Matthew Barnaby And Zdeno Ciger Led To Brandon Dubinsky (Update: Messier Led To Cally)

One of my favorite aspects of hockey is how some trades can snowball and affect a team years down the road.  So I decided to do a little research and track all the trades that led to the Rangers drafting Brandon Dubinsky.  It turns out that traded for Matthew Barnaby in 2001 was one of the best moves the Rangers organization made, same with signing Zdeno Ciger in 2001.

• 7/15/2001: Rangers sign Zdeno Ciger.
• 12/12/2001: Rangers trade Zdeno Ciger to the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for Matthew Barnaby.
• 3/8/2004: Rangers trade Matthew Barnaby and a 3rd round pick in 2004 to the Colorado Avalanche for Chris McAllister, David Liffiton, and the #37 pick in 2004 (The #37 pick was initially Florida’s, and was traded to Colorado in 2003 with Peter Worrell for Eric Messier and Vaclav Nedorost).
• 6/26/2004: Rangers trade the #37 pick in 2004 to the Florida Panthers for the #50 pick and the #73 pick (the #50 pick was originally Dallas’ pick for compensation for not signing free agent Derian Hatcher, and was traded to Florida in a deal for Valeri Bure).
• 6/26/2004: Rangers trade the #50 pick in 2004 to the Phoenix Coyotes for the #60 pick and the #80 pick (the #60 pick was originally Philadelphia’s, acquired by Phoenix with Guillaume Lefebvre, and a 3rd round pick in 2003 in a 2003 trade for Tony Amonte).
• 6/26/2004: Rangers use the 60th overall pick in 2004 to draft Brandon Dubinsky.

So Glen Sather was at the helm when the Rangers signed Ciger, and traded him for Barnaby.  I find that to be very interesting.  Also ironic is that the pick that was used to draft Dubinsky was originally, of all teams, the Flyers’ pick.  I wonder how Mike Richards feels about that.

Update 11:30: Doing some more research, I came across a little trade that angered Ranger fans in 2003.

• 6/30/2003: Rangers trade the rights to Mark Messier to the San Jose Sharks for future considerations.  The future considerations became a 4th round pick in 2004 (#127 overall).

That 4th round pick was used by the Rangers to draft none other than Ryan Callahan.  Amazing.  The Captain delivers again.