alg_rangers

I’m sure you’ve heard of Brandon Dubinsky. (Height 6.01 — Weight 210 — Shoots L, 24 Years Old)

13 – 28 -41; 112 PIM

251 Hits (7th, trailing Milan Lucic at 6th)

Faceoffs: 53.6% on 870 draws taken

QUALCOMP: 0.03

QUALTEAM: 0.11

CORSI +13.1

He’s currently an RFA with the New York Rangers. Rumours have it that the two sides are far apart on a new deal even though the Rangers are really high on this young checking center.

His boxcars last season were pretty good for a guy who was playing behind Gomez and Drury, though the only Oilers player (who played more than 10 games) who faced tougher competition was Shawn Horcoff. His stats indicate his linemates were pretty decent, as both Dubinsky and his right hand man Ryan Callahan cracked the top 10 in NHL hits totals. To boot, he has great faceoff skills.

Mind you, that Glen Sather and Dubinsky are far apart on contract talks is just pure rumour.

But if there was even a shred of truth to it, I’d be the first to call the Rangers about an offer.

Dubinsky is pretty much everything the Oilers have been looking for in a 3C. He’s pretty much the best free agent option available that’s not unrestricted (the other being Manny Malholtra).

He might be an even better option considering the Oilers wouldn’t be adding salary by acquiring him, since the Oilers would need to give salary back to the Rangers in order to sign him. He is an RFA, after all.

So since the Rangers have cap room, what would they realistically need?

A quick look at the Rangers roster produces the following observations:

2LW = Sean Avery or Aaron Voros

2D = Marc Staal and Daniel Girardi

The Rangers have a marked need for a physical D-man and a top 6 LW.

The Oilers have lots of those players that can fit that criteria, such as Nilsson, O’Sullivan, Cogliano, Staios, and Smid. Also, any combination that includes Staios would put the Rangers over the cap, meaning the Oilers would have to take some significant salary back. However, the Oilers just signed Smid to a new contract and O’Sullivan makes close to what Kotalik makes.

Though that makes trade possibilities look bleak, consider this:

I highly doubt the Oilers would acquire Avery but stranger things have happened. Also, consider that the Oilers have already tried to trade Cogliano and Smid once. That means there’s nothing stopping them from trading Rowbear and Steady Steve but loyalty and fat contracts.

I have a feeling the Rangers will find a way to keep Dubinsky around.

If not, however, here’s how I envision a potential trade:

Brandon Dubinsky, RFA (salary TBA) + Aaron Voros (1.000 M) + Paul Crowder (0.975 K)

FOR

Robert Nilsson (2.000 M) + Steve Staios (2.700 M) + prospect or draft pick

The acquisition of Crowder would be for cap hit or depth purposes only, kind of like picking up Dany Sabourin in the Garon trade. Another option would be to pick up Brodie Dupont instead of Voros or Crowder and give the Rangers Patrick O’Sullivan instead of Nilsson, but I’m pretty sure Pat Quinn and Steve Tambellini are really high on P.O.S.

Staios could help the young blueline on NYR and Voros would be able to give J.F. Jacques and Liam Reddox some competition for the bottom 6 LW positions. Furthermore, Nilsson would replace the retired Naslund (in spirit but not in skill) and KHL-bound Nikolai Zherdev.

It’s a win-win situation.