With the arbitration hearing for Brandon Dubinsky less than
two days away there was bound to be some news today about the progress between
his representatives and the New York Rangers on a new long-term contract. While not totally surprising, it is still bad
to hear the negative news come out today from Larry Brooks
of the New York Post.
Unless theres dramatic shift, Dubinsky headed to arb on Thur, sides not close enough yet on longterm. Talks continue with Callahan, arb 7/28
The initial reaction for followers of the Rangers will be a
combination of anger that the team has not locked up a key player to a
long-term deal and assuming that the issue is Dubinsky’s fault for being
greedy. There is likely some merit to
both sides. The reality is that Dubinsky
has the leverage in an arbitration hearing this year based on his performance
and importance to the Rangers last season.
It is that leverage that led me to say that the Rangers would have to overpay
Dubinsky in order to avoid this hearing on Thursday. The two sides could still work something out
in the next 48 hours, but as Brooks says it would take a dramatic shift to see
it happen. The contract for Andrew
Ladd is the best basis for a long-term deal with Dubinsky though likely
more than the Rangers would like to pay to lock up a key piece of their young core.
In other news the Rangers are likely to re-sign Steve Eminger
