 Million.  Problem there is that if the Rangers pay him that much, and if the Rangers are still pursuing Kessel or someone else, paying Dubs that much will definitely hurt the Rangers cap wise.  

This is an issue that makes me sick to my stomach.  Not just in Hockey, but every sport out there.  If you love the game and want to play, then get in there and play. Holding out for more money is ridiculous, especially when you have not even scored more than 20 goals yet in season he hasn’t even proven     himself.  How much can he possibly think he is worth?  Who does he think he is Datsyuk or Malkin? At this point he is a no body! Never mind half the players out there that hold out, end up not worth the money.

Everyone said Zherdev was a selfish player for going through arbitration for more money.  Dubinsky is doing the same thing without the arbitration. But yet I haven’t seen a single article on Dubinsky for doing the same.  No this is not a Zherdev article, but I’m getting a little tired of all the hypocrites out there constantly showing favoritism.  At least with Zherdev you were going to get 25 plus goals from him. At this point Brandon better just sign before the Rangers find his replacement and that will not be hard to do.

It is time for the team to be together and practice together and not fight for a difference of a few hundred thousand dollars. If he is that good, he will make millions next year. This is petty and uncalled for.  I am close to the point where I hope the RANGERS JUST REPLACE HIM!