In what seems to an annual, hmmm, seasonal, hmmm, monthly, hmmm, weekly, ok, really daily debate, what is the value/upside of Brandon Dubinsky? Is he a player to build around and can be considered a core member of the Rangers for now and down the road, or should the Rangers take advantage of his current hot streak and deal him when his value is high?
The past few seasons, it seems as if Jimbo and I were the two main players on this blog that were unabashed Dubinsky fans. This year, Jimbo earlier than I gave up his hands in defeat, while I held on for as long as I could, possibly influenced by my fandom or ownership of him in two fantasy leagues, before I joined him in the get rid of Dubi crowd. Now that Dubi appears to be back, much of the questions on the blog are is this for real and should he be included if the Rangers were players in the Bobby Ryan sweepstakes?
Larry Brooks today had a good article on Dubi. In it he wrote, “Dubinsky has returned to being himself with eight points (4-4) in his last eight games after a wandering through a hockey desert in which he had 13 points (1-12) in the first 31 games while shuffling from the first line to the fourth, from the wing to the middle and back again.” The unknown is if this is the real Dubinsky or just a movement back to the mean after being down for so long? If you believe that this is close to where Dubi can be, unsure if point a game, but let’s say 60 points over a full season, especially as Starsky to Callahan’s Hutch, then that changes the entire equation. If you believe that he is overachieving, and while not as bad as he way earlier in the year, but more a 45-50 point scorer and not a top-six forward, then of course, he has to be dealt.
Regardless of the view you have, the one thing that can’t be argued is that Dubi never really sulked, gave maximum effort nightly even if the results weren’t there and filled the role he was required to do. In addition, his promotion back to the second or top line, depending on your view, has re-invigorated Brad Richards, who was going through a mild slump of his own. Plus, as others said, his style of plan – the “jam” – if you will, is a key component come playoff time. That said, all the arguments of the chemistry on this team and why break up a good thing are accurate, but up to a point.
All of us who remember 1994 vividly also thought that the team had great chemistry, especially after the early season acquisition of Steve Larmer, and why break up a good thing, Mike Keenan, as nutty as he was, was correct in his view that the team needed more toughness and grit, which was borne out in the playoffs. The acquisitions of Craig MacTavish, Glenn Anderson, Stephane Matteau and Brian Noonan played a major, major role in the win. However, the converse is the cost. Even though they won the cup, would you still have traded Tony Amonte and to a lesser extent Mike Gartner and Todd Marchant knowing what they might do in the future? I think Gartner and Marchant are no brainers, but Amonte is another question. While the jury is still out to a certain extent, there is no way I would compare Dubi to Amonte, as Amonte became an elite sniper, something Dubi likely never will be, but I am talking more so from the perspective of a player whose best days are ahead of him and one that could come back to haunt the Rangers. One other difference is that getting someone like Bobby Ryan is obviously much more of a return than an Matteau and Noonan, which would to a certain extent blunt the loss of Dubi, though there would be lots of other pieces in the deal bumping him the value of the return to Anaheim and potentially lessening that of Ryan over the life of his contract.
In addition, there is still half a season and the entire postseason to go. The chemistry that exists now may not be in sync down the road plus the goal, in my view, has to be a Stanley Cup. As much as I love Dubinsky and believe he can play a big role on this team in the future, if he needed to be a key component to get Ryan, whose goal-scoring ability might be the difference between advancing or going home, I think you have to make that move, even though I wouldn't be happy to see him go.
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