The Case of Sean Avery

With the waiving and subsequent sending down of Sean Avery, the big question is whether or not anyone will see Sean Avery on an ice rink in a hockey playing capacity ever again. With one more year remaining on his current contract and then three teams having to pay him if he's picked up on re-entry waivers; the odds are slim unless someone wants to take a big chance.

However, oddly enough-- that's to the wonder that is FOHS's resident accountant, JonnyP-- if every team picked-up Avery on waivers and then put him back on re-entry waivers; the last two teams would only have to pay $0.0072 for his contract. Fun facts.

But still-- the biggest thing working against Avery is the fact he is a loose cannon. While he does have a great amount of actual hockey skill; the fact he takes greater pride in being an instigator...and then not knowing when to draw the line in that makes many teams wonder if it's worth the risk to have a guy out there like that. Sure, he'll draw a key penalty; but at what point do you think he'll be able to know when to draw the line.

That's why the Rangers were the best fit for him, because he had a coach like John Tortorella who knew when to pull the leash on him and keep him in line and focused; to which Avery responded most of the time. Other teams are going to look behind their bench and maybe give their coach a break for trying to deal with a guy like that; not so much that the coach couldn't handle it-- but because of the stress that it could cause trying to keep an eye on someone like Avery, as well as the rest of the bench could take it's toll.

Then there's the distractions on Avery's behalf, mostly because he's a guy who does seem like he want to have his hand in other interests outside of hockey, so putting him in a place where he doesn't have that outside stimulus-- while it's the best place for him to focus on hockey-- would make him a restless soul to deal with and then he goes out and does something stupid to make himself and team look back. We all remember the Dallas incident, so there's that.

Personally-- I would enjoy seeing Avery back in the NHL because he's the prototypical guy who's going from the goon mentality to the agitator mentality. Plus, when he wants to be a solid offensive player, he actually can be. It's not like he's a one-trick pony. However, that fate for this year is held in the hands of Glen Sather and Avery. After his contract runs out, I doubt many teams will make a move unless they see an attitude change-- which is a bit disappointing, but understandable. Time will tell.

On the Topic Of Sean Avery and Uptown Sports

While I was asleep during the day (stupid graveyards), all hell broke loose on the Twitterverse and it seemed that an agent put their foot in their mouth. Huzzah!!

If you hadn't heard, Sean Avery is in a new New York State campaign to legalize same sex marriages-- which he should definitely be given some dap for. However, it seems Todd Reynolds, VP of Uptown Sports Management doesn't not agree with Avery and went on Twitter to voice his opinion on it; much like Avery did in the advertisement.

However, Reynolds did not see what had happened to Dan Ellis and version one of Paul Bissonnette's Twitter Fiascos. This did blow up in his face and he had to explain himself on Twitter and then on a print and other media spree to clear himself up.

You can read it all on the wonderful Puck Daddy, mostly because he does a much better recap and has the tweets and whatever. Much better than this dreck.

First-- with Reynolds, not only does he work for a place that was probably named for a Billy Joel song; but his opinions are the same reasoning that Sean Avery went out and said what he said. Sure, it was a bit of a brash commentary, almost shaming Avery for his opinion and voicing what he feels is right. But he is right in his backtracking-- it doesn't mean that he or his company is bigoted by any nature; they maybe aren't as progressive as some other people out there. You look at the client list and guys like Chris Neil and Mike Fisher pop up-- both of whom are devout Christians. That makes me think that this company is a little right-winged/conservative leaning company that has their own ethics clause....which could make things a little more understandable-- though doesn't make it any less near-sighted.

But like I said-- it's not necessarily bigoted or intolerant-- just not as progressive. We don't think the Amish people are crazy or intolerant for not using electricity; they just aren't as free thinking or open to ideas because they have been taught one way and that's how their convictions have formed. That should count for something, at least-- they won't waiver too much from their position. To me, it wasn't right for Reynolds to do this on a CORPORATE outlet; but he's entitled to his opinion-- that's what makes North America great.

Personally-- I don't agree with Reynolds and I think you can interpret marriage or whatever how ever you feel. My big thing is that he went on the corporate feed to do this venting. It's one thing for an agency to put over their players or put over their sponsored events, but to vent about a hot-button issue on the corporate side of things is usually universally frowned upon. If you want to do it on your own feed or just not to the masses-- sobeit. I think that's the big thing that irked me, dragging the corporation into it.

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That brings me to Avery, who definitely has a set to put himself out there like that and maybe voice an opinion that a bit of taboo in terms of publicly saying this. But from someone that's out there like Avery, it's not unexpected and he's a guy who has a thick enough skin to actually defend and fight back any kind of criticism that does come his way.

Yet, I don't see how he's an angel and absolved of everything he's done beforehand. Sure, he does move up a notch, but this is still a guy who said his ex-girlfriends get passed around the NHL like a puck during a Vancouver Canucks power play. He's an agitator to the extreme, even getting annoying enough to have his own rule for being an all-around jerk and putting himself over on a gamely basis. I don't see how an opinion like this from him absolves him and puts everything else to rest. As good as he is coming out on this and standing up for gay marriage-- there's a lot of crap he did beforehand and this almost feel like community service for the past bad deeds he's done.

In any case-- Avery comes out looking good; Reynolds comes out looking bad-- as does Uptown Sports Management. Yet, in the end-- it's all a matter of opinion, it's all a matter of viewpoint, and regardless of which way you look at it, the other side shouldn't be lambasted if they think differently.

Bubble Hockey Reality

All puck-heads, arcade nerds, and barflys know the joys of the Super Chexx bubble hockey table and the fantasticness the game can bring, as well as the rivalries it creates amongst friends and foes alike. It's great times, for sure.

Yet, in the dog-days of summer, it goes me wondering if the bubble hockey players were real, which NHL player would they most represent in their game. I mean, you have to have drunkenly or stupidly thought about it at one point in time when you're hanging around the bubble with your buddies. Just yelling out random player names each time you score to mock out your own team or your buddy's team. I just confused you more, I'm sure-- but I hope to gather you back into this whole discussion by the end of it. Hopefully they'll all be positionally correct, but you'll have some that's a little out of place positionally, but personality wise (as much as you can be with inanimate objects) they should be dead on.

Right Wing: The right wing is a unique player. You see, the right wing is the player with the longest stick (wocka) out on the rink. For some reason, he was given the luxury of having the long stick so he could play keep-away in his own end from the defender and be one of the only players to really be able to go into the other zone and steal the puck away from the opposing team. For that, Martin St. Louis is the guy to represent the right winger. It's truthful too, because it's been chronicled for years that the small St. Louis uses an absurdly long twig and always has. Plus, St. Louis is a master at control with the puck and usually likes to dish from the corners, which more of the wingers in the game does.

Center: What an annoying punk-ass this guy is. Let's be honest, the center is the guy people hate playing against, but love to go-to on their side. If the center gets the puck alone, he's got the perfect shot because neither defensemen can get to him and he can just wait all-day and stall the hell out of the goalie, making you insane with anticipation for him to get it over with. That's where the mistake is made and the center just taps it in, making it look easy and making the opposition tear their hair out. Perfect Sean Avery or Tomas Holmstrom (though he's a left winger) type player. They'll just annoy the hell out of you, but they get results at the end of the day. Plus, if you can find a table that's very used, the center can get in there and use his stick to stop the goalie's movement.

Left Wing: I'd say that this guy is the precision guy. He has the ability to be a sneaky scorer and do it time and time again. He's got the average stick-length, unlike the right winger, and can get around to snap one from the hash marks and below at an angle the goalie can't cover up to. It reminds you of that of the Russian snipers like Alex Ovechkin or Ilya Kovalchuk who can score at will and score at angles no one thought they could score from. However, unlike the right winger who would have an awkward time passing the puck with the long stick, the left wing can stop midway down the boards and make a solid centering pass for the center like Slava Kozlov, Ray Whitney, or Daniel Sedin to make that play. Very versatile player.

Defense: Now, unlike the NHL where defensemen are stepping up like it's going out of style, the bubble style of hockey only allows the defense to go to the red line. This way, they have to be responsible in their own zone. That said, if you have a defenseman who likes to step-up, they can score wildly from the red line, which is really a motto I've lived by when playing. With that in mind, you can liken it to a sort of Zdeno Chara or Nicklas Lidstrom player who is great in his own zone and pitch-in offensively. For the more reserved type, they can be compared to that of Mike Mottau, Rob Scuderi, or Willie Mitchell, cutting off the centering pass and getting it out of the zone. Just hope they don't end up like Scott Hannan, Derian Hatcher, or Brendan Witt player who gets scored on at will and blown by like they were standing still.

Goalie: The style of goalie is not that of the Super Chexx game, as it was when it first debuted. Nowadays, the goalies are always out cutting down the angles, playing the puck, not being tethered to their net (though some of them should), so there's not many guys you can compare the goalies in the game to. Maybe someone like Evgeni Nabokov, who plays a bit more of a stand-up game and doesn't wander as much as some others could do. In the past, you could compare the goalie to Sean Burke or Kirk McLean style that stood there and absorbed pucks.

The Fans: The bubble hockey game was unique in terms of the fact that not only did you have the crowd around you from the people at the bar or your clique there to cheer you on, but you had a magical button in which you have a virtual crowd booing at will. That's right, the always fantastic "Boo Button" is one of the greatest things to come out of the bubble hockey game since the pop-up face-off. With the boos, it makes me think of the fans in specificially Montreal, Toronto, Philadelphia or New York to boo all over the player-- the opposing players, their own players, Santa-- anyone out there and that's what you do when you drink-- hit the boo button regardless.

So, that's what's up. The summer delirium continues, awaiting for hockey to begin, thinking about bubble hockey player personas.

Who's The Personality Now??

News broke today that Jeremy Roenick will be announcing his retirement on Thursday, ending a great career of over 500 goals and over 1,200 points. Not only that, he knocks another off the NHL '94 list (it's not so much me as it is Roenick, he's good), as well as leaves as the greatest personality the game has to offer. Always up for a quote, Roenick would never mince words and would often talk without his filter on....if a filter exists.

Roenick commanded respect from others and often was the guy to lighten the mood when needed and be clutch when he needed to be. He was a character guy and would battle to the hilt in any situation at all. He adjusted himself from a high-powered scorer to a grinder later in his career, a transition some players may not be too keen on doing and may not succeed when doing it.

He will no doubt get a TV gig somewhere because he knows how to handle himself on TV and won't have the awkward transition most ex-players have in terms of being comfortable on the set. I wouldn't be surprised to see JR's #27 raised to the rafters of United Center for his great Blackhawks' days and maybe his #97 in Phoenix or Hamilton or wherever the end up for his time in the Coyotes organization. He was a special player, a renaissance player, if you will. He could do his talking on and off the ice and made the game enjoyable to watch and follow. There was never a dull moment with him and will never be a dull moment on every broadcast he's on.

The question now is who will be the personality of the league right now that will be like JR's was.

At first, you have to look to Sean Avery as the guy who will be the personality. He goes on without a filter, he has a swagger like no other, and he's not a half-bad player. However, I don't know if he has the respect that JR had or if the NHL would even want to associate with Avery considering the things he has done. You have to say Avery does command the attention, not always in the good case though.

Then, you look to Alex Ovechkin. He has the flare, he has the excitement there to be the heir-apparent, but his English is what's holding him back to be the quote machine that JR has been. If Ovie can get some zingers in there or start to not be as reserved as he is in terms of saying what's going on in the league-- he could be the guy to slide right in there, but it's not to be.

Coming back in, Ray Emery is a guy who could be a personality within himself. In a town like Philly, a guy who has the swagger he does, draws huge attention to himself, plus isn't afraid to speak his mind; he could be the long shot candidate for this whole thing. Albeit, he's a loose cannon on and off the ice, but it's always seems like he's under the microscope regardless of where he is at.

Maybe it's just me, but I don't see anyone sticking out nowadays in terms of straying from the company line of the league. Especially recently, it seems that the players coming in are cookie-cutter in terms of personality. There's no real brash personality coming into the league. They can play great, they do a lot of their talking on the ice; but it's nothing to exciting once you get them off the ice. They do the cliche bits, but no one is really standing out and maybe that's what's needed nowadays for hockey. Sure, Sean Avery is a great guy to be the next big personality, but so long as he keeps it within the boundries of good taste and waiting for the press to come to him and not the other way around.

While we wait and watch who's going to be the next JR, we will always remember him talking about Patrick Roy getting his jock out of the rafters of United Center (with old school ESPN hotness) and always remember the dancing, dancing, dancing.

We'll miss you, JR-- you were a class act.

Around The Rink 02.16.09

-The Penguins fired Michel Therrien, putting the fate of the Penguins dwindling playoff hopes in the hands of Dan Bylsma. It's something that seemed to be in the works as the divide between players and coach seemed to be expanding as the year went on. Though the injuries didn't help, the team didn't seem to get up for the games they needed to. With the come from behind blow out the Leafs put on the Pens Saturday night just cemented Therrien's fate. Here's hoping for the organization that Bylsma is the right change for the Pens in order to get them into the playoffs.

-I don't care how much people try to sell it, I don't see Mike Green as a Norris candidate right now. Yes, he's the highest scoring defenseman with 50 points, he's a +28 on the year, and is a big threat for the Caps scoring. However, I see Green as more of a fourth forward than a defenseman out there on the ice. Though he may not be considered a defensive liability as some people may want to point out, but when you're on a line with Ovechkin more often than not-- odds are that you won't have to deal with the defensive side of things too much. Unless Green becomes more of a Scott Stevens kind of player through his career (minus the limo incident we don't talk about), I can't really correlate Mike Green and Norris Trophy, because most points does not a good defenseman make.

-So, with Martin Brodeur coming back, the thought of a goalie controversy in New Jersey is almost unfathomable. However, with Scott Clemmensen's hot play, the thought of Brodeur being thrown back in net full time once he returns to the line-up is all but a sure thing. Many believe that the Devils would be fools not to put Brodeur right back into net, because he is Martin Brodeur. Yet, at the same time-- how can you bench a guy like Clemmensen who has held down the fort so well and then throw him to the curb for name appeal rather than ability?? I don't envy Brent Sutter for having to make this kind of decision in order to give the Devils the best chance to win the Cup.

-Hey, Sean Avery's back kids. That's right, the troubled forward debuted with the Hartford Wolfpack last night. Aside from a little skirmish during the game, didn't seem like Avery mattered too much at all. He also said that during the get-togethers he held back and didn't say anything "Old Sean" would have. Great, he's talking about himself in third person, past tense. Over under three weeks on when Avery goes back to his old self again.

-We're a year away and the 2010 Olympic talk is starting. Brian Burke, the US GM, and Steve Yzerman, the Canadian GM, are heavily under the microscope for this one. On top of that, the Canadians are under pressure to come up with something other than their traditional logo. With the logo debate almost as big of a headline as who Yzerman will pick, there's a lot riding on Team Canada's display in Vancouver and it seems they want to look their best if they feel like they'll play their best.

Avery Is Ready To Return, But Is The NHL Ready??

By all accounts, Sean Avery will be cleared of his sabbatical in the NHL/PA Behavioral Modification Brainwashing Seminar soon, thus will begin his long haul back to the NHL. As Darren Dreger mentioned in his article about this, Avery is still a member of the Stars and it's their decision to find on of their 103 AHL affiliates that will take Avery on their roster once he's ready to play again, send him down there and maybe bring him back on re-entry waivers to hope he gets pluck off there from some team.

It's obvious that the Stars don't want him. They're 16-7-3 without him and they are on the verge of getting in the playoffs after they were written off in November. That alone could show what kind of guy he is, when he leaves the team finally starts to get better and play like they have a purpose in life. That could be a deterant right there.

The big factor in this is whether or not there's an AHL affiliate of the Stars that would be willing to take Avery to give the Stars a chance to get him off their hands. The Manitoba Moose already said they wouldn't be willing to take him onto the roster at all. That leaves five affiliates that may or may not be willing to expose their young players to a personality like Avery's. This is one of the big reasons why NHL teams need to have a primary affiliate so that, not only do the players who are on the bubble of the main roster and AHL rosters know where they're going all the time, but also that if you have a troubled player-- you tuck him down there to straighten him out.

Albeit, it's hard to judge Avery, not knowing what this program has done for him-- whether it has either changed him for the better or if he remains to be the same old Avery with more reasons to be pissed off because the doctors and workers there are idiots. So, the questions remains-- is there a NHL team out there who would take him off the Stars' hands??

Some people have speculated that the Rangers would be the top pick since Tom Renney was able to control him somewhat last season and because it was New York and he would have a lot of things to do there to keep him occupied. However, this late into the season, the chemistry is already set in stone and some teams will be more than hesistant to put someone like Avery, who has a checkered past to put it nicely, on their team-- no matter what the reward could be from the risk that is taken. Sure, it's unfair to an extent, but until Avery shows that he has actually changed for the better, there's going to be little interest in wanting to take him onto the roster. Though that make the circle vicious since he can't show people he has changed if no one wants to put him on a roster, AHL or otherwise. So that again puts Avery at a disadvantage of that.

It'll be a very slippery slope for Avery to climb up to get back to the limelight of the NHL and there's going to be an added obstacle with everyone having his eyes on him looking for one more imperfection to give them reason to not take him onto their roster. I personally think Avery is great at his role as an agitator and instigator, but are other teams going to look past what he's done and see what he's capable of doing, if he in fact has gotten his behavior in check or will the history of him being a nuisance in the lockerroom and in the media make teams very skeptical of how he could actually benefit the team in the long-run??

Only time will tell....

Avery Fallout-- What's Next??

The hammer fell on Sean Avery, six games worth which is retroactive to Tuesday night-- so technically four games the rest of the time. On top of that, Avery will get anger management so the next tirade he goes on doesn't sound like Andrew Dice Clay in his prime or Michael "Kramer" Richards at the LA Improv.

So, that's that, right?? We're done with this, huh??

Not so much, because the big thing now is what's going to happen with his status with the Dallas Stars. Are the Stars going to pile-on some more games on top of it to prove a point?? Coach Dave Tippett has already said there's no room for Avery on the club and according to James Duthie, many Stars players are glad to see him gone.

With the writing on the wall in Dallas, is there's a trade avenue for Avery to turn down?? Odds are that he's a toxic commodity that not many teams would take a flier on. While he could be effective on the ice, the circus off the ice could be more than any team could handle, especially this deep into the season. It's one thing to bring in a class guy during the trade deadline to shake up team chemistry, but you may as well just write-off the season if you're interested in Avery.

Please note, that by saying that-- it has officially made the Tampa Bay Lightning interested in Avery to become their 358th forward for the year.

It seems that the Stars are going to be content with eating up Avery's salary for this year and then buy out his last three years in the off-season, that is assuming they want him gone that badly. That, in-turn, would make him a free agent and then others can pass him up for nothing. Then, without the NHL, what are Avery's options?? With the Manitoba Moose, one of the Stars many AHL affiliates for the season while their AHL affiliate gets set up for next year, has stated they don't want Avery under any circumstances.

One has to wonder: if Sean Avery becomes a free agent and doesn't have a gig in the NHL, will there be a minor league team to do the "Veeckian" thing and sign him just to get asses in the seats?? Is there a team in the minors who would risk the sanity of their players, risk the chemistry in the room, and be comfortable with not getting any worse just to get a firestorm of media coverage for signing Avery??

You have to think, if Avery is out in the open looking for a job and there's a team hurting at the gate-- someone will think of the bright idea of bringing him in to get the team name out there and to get some people in the seats. It's not something that you can throw in the garbage, because it's something that very well could possibly happen.

Is Europe an option for Avery?? Will he go over there in order to get the hottest fashion trends, whilst playing hockey for some random team with numbers in the team name and dots over the "o"s?? I doubt he'd go over there and I don't think they would want to expose their players to something like that.

Only time will tell right now, but for the time being we know this: Avery is suspended for four more games, he is currently a member of the Dallas Stars, and many don't want him in their locker room for one reason or another.

And the beat goes on.

The Avery Debacle

First, Let me preface this by saying that as an agitator on the ice, I believe Sean Avery is one of the best out there right now. He has all the tools to be a great player and decent scorer, but yet his mouth is what gets him the attention in the world and not his play on the ice.

Now, onto the comments that got him suspended indefinitely. My thing with what he said is that he needs to keep the personal life out of all of this, especially when he wasn't questioned about the whole thing. It seems that he really has a big bout of jealousy in regards to his ex-girl Elisha Cuthbert, especially since she has been linked to Calgary Flames' defenseman Dion Phaneuf. It wasn't enough people were prepping for the Avery-Jarome Iginla confrontation after Avery called Iginla "boring", then we had this whole thing with Phaneuf brewing.

However, kudos to the NHL for suspending him. Granted, the indefinite side of things is crap, but I think it was only due to the fact that they couldn't have reviewed it and given a solid number in the time they were given. Avery's commentary is not what the NHL needs, and while some would argue that this is Gary Bettman's way of shutting down someone who could draw attention to the league.....but it's not the right attention they would want. Fans are upset that the NHL stopped a possible huge beating of the NHL's most hated player, but that would be more negative attention the league would get and not need.

It's a very telling sign when many of Avery's teammates are SUPPORTING the NHL's decision. They don't seem to like him very much and what happens during the first game he was out?? They go out and win 3-1. Could Avery be the thing that was breaking apart the Stars?? If they go on a huge winning streak with Avery out-- will he be the blame for the early season disaster?? With three years left on his contract at $4M left on each year, it'll be hard to buy him out, but if they get better-- they may have to spend the money to do that.

We'll have to wait and see what the future holds for Avery, but who knows what could have been done had he kept his mouth shut and let his game do the talking for him.

Why The NHL Needs Sean Avery

There was a question posed to me by a friend about what I thought about the whole Sean Avery fiasco that seems to be happening now in the NHL with his antics against Martin Brodeur in the first round of the playoffs. The more and more I think about it, the more and more I think the NHL needs more Sean Avery-esque players in the league. Not many more, but just enough to keep the drama of each game at a high level and makes people more inclined to watch.

Avery is a different type of player. Sure, he's an antagonist, but much more than that-- he can actually play the game. Avery is a scorer, passer, and can draw penalties to give his team a man-advantage, which more often than now-- they'll convert on.

The whole "Avery Rule" is blown out of proportion. It's not like it's a new rule, it's the same old Rule 78 that has been on the books for as far as many people can remember. The NHL just told the refs to actually call it and enforce it. What Avery did was so unorthodox and out of the blue, no one could really know what to do. At that point, you just look on in amazement of what's happening and then just take it in stride.

Avery is the guy who you'd love to have on your team, but hate him when he's playing against your team. He gets under people's skin like no one else and really bugs the hell out of the opposition so much that it often throws a team off their game plan, which opens it up for Avery's squad. Granted, he beaks off more than some people can stomach, but that's what makes Avery who he is.

This is why when the Rangers moved onto the second round-- the main focus was on what the Penguins would do to Avery. Now how they'll contain Gomez and Drury, not how they'll solve Lundqvist-- but what would they do to Avery. It takes all the pressure off the top guys for the Rangers and focuses on what can be done about Avery.

Plus, more people will be watching to see what happens. It has been hyped up and people will be inclined to watch. This is why more players like Avery will be needed. They'll draw attention to the game and allow the drama of "What will happen next" to any game, which will boost ratings, and give more attention to the sport.

Just because he doesn't have the accomplishments of others who beak off as frequently as him, Avery is make out as a villian by fans and media alike. I'm sure he could care less because what he is doing is effective enough to get his teams wins and that's all that is needed for him-- to win the game.

Plus, he dated Elisha Cuthbert, so he's alright in my books.