Looking at Brandon Dubinsky’s 2010-11 campaign is tough
because in one breath you want to focus on the step forward he took in his
overall production, but in the next you cannot help but consider what could
have been if he had maintained his early form. Dubinsky had a breakout year during his fourth
full season with the club as he scored 24 goals and had 54 points which both
led the team.
During the first half, Dubinsky was the team’s best player
and carried the offense to the point where he was at a level worthy of All-Star
consideration. Gone was the inconsistent
performance and production issues that had been plaguing Dubinsky during his
prior season leaving only the skill and determination he had shown flashes of
before.
Few if any players, especially in the forward core, had more
asked of them than he did as he was not only playing on the Rangers’ top line,
killing penalties, and playing on the power play, but he was asked to take most
of the face-offs for the team. He led
all forwards with an average of 20:14 of ice time per game and as the season
went on the combination of that and his stress fracture seemed to wear Dubinsky
down and make him less effective.
He was an excellent two-way player all season, but his offense
dipped severely in the second half and saw more of the Dubinsky of prior
seasons than the All-Star type year he was putting up early on. Before the break he played in 47 games and
had 17 goals and 21 assists. Following
the break, after coming back from the stress fracture in his leg, he had only
seven goals and nine assists in 30 games.
His inconsistency continued in the playoffs as he struggled mightily
early in the series with the Capitals, but showed flashes in Games 3 and 4
before fading again in Game 5.
Let us take a look at the breakdown of Dubinsky’s numbers by
month.
Month
|
Games Played
|
G
|
A
|
Shots
|
October
|
10
|
5
|
4
|
25
|
November
|
16
|
7
|
4
|
32
|
December
|
12
|
4
|
8
|
37
|
January
|
9
|
1
|
5
|
30
|
February
|
12
|
2
|
3
|
25
|
March
|
14
|
4
|
5
|
43
|
April
|
4
|
1
|
1
|
10
|
Not only was he leading the team on the ice in terms of
production, but the effort and consistency during the game was transferred off
the ice as well with him becoming a leader in the room and someone to seriously
be considered for a letter next season.
There are a lot of positives to take from the 2010-11 season
for Dubinsky, but there are still concerns about how much of his potential he
will reach going forward. The talent is
there for him to be a 65-70 point first line type player if the consistency in
production ever matches it for a full season.
Grade: B+
