Sean Avery
It was announced recently that Sean Avery had cleared waivers and is poised to make a return to the NHL. If you do not recall Avery was suspend and later fired for some disparaging remarks aimed at other players. At this point, he has completed his treatment and orchestrated an opportunity to return the NHL.
To summarize from the articles: Dallas does not have an AHL affiliate therefore Avery needed to find another teams’ AHL affiliate that is willing to bring him on board. Once he is assigned to an AHL team, NHL franchises will be given the opportunity to pick him up. The new team and Dallas will split the cost 50/50 of his current contact. He still has a number of hurdles before a NHL can get to him but that is the gist of it. Fortunately, for Mr. Avery the Hartford Whalers Wolfpack want to give him a second chance.
As of yesterday, Dallas assigned Avery to the New York Ranger’s AHL affiliate the Hartford Whalers. This however does not ensure that Avery will return to the Rangers. There is some business about the lowest ranking teams have a right of first refusal and having some knowledge of the pro-hockey leagues I can say they shuffle these players from team to team so much it is hard to keep up. Looking past those caveats I see Avery returning to the NHL via the New York Rangers for a couple of reasons. Avery turned out to be toxic in every way to Dallas. After bringing him on board Dallas went from a Stanly Cup contender to holding up the league and now with Avery gone the team has made a recovery. It likely was not all Avery but, he clearly was not helping the team succeed. This was not the case for New York. He had some penalty/temper issues but he scored goals and could fight thereby creating a powerhouse player. Sure, he did not have the fineness of a Dubinsky but each line needs three different player types and Avery filled a spot. When Avery became an UFA earlier this year due in large part to his success in New York he asked for a lot more money and the Ranger’s rightly turned him down. He was a good player for the team but he was not worth what he wanted. I think the Ranger’s see an opportunity to bring Avery back on board for half price (thanks Dallas and Ms. Cuthbert). Furthermore the comments coming from the organization and the teams top players have been encouraging and signal the team would welcome Avery back.
I would be happy to see Avery back in a Blueshirt and if they do bite I hope this very young Ranger’s team can still control a sometimes pain in the ass player.
My last question would be:
If Avery ends up returning to the NHL and playing for the Rangers does that make him sloppy seconds?
