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Dubinsky was ‘not really’ surprised the Rangers fired Tortorella

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Add Brandon Dubinsky to the list of New York Rangers players who seemed to have a falling out with John Tortorella toward the end of his reign as head coach of that team.

The 27-year-old told the Bergen Record on Thursday that he wasn’t particularly surprised when he heard that Torts was fired.

“Not really,” Dubinsky said. “I think my relationship with Torts fell apart the last year I was there and I just felt like his relationships with some of the other players could be doing the same thing so I guess that sums it up as to why I wasn’t completely surprised that it happened.”

One can rattle off a growing number of players who seemed to develop estranged relationships with Tortorella: former favorite Brad Richards, Marian Gaborik, now Dubinsky and possibly others.

Maybe burnout is almost inevitable with a hard-charging coach?

Regardless, Dubinsky said that facing his former team loses its luster since he’s been with Columbus for a while now. He admits that the trade hurt, as he was part of the young group helped the team grow into a contender, compared to the drive to trade for Rick Nash as the urge to grab a “new toy.”

” ... I didn’t understand it quite that they would want to bring in as many new guys after a successful season and a successful playoff run. But sometimes that’s just how New York is, they like the flash and they want the dash and they want a new toy, I guess,” Dubinsky said. “And that’s no disrespect to the organization because they were so great to me. But, like I said, that was the hardest part. But when you get traded for a guy like Nash, he’s one of the elite players in the league, you can’t lose sight of that, he’s one of the best players in the NHL so I understand you have to give up some assets. I feel like they wouldn’t have just given me away for nothing.”

Dubinsky and plenty of former Rangers are mere minutes away from facing former teammates on Thursday.

Follow James O’Brien @cyclelikesedins