COLUMBUS, Ohio — Brandon Dubinsky was one of the original Bluebloods, part of the class of Rangers including Ryan Callahan, Dan Girardi and Marc Staal to come through the system and reach Broadway when the philosophy changed to a focus on in-house development following the 2004-05 lockout.
He was there as a rookie to center Jaromir Jagr when neither Scott Gomez nor Chris Drury proved a match for No. 68 in 2007-08, and he was there when the Blueshirts went to the conference finals in 2011-12.
And then he was gone, traded to the Blue Jackets in late July of 2012 with Artem Anisimov, Tim Erixon and a first-round draft pick in exchange for Rick Nash, the finisher general manager Glen Sather devoutly believed would carry the Rangers across the finish line.
“The hardest part for me was that we had grown up together and had taken the team from not making the playoffs in forever to the conference finals, and then not only my trade, but all the moves [that summer] I didn’t understand,” Dubinsky said before facing the Rangers for the first time in Thursday night’s 4-2 Blue Jackets’ loss.
“Sometimes that’s the way New York is. They like the flash and the dash, and they want a new toy, I guess.”
Dubinsky also said he was “not criticizing the organization,” while acknowledging he was part of a trade for “one of the elite players in the league and you can’t lose sight of that.”
“I understand that you have to give up assets,” Dubinsky said. “I don’t think they would have given me away for nothing.”
Though the match between the Rangers and Blue Jackets had the feel of a high-stakes intramural contest, Nash was not here to partake in the festivities, sidelined for the 13th straight game as a result of the Oct. 8 concussion he sustained in San Jose.
The Dubinsky/Nash deal came just over seven months before the Shirts and Jackets — color them both blue — engaged in another blockbuster, this the one in which Marian Gaborik was dealt to Columbus for Derick Brassard, Derek Dorsett and John Moore.
“For a couple of weeks before the deadline I heard rumors but then I started to play the way I could and it quieted down,” Gaborik said, who waived a no-trade clause in order to exit New York. “It was a shock to get the call from Glen.
“I took time to think about it and then I agreed to it,” he said. “I did what I needed to do.”
Dubinsky had the worst year of his career in his last season as a Ranger, starting very slowly after signing a four-year, $16.8 million deal the previous summer. He played much of the season as a third- or fourth-liner.
The 27-year-old forward said “Not really,” when asked if he had been surprised the Rangers fired Tortorella following last year’s second-round elimination by the Bruins.
“I think my relationship with Torts fell apart the last year I was there,” Dubinsky said. “I felt his relationship with some other players could have been the same thing.
“I guess that sums it up.”
Gaborik, meanwhile, scored 40 or more goals in two of his three full seasons as a Ranger after signing a five-year, $37.5 million free-agent contract in July 2009. He scored 42 his first year and 41 his third to join Mike Gartner and Jean Ratelle as the only players in franchise history to score 40 or more goals in a season more than once.
But Gaborik had a bad second year and a worse fourth year, and by last year’s trade deadline, the sniper’s always tenuous connection with Tortorella had completely collapsed. Hence, the winger’s decision to accept the trade out of town.
When Tortorella was fired, Gaborik used his Twitter account to post a tweet that read, “Everything happens for a reason.”
He smiled but declined to elaborate when asked about that on Wednesday.
“I don’t want to go into it,” Gaborik said. “It’s in the past.
“Everybody has moved on and I have, too.”