More on Dube

As noted earlier, former Bucks captain Serge Dube has re-signed with the team, making him the third player to come out of retirement and join the Bucks in the past three weeks.

Dube was with the Bucks since the franchise's inception, helped lead them to two President's Cup titles and was and one of their most valuable and most praised players up until his tearful retirement in October.

Coach Ruskowski was never happy, or really willing to let him go, but Dube said he and his wife had reached the agreement that his playing career needed to end.

Apparently, she caved last night, but it is still uncertain whether Dube is just helping his old team out in a time of crisis or if he will stay for the remainder of the season.

I'll talk to Ruskowski, and try to talk to Dube, about the situation after tonight's game, but I'm guessing a final decision might not be made by then, or at least not one they want to be public.

Dube is the Bucks' all-time leader in games played and earned a variety of accolades in his playing time prior to retirement. You can read more about all of that in Bryan Benway's press release about his return.

Dube has already been added back to the Bucks' roster, with No. 29 still his to wear, and he will be suiting up tonight and for at least the rest of the weekend.

Obviously, with any player coming out of retirement, being in playing shape is a concern, but Dube has been getting in regular skating time as a Junior Bucks coach and due to his involvement with the local rec team, and he could always sneak out on the ice during his breaks from selling tickets (UPDATE: Sorry about the mixup, but it seems Dube is no longer a member of the front office staff).

Dube did not practice with the team earlier this week, but it's safe to say he knows Ruskowski's systems and exactly what he needs to do out there to make his long-time coach happy this weekend.

I'll talk a little bit more about the effect of Dube's return in my game day post, but I imagine most fans are pretty happy considering how much they wanted him back all season long.

Should be interesting to see how this all plays out.

UPDATE: Benway has blogged about Dube's return, and these paragraphs might be of some interest:

Rosco will give everyone the official word on the plans for Serge Dube (is he here for the season or for a couple of games) but as far as I know this is a short-term deal for now (much like Brent Cullaton did last month).

Serge has full-time job outside of hockey right now and had to re-arrange his work plans so he could play for the Bucks this week. Past tomorrow I don't know what his plans are, but I'm sure everyone is going to try to convince him to stick around for a while.

I'm sure they will, too. Benway also notes in the blog that he will be doing intermission interviews with injured forwards Justin Styffe and Mark O'Leary tonight. That will be the first time Styffe is making an appearance since his gruesome leg injury on Jan. 16.