NHL

Rangers squeeze Dubinsky

First, a correction: Brandon Dubinsky’s qualifying offer for the upcoming season is not $698,500 as originally reported here and subsequently repeated by all other news outlets.

The qualifier, as per Rangers’ assistant GM Cam Hope, is a two-way offer of $522,500/$60,000, though the minor league number is essentially meaningless given that Dubinsky would have to pass through waivers in order to get to the AHL.

That $522,500, however, appears to be the Blueshirts’ standing one-year offer to the 23-year-old unsigned Group II free agent one week before players are due to report to training camp.

The Rangers, who for the first time in memory are exercising all the systemic leverage they own under the CBA against a significant young player who is entirely without leverage, also have multi-year offers on the table ranging from two-to-five years.

Dubinsky, who will be eligible for salary arbitration next summer, would surely be sacrificing money on the back end of a multi-year deal should he choose to go that route, even on a two-year contract. The question, though, is whether the additional money for this season would make it a worthwhile exchange.

“We’ve had a number of positive and amicable discussions with the Rangers and we’ll continue to work at it,” Kurt Overhardt, Dubinsky’s agent, told The Post yesterday. “Neither Brandon nor I have any interest in attempting to negotiate this through the newspaper, so we’ll keep the conversations private.

“I know that Brandon is extremely enthusiastic about the upcoming season with Torts [head coach John Tortorella]. We all have every expectation that this will be done before camp.”