The Rangers have announced that season subscribers are being invited to a “Meet The Blueshirts” event featuring Chris Drury, Marian Gaborik, Christopher Higgins, Donald Brashear and Ales Kotalik.

The event will take place on Wednesday September 2nd, from 7 to 9PM in the Madison Square Garden lobby.

Seems cool, I love when teams do this type of fan interaction stuff.

Also, the Rangers are asking you to send in questions to those Rangers listed above for videos they will post before training camp.

Click here to send in a question.

Full description of the event after the jump.

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Steve Zipay, of Newsday, was at the Rangers training complex in Westchester today and caught up with un-signed RFA Brandon Dubinsky to talk about his contract.

“I want to be a Ranger,” said Dubinsky, 23, still an unsigned, restricted free agent. “The Rangers want me here; something’s gonna get done real quick and this will all be an afterthought. I’m in here working hard, getting ready for the season, not worrying about that; everything falls into place eventually, so I’m not losing any sleep over it. Obviously there’s been a lot of speculation and stuff, but I know where we’re at and where we’re gonna be…It might be 12 days away from camp, but 12 days is a long time, you can have a lot of conversations in 12 days, it only takes one.”

“You always think it’s going to happen right away, but it’s been an interesting summer for our team, all the changes with trades and some signings,” said Dubinsky. “I knew there was a chance it was going to take a while because heading into the summer we had a lot of free agents—not only restricted but unrestricted, so they had to make some decisions, even some of the restricted free agents had arbitration. So I was able to get the qualifier and hang out.” Asked if he was ready to play for the qualifier, he hedged: “We’ll see. I don’t want to talk about numbers and figures and terms, I’m ready to play, been working hard; leave it to the businessmen, that’s why we pay those guys.”

…Dubi will be signed soon enough. He wants to be a Ranger and the Rangers want him back. People have been fretting about Dubi and thinking that he won’t be signed, which is a little ridiculous, unless Dubi was going in the Heatley deal or another big trade, he was always going to be back. Some guys just take longer to sign then others.

Other notes from Zip, after the jump.

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On this day in Rangers history in 1995, the Rangers traded defenseman Sergei Zubov and Petr Nedved to the Pittsburgh Penguins to acquire Luc Robitaille and Ulf Samuelsson.

Robitallie played two seasons for the Rangers, 1995 to 1997, and scored 69 points his first year in NY and 48 his second. He was traded in the summer of 1997 to Los Angeles for Kevin Stevens.

Ulf Sameulsson played for the Rangers from 1995 to 1999, playing in 287 games, scoring a total of 60 points and adding 475 penalty minutes.

After only scoring 23 points in 46 games for the Rangers in 1994-95, Nedved exploded for 99 points in 80 games during his first season in Pittsburgh, he followed that up with 71 points in 74 games the next season. Following that, Nedved was re-acquired by the Rangers for Alex Kovalev.

His one season in Pittsburgh, Sergei Zubov scored 66 points. He was then traded to Dallas for Kevin Hatcher, where he has cemented an almost certain Hall Of Fame career.

…This is near the top of the list of the worst Ranger moves in history. Zubov was a stud when they dealt him and was just about to enter into his prime. Nedved on the other hand, was an enigma like Kovalev and, also like Kovalev, took off when he played with Jaromir Jagr in Pittsburgh.

The Rangers have announced that tickets for their pre-season home games at MSG will go on-sale tomorrow.

Tickets will go on sale for games against Boston on September 15th, Detroit on September 21st and Washington September 24th.

For more information click here.

With the Traverse City Tournament coming up next week, NewYorkRangers.com has created prospect profiles for those players going to Traverse City.

Some notables:

Evgeny Grachev

Ryan Bourque

Ethan Werek

Michael Del Zotto

The rest of the 22 players the Rangers are bringing, can be read about here.

…Pretty cool stuff, its like a virtual media guide for all the players. It lists their essential stuff but also links to previous features and videos that have been done on the prospect.

The NHLPA has fired its Executive Director Paul Kelley, reports Daren Dreger of TSN.

The decision was made by the Executive Board of the NHLPA which is made up of one representative per NHL team.

Entering the meetings Kelly’s demise was highly speculated based on the belief a number of players and watchdog PA staff had grown weary with his direction, sources claiming Kelly didn’t do a good enough job getting to know the players.

It was also suggested Kelly’s relationship with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and deputy commissioner Bill Daly was perceived by some as being too close.

With many changes inside the association including a revamped constitution, a newly formed executive board, and ombudsman role and advisory board, those remaining will say growing pains inside the association took their toll and Paul Kelly’s demise is the latest example of the PA’s ongoing internal struggle.

Kelley had been on the job for less than two full years, replacing Ted Saskin in October of 2007. Saskin was alleged to have been spying on the players and reading their emails.

Ryan Bourque, son of Hockey Hall Of Famer Ray Bourque, continued his stellar play as the QMJHL pre-season unfolds.

Bourque scored his third goal, in three games, of the pre-season and put his point total at five.

The Rangers 2009 third round pick also scored the game winner in the shootout.

Bourque, 5-9 and 175lbs, will play with other Rangers prospects next week at the Traverse City tournament. He is also eligible to participate in the Rangers training camp which begins September 12th.

Also, the Rangers 2009 second round pick, Ethan Werek, scored a goal in his first OHL pre-season game for the Kingston Frontenacs.

Werek will also go to Traverse City next week.

…Werek is a guy I don’t know much about and am excited to see how he plays in this upcoming tournament and season. As for Bourque, he is starting his path to be one of the Rangers most hyped prospects, which isn’t a bad thing, especially if he is scoring

Tony From NJ: With the Olympics coming up in February, how do you think that it will affect the team? Hopefully not the same way that it did in 2006.

Adam Rotter: The Olympic break in February will be a crucial part of the Rangers season. By my calculations, Chris Drury and maybe Ryan Callahan will play for Team USA. Marc Staal could make Team Canada, but its unlikely, Marian Gaboirk will be on the Slovakian team, Ales Kotalik should make the Czech team and of course the backbone of defending Gold Medal winning Sweden, Henrik Lundqvist. All the other Rangers should get a nice long relaxing break, but the Rangers key guys, Drury, Gaborik and Lundqvist, will all be playing competitive and prideful hockey for those two weeks and will need to adjust to the added games in the schedule.

As for Lundqvist, coach Tortorella has said that he doesn’t expect Henrik to play as many games as he has in the past which puts much more of an onus on Steve Valiquette. I would expect Valiquette to certainly play the first few games after the Olympic break. Valley played in 15 games last season and I would expect him to appear in at least 8-10 more games so that Lundqvist can be a little more rested as they push towards the playoffs.

John B: Do you expect Marc Staal’s offensive game to improve this season?

Adam Rotter: Staal scored 10 points in his rookie year and upped it to 15 this past season. He will turn 23 in January, and I expect, that with his increased playing time, Staal could move up anywhere from three to six more goals and eight to twelve more assists.

With the Rangers having more scoring threats this season, his numbers should increase, especially if he plays with the top line and gets power play minutes.

Rangers Captain Chris Drury joined Ed Randall on WFAN this morning to talk about his experience playing Little League Baseball in Trumbull, CT.

Click here to hear that interview.

Monzo: It’s rare to hear a Ranger on WFAN — not any Ranger talk in this interview, but good to hear Mr. Drury on the FAN talking about a good experience in his life.

Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun, writes today about the on-going Dany Heatley saga, and lists the five teams that could be potential destinations for the unhappy Ottawa Senator.

Garrioch lists the San Jose Sharks the top team that Heatley could be dealt to, though Garrioch thinks that the Sharks could be in play for a Phil Kessel offer-sheet instead.

The number two destination that he lists for Heatley is the Rangers:

“GM Glen Sather likes to stick his nose into everything and this is where Heatley really wants to go. The Rangers refused to give up D Marc Staal and C Brandon Dubinsky at the draft for Heatley. They’d have to offer C Chris Drury, but Sather is loath to deal his captain. “The Rangers love players with star power and they could find a way to take on Heatley’s $7.5-million salary. Sather is the type of GM who doesn’t let players like Heatley get away,” said a league executive. With more than $6 million in cap room, the Rangers wouldn’t have to move much.”

….Garroich is like Larry Brooks in that, he is a prominent writer in the hockey world, but is probably only that because of the rumors that he throws out. It has been documented for a while that the Rangers wouldn’t move Dubinsky in part of a Heatley deal and every team under the sun has probably asked for Marc Staal. Why the Sens would want Chris Drury as the focal point of deal for Heatley is beyond me, that doesn’t seem to make sense from Ottawa’s point of view.

…Obviously the Rangers would be interested in Heatley, not just for his scoring but also his selling points. BUT AGAIN, the Ranger signed Marian Gaborik and only had to give him money, not prospects. Gaborik, if healthy, is just as good a player as Heatley and could sell and be just as good of a marketing ploy for the Rangers and the league.

….Unless the Sens accept a package way below what they have asked for, Heatley won’t be a Ranger. That shipped mostly sailed when Gaborik signed.
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