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.