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Welcome Pierre-Luc Dubois to the Rangers rumor mill

By Jason Katinas

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JANUARY 28: General Manager Chris Drury of the New York Rangers speaks during a press conference prior to the jersey retirement ceremony for Henrik Lundqvist taking place before the game between the New York Rangers and Minnesota Wild at Madison Square Garden on January 28, 2022 in New York City. Henrik Lundqvist played all 15 seasons of his NHL career with the Rangers before retiring in 2020. (Photo by Steven Ryan/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JANUARY 28: General Manager Chris Drury of the New York Rangers speaks during a press conference prior to the jersey retirement ceremony for Henrik Lundqvist taking place before the game between the New York Rangers and Minnesota Wild at Madison Square Garden on January 28, 2022 in New York City. Henrik Lundqvist played all 15 seasons of his NHL career with the Rangers before retiring in 2020. (Photo by Steven Ryan/Getty Images) /
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General Manager Chris Drury of the New York Rangers . (Photo by Steven Ryan/Getty Images)
General Manager Chris Drury of the New York Rangers . (Photo by Steven Ryan/Getty Images) /

The New York Rangers rumor mill exploded into action yesterday. All it took was a tweet from Francois Gagnon of the French Canadian RDS sports channel to light the flame. In the tweet Gagnon indicated that New York Rangers General Manager Chris Drury was interested in acquiring Pierre-Luc Dubois from the Winnipeg Jets. Here’s the tweet and its translation, courtesy of Google Translate.

"“By the way, according to information obtained during the final, the #Rangers of New York would be more than interested in acquiring Pierre-Luc Dubois. Ongoing negotiations with the #Jets on the parameters of a transaction. It’s not done, but Chris Drury is very interested”"

Of course the New York Rangers are interested

Of course Chris Drury is interested.  Dubois is a young and efficient second line center, who with a little growth to his game could potentially be a number one center. Who wouldn’t be interested? The point to review though is how interested Drury actually is and could a trade between the New York Rangers and Winnipeg Jets, frequent trade partners the past few seasons, realistically occur for the 24-year-old center?

There are pros and cons to every personnel transaction, but especially in trades involving top players. Costs to acquire in terms of players, prospects and picks, salary cap restrictions and team chemistry chief among them. If there is any real traction to this trade rumor, this is an exercise Drury has already undertaken. It is perhaps also an exercise the fans should invest in to break from the shiny new toy syndrome and judge the potential trade with more pragmatism.

The Pros

Pierre-Luc Dubois is a young center who just turned 24 years old a week ago. He was selected third overall in the 2016 NHL entry draft by the Columbus Blue Jackets and has six years of NHL experience under his belt. Dubois has been a positive possession player for his career, never falling below a 50.5% Corsi rating. Averaging more than a hit per game, he is a player that does not shy away from playing with a physical edge. Most notably though, Dubois has been a productive points producer. scoring 20 or more goals three times with a career high 28 goals scored last season. He has also reached the sixty point plateau twice, with a career high of 61 set in 2017-18.

What may be of the highest importance to the New York Rangers is Dubois’ chemistry with Artemi Panarin. The pair played together for 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons with the Blue Jackets, meshing well together. Over a span of 160 games the pair were possession darlings, amassing a 56.07% Corsi rating. They would be on the ice for 113 even strength goals and 34 more on the power play. Overall, the pairing were on the ice for 61 more goals for than goals allowed. Undoubtedly, Dubois and Panarin found success while playing together.

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