Is Brandon Dubinsky A First Line Center?

Is this the Rangers first line center of the future? That's the million dollar question. Why do we get the feeling that Sather isn't convinced of that? Then there's ol' Chris Drury. But again you get the feeling that Sather doesn't have first line plans for him either. So who is it then?

Lets hope it isn't someone at the expense of Brandon Dubinsky, but it sure seems headed in that direction. The Rangers have 2 players still unsigned. Nikolai Zherdev (who is unlikely to be signed) and Brandon Dubinsky. Why in the world is "Dubi" not signed? It doesn't make any sense unless it's true that Sather is shopping him. But are they already giving up hope on the youngster in exchange for a "proven" center?

I read an article the other day that laid out the potential lines for next season. I have to say, it begs the question, and undoubtedly has Sather's attention, of who will lead this team in the center ice position. Here are the hypothetical lines:

Higgins-Dubinsky-Gaborik

Kotalik-Drury-Callahan

Avery-Anisimov-Lisin

Byers-Boyle-Brashear

Lets break this down. Anisimov and Boyle are experimental, so little can be expected of them. Our top six wingers are strong, very strong in fact, and lets give Glen a pat on the back for that. But the potential problem, and undoubtedly what Sather is concerned with, is down the middle. What are the chances that either Drury and/or Dubinsky contribute significantly this year? If they do, then that would mean they overachieved. What are the chances of that? Drury isn't being shipped anywhere, he is here to stay and captain this team. So it's down to Dubinsky, and only Dubinsky. All these rumors about the Rangers being heavily interested in Brad Richards are nauseating. The former star is not what he used to be, and his level of play has diminished significantly since winning the cup. A trade such as Rozsival-Dubinsky-draft pick for Richards would be extremely tough to swallow, especially financially. Lets be fair though, swapping Richards in that lineup for Dubinsky does indeed raise an eyebrow. What if he and Gaborik click? That could be at least a combined 75 goals right there, which probably isn't realistic with Brandon in there.

But what a risk the trade would be. Too much so. I say give Dubinsky a shot next to Gaborik. If he falls on his face, then make a move mid-season. But give the kid a chance. It's better then taking on Richards' bloated contract that's almost $8 million per season.

That being said, based on media reports, a Richards acquisition seems to be what the Rangers front office is focused on these days and seriously considering. In the end here, the spotlight is on Brandon Dubinsky. The roster spot in question is Brandon Dubinsky's. The next move (or non-move) involves Brandon Dubinsky. Sign him Glen.

One last thing, I came across this photograph below, although I'm not sure who created it. Even though it is from last season prior to the trade deadline, I thought I'd pass it along. It is pretty damn funny.

Top 5 Re-Shuffle: Welcome Marisa Miller & Lucy Hale, Goodbye Maria Menounos & Kate Beckinsale

Sorry Maria Menounos and Kate Beckinsale, but your time has come. Marisa Miller had originally narrowly missed the Top 5, but she just didn't quite make the cut. Since then, lets just say things have only gone up for her. As you can see on the right-side panel, Marisa is now the new #2, even bumping fan favorites Lindsay and Anna down a spot.

Regarding the Lindsay Lohan and Anna Kournikova flip-flop----it had to happen. I've got to be candid here, Lindsay is losing a little steam in my eyes lately. I can't really put a finger on it, but I guess she's losing her lust. Anna is still going stronger than ever, and in a selection lineup my index finger points to Ms. Kournikova if I had to choose.

The newcomer Lucy Hale rounds out the Top 5, but barely. To be honest, I can see her getting bumped in the near-term for sure. But for now, she is a fresh face that is Grade A in my book.

Olivia Palermo still sits atop with the #1 position. This is unquestionable.

Yes Barack Obama, That Is Called A Ba-donk-a-donk

Okay Mr. President, time for you to do some explaining. And Nicolas Sarkozy, don't think you're getting off easy here. In fact, you're in even deeper once we're finished. This photo was taken at the G8 summit in Italy this week. Evidently, the First Lady must not be providing for her husband. Barack seems quite distracted and mesmerized in the photo. And French President Nicolas Sarkozy (on the right) looks like he's about to jump out of his pants. One can only imagine what is going through his head. And it only gets worse for him...

But first, who is the entertainer here? Get ready for this. A 17-year-old junior high school student. She is a Brazilian from Rio de Janeiro and her name is Mayara Tavares (we're going to go out on a limb here and say no relation to #1 NHL draft pick John Tavares). The girl was selected to attend a meeting of young people held in conjunction with the summit. Now--Barack and Nicolas must know they are on camera, so what are they thinking? Forget that she's only 17 years old. And I'm actually even willing to give Barack some leeway here, it was a quick reaction. Unacceptable, yet involuntary. Nicolas on the other hand is just blatantly eyeballing this girl in glee. Come on dude. Below is a video of the incident and it only gets worse for the French President. Alot worse...just watch. One other thing though--the G8 summit host, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, was recently ditched by his wife because of a sex scandal. It just makes you wonder how much behind-the-scenes sex scandals and activities go on with our "high ranking" officials worldwide. I've got to think the reality is beyond belief. These people think they are above all morals and laws. Anyways, here's the video, which probably gives us just a glimpse into these people's lives:

Don't Buy Into The Kournikova Engagement Hype

Rumors are swirling that Anna Kournikova is engaged to Enrique Iglesias. The blondy was "flashing a sizable diamond ring on her left hand" while watching a night match at this week's World Team Tennis in King of Prussia, PA. She later deflected to answer the question when asked by the Associated Press.

No, this isn't a case of deja vu that you are experiencing. This story is indeed surfacing yet again. Don't you remember? The Hasty believes that, once again, it is inaccurate to assume that Anna is engaged for the following reason: they tried to pull this exact stunt off previously, in fact about a year and a half ago to be precise. Let me jog your memory. Here was the report:

Are Enrique Iglesias and Anna Kournikova Engaged? - 2007
December 5, 2007

Tennis babe Anna Kournikova has been spotted wearing a $6 million diamond ring, sparking rumors her long-time boyfriend Enrique Iglesias has proposed to her. Enrique – who has been dating Anna since meeting on the set of his ‘Escape’ video on 2002- has refused to comment on the engagement rumors. Anna was snapped wearing the triple gold-band ‘engagement’ ring on her left hand on Tuesday in London, where Enrique is doing promotion. The Daily Star quotes an ‘onlooker’ as saying: “They certainly both seemed quite smug about something and Anna seemed to be sporting a Russian wedding ring.”

Now unless they canceled that engagement (which there is no evidence of) then it wasn't true, so The Hasty has to put serious doubt on this new report. I don't know if I'm going out on a limb here, but could this just be another publicity ploy? The new rumor did successfully put them on the NY Post's Page Six. I wonder if we could get a comparison of the rings she was wearing in the recent citing versus the 2007 citing. Want to bet they are the same ring? I'm not sure we'll ever know. But if I was a betting man, I'd say Anna Kournikova is still very much "not-engaged." What she is in actuality is in the news again, now twice in two weeks. Goal accomplished Kournikova camp.

Oh Andy----Heartbreaking Defeat At Hands Of Federer

Definition of a crushing defeat: Playing the best tennis anyone has ever seen you play; doing that in the Wimbledon finals against the best player in the history of tennis; holding serve for 4 hours and 15 minutes straight; and then being broken for the FIRST time at 15-14 of the 5th set to lose it all. That pretty much sums up how Andy Roddick's heart was broken in the 2009 Wimbledon final (also broken was Pistol Pete's grand slam record). Everyone in the world feels sorry for Andy right now. But lets be honest though, Roddick's nauseating choke volley at set point in the second set cost him the match. There is absolutely no excuse for Roddick to miss that shot. Federer was halfway to his chair for the changover and all Andy had to do was block the ball into the court. That said, the court did probably look 3ft x 3ft through Andy's eyes right before contact. But if the roles are reversed, does Roger miss that volley in a million years?

This one is going to sting Roddick for a very long time. To the point where I don't know if he can recover, at least from a career perspective. In an interview afterwards, Bjorn Borg said the loss would "sting" Andy for a couple days. Are you kidding? This is going to sting him until the day he dies, unless of course he wins Wimbledon before he retires. If he plays this well again next year, he has an even better shot of winning the title, to the point where he will likely win it. But the question is if he'll be able to take this loss in stride or struggle to recover from it. Turning down the famous post-match John McEnroe interview for us American fans was not a good sign. Nor was his decision to withdraw from his upcoming Davis Cup match. A telling factor will be the US Open Series that is approaching. That is the season that Roddick usually thrives. If he stumbles through this summer and at the US Open finale, then this may be sayonara for Andy Roddick.

My guess: there is a very good chance (lets say 75%) that Roddick comes out of this with renewed confidence. The reason why? Larry Stefanki. Clearly Andy's new coach is perfect for him, and I doubt he will allow Andy to dip at all. We'll just have to wait and see if that's the case. The US Open Series starts July 20th with the first tournament in Indianapolis. So in the meantime, feel better Andy. Look on the bright side. You just married a supermodel. You're really really rich. And Elton John played at your wedding. That should cheer you up...maybe along with a relapse of Federer's mono.

In hockey news, at least the significant hockey news:

• The Rangers signed Higgins (1-year $2.25 million per) -- Higgins will have 1 shot to prove himself
• The Senators signed Kovalev (2-years $5 million per) -- this won't come close to replacing Heatley
• The Maple Leafs signed Beauchemin (3-years $3.8 million per) -- if Toronto can get a goalie, they are going to open some eyes this year

And lastly, we all know about Patrick Kane's habit of constantly chewing on his white mouth guard during games. Well it seems Johan Franzen of the Detroit Red Wings is not too fond of it. Check out this video:

Rangers Ink Gaborik, But Can He Handle The Big Apple?

As I'm sure you know by now, the New York Rangers signed free agent stud Marian Gaborik to a 5-year $37.5 million contract. That comes to $7.5 million per year, so Sather not only swapped Gaborik for Gomez (who was about the same price as Gaborik), but added Christopher Higgins as well in that swap (not to mention some prospects too--but do we really think a prospect will blossom and at least equal expectations in NY?). Either way, pretty nifty maneuvering from the Rangers though.

As you also probably already know, the Blueshirts signed Donald Brashear to a 2-year $2.8 million contract. That comes to $1.4 million per year versus the 4-year $1 million signing by Toronto of Colton Orr. I honestly have no idea why Orr was not re-signed. 4 years could not have been a breaking point, could it have been Glen? According to Sather, Brashear is "quicker" and will be "a little more effective for us." Are you kidding me? That is complete malarkey. What happened is that Sather didn't have Orr on his priority list come noon on Wednesday, and Toronto swooped in and snagged the Rangers enforcer. Either that, or Orr simply wanted to go to Toronto, which actually could be the case given he is from Canada. Either way, I don't think anyone would have imagined Brashear would be a Ranger after his dirty hit on Betts in the post-season last year. And by the way, everyone seems to be saying that New York needs another center, so what about Blair Betts? I find it hard to believe the Rangers aren't going to take any penalties next year. We're talking about the Rangers here. Penalties are always an issue. So if you want to say Anisimov is going to be a great 4th line center next season, then fine, but I'm not convinced of that. Sather - lets sign Mr. Betts, he won't cost more then $1 million per, and let him and Anisimov fight for the spot in training camp. Or are you scared Blair will win that spot? Just like last year.

But back the big fish. The big question is whether Marian Gaborik will be a savior or instead follow in the footsteps of Scott Gomez. Who by the way is about to officially put his New York "$3.2 million three-bedroom, three-bathroom with 31-by-32-foot terrace/grill" condo up for sale. Too bad for Smiley Scotty that his hockey skills tanked at the same time as the real estate market. Who wants to bet that he takes a loss on that? But there is a point to this. Many players (or should I say most players) come to New York and tank. Purposely or not, they lost themselves in the limelight. I always find myself thinking every time Sather signs the big name, that the cup is on its way to Broadway the following season. Instead, the team doesn't get past the second round, and the star that was signed doesn't seem to contribute in any way. So lets not get too excited here. Lets see him bury 15 goals in the first 20 games and then there's something to really start talking about. In the meantime, lets just hope Marian Gaborik buys a nice studio in a quiet Manhattan neighborhood and finds a nice shy Slovakian girl to date. But based on this photo to the right, I'm not so sure this is realistic. If this is a snapshot photo of his lifestyle, I don't think he will have much trouble finding women like this in the New York scene. And I think Sean Avery can attest to that.