Smart!

Guess what that post title means!

Yes, that's right (and by Internet standards, it's old news by now, but still) - we finally signed Brandon Dubinsky. And in no small way. It looks like Sather and Dubi both spit in the face of the recommendations of our friend Math and signed a bigger deal than they'd been talking about, which I imagine delivers in no small part the message "sorry things got so complicated, you really are important to us": a 2-year deal for $1.7 million this year and $2 million the next - a $1.85 million cap hit for 2 years. Yeah, he's worth that. And somehow, his holdout actually helped him get it, despite what is traditionally seen as "no leverage."

So now we wait and see how much damage the Rangers and Dubi did to themselves while Dubi was holding out for the bigger bucks. If this had happened a week ago, camp would be starting with the first line center Dubi's position to lose. Now, there are three preseason games left, and the season starts in 12 days. Can Dubi find his way into that role that quickly? Would Torts even want him there October 2 in Pittsburgh? I imagine reports from the next week or so of camp will start to tell these stories.

Meanwhile, the Red Wings beat us 4-3 (we went up 2-0, then gave up 4 in a row in the third), and yesterday we won our first preseason game, handing the Bruins their first loss, 5-2. Gaborik did not play either game. Sanguinetti played in both. Reportedly, Torts was again very pleased with Del Zotto and Gilroy, giving them both a lot of ice time, and he also had nice things to say about Anisimov, which was a nice change (although apparently his shorthanded goal helped that situation - credit where credit's due, it was a really pretty move). The fourth line, Brashear - Boyle - Voros, was apparently also "pretty effective," which I assume is Torts's code for "laced up their skates on the correct feet and didn't accidentally murder anybody." Sanguinetti got a healthy 15 minutes, and was +1. Meanwhile, even Steve Zipay says that Redden and Rozsival (neither of whom played in Boston, but who played as a pair together in Detroit) are "playing like a third pair right now." Yeah, or a fourth...

As for the roster, the Rangers yesterday assigned Paul "thanks for your time but we finally signed Dubi" Crowder, defensemen Heikkinen and Potter, and The Other Two Goalies (Johnson and Zaba) to Hartford. According to the latest roster, the five men we assigned to Hartford but "technically kept in camp" last week (Arnason, Locke, Byers, Owens, and Rissmiller) are not "considered active players under consideration for the final roster." So, with the addition of Dubinsky, that brings us up to 25 (34-5-5+1, children!) on the roster:

Centers: Anisimov, Boyle, Drury, Dubinsky, Grachev, Prospal
Right Wings: Callahan, Gaborik, Kotalik, Lisin
Left Wings: Avery, Brashear, Higgins, Parenteau, Voros
Defensemen: Del Zotto, Gilroy, Girardi, Redden, Rozsival, Sanguinetti, Semenov, Staal
Goalies: Lundqvist, Valiquette

I imagine we will carry 7 defensemen and 14 forwards. On defense, with Del Zotto looking like he's earned the coach's good graces, Sangs seems the likeliest to get cut, as Semenov takes the "big dumb veteran" role. This would leave our opening night pairs as: Redden-Rozsival; Staal-Girardi; Semenov-Gilroy; with Del Zotto as the seventh. As for forwards, it seems like a team looking to cut one from a corps of 6 centers, 4 right wings, and 5 left wings should cut a center before anything else, but remember that Prospal could always find his way back to wing. Regardless, it seems like one of Grachev or Parenteau should get cut here (I'd say Grachev clearly makes it over Parenteau, but he's still really only 19 years old). Not gonna make any guesses as to lines here just yet (though I have some guesses), but it looks like our roster is close to solidified. Thoughts?