Avery Does Dallas

Sean Avery got his money. And Ranger fans got the shaft. The popular pest with the amazing won-lost-OT/SO-loss record in his two partial seasons as a Ranger has signed with the Dallas Stars for the four-year, $15.5-million terms that are only a small fraction less than he had been seeking. The Rangers were unwilling to give him quite that much, worried about the potential for wearing out his welcome as he has done in other cities, worried about the series of injuries that cost him significant chunks of last season, and worried about the disappearing acts he pulled off in each of the last two playoffs once they reached the second round.

But the group most depressed about Avery's departure is the media. Gone is the bottomless well of stories that Avery consistently provided -- so much so that Blueshirt Bulletin was able to run a "Sean Avery Show" entry in every issue last season. Gone are the skirmishes during pre-game warm-ups and team practices; gone are the frank remarks about antagonists like Darcy Tucker, Martin Brodeur, and the Canadian press corps; gone are new rules made up on the fly to defuse the Grate One's latest antics; gone are the Page Six sightings all around town of the Rangers' resident fashionista and the Garden sightings of potential paramours like Mary Kate Olson and Barbara Bush.

In Newark, Brodeur can safely remove his hand from his pocket. In New York, fans can only remove their handkerchiefs from their pockets and dab the tears from their eyes. Sean, we heartily knew ya -- at least you're now in the Western Conference!

Comments

[Chris QCT]

Oh well....

That's all I can really say.

[Buck]

There goes our heart and soul.......nice job Glen, way to f@ck up our team

[laura]

very sad.

[Lupo]

Tomorrow's Post sports headline:
Sather makes A-VERY big mistake.

Sub-headline:
Fans set to run Sather out of The Garden.

[Puluche]

Have the honor of being first. To leave it short - Avery will be sorely missed in more ways than one. A big gamble that years from now will only answer if Sather did the right thing. IMO - no he did not. Life goes on...

Hopefully there are trades on the way. Redden filled a need. Rosival, whatever. We have moves to make and they're promising to make them. We'll see if today is better than yesterday. So far, it's not. I for one will miss you Avery.

[roc]

Ok enough is enough no Hossa and no Sundin. Sign Jagr. Sign Jagr. Sign Jagr!!!

[jason]

Dubi

Avery also got a partial no movement clause as a part of his deal...

[ThisYearsModel]

Thanks to Sean standing up for his teammates and giving his a (and his spleen)to the Rangers. Perhaps he will be a good fit in Dallas. I will enjoy seeing him up in Pronger' grill. That sould be fun. As for the Rangers......they had clearly written him off as soon as they signed Voros. Next situation......Jagr.

[iceycup]

this was how it went down in my head....

1. Damnit!

2. Thank God hes out West...

Good luck to Sean Avery. He was a great Ranger.

[cwgatti]

I love Avery. He put the Rangers back on the map. But $4 million a year? If you had to pay that for Avery or Orpik, who would you really pick? If you wanna blame anyone for Avery going elsewhere, blame the CBA and Gary Bettman. The GM's have not changed their habits a bit...

[Puluche]

So much for being first - just wanted to say I love the headline LUPO. Don't like the content but dead on and funny. And we know it'll be a blurb and not a headline.

[stillz]

I only have two things to say...

1. Avery you are a selfish b@stard
2. Glen your a straight up piece of s#it

[captjameson]

Avery is replacable but the W/L record with him in the lineup doesnt lie. maybe go for matt cooke for sand paper and huselius for scoring. 2 for a little more than the price of avery.

[cwgatti]

Cliche's entire career will not amount to Avery's 2 years in MSG. So, the trade shouldn't even be a speck of dust on your rear view mirror.

[cwede]

cheez-whiz, quitcha bitchin'.
He was an entertaining player, he made some contributions, but there were issues to.
I certainly don't think the fans 'got the shaft' just cuz they didn't get what they wanted.
I wish he had stayed, but he CHOSE to go.

[Chris]

I think dallas got the shaft overpaying him.

You don't speak for all Ranger fans blueshirtbulletin. I feel relieved.

[roc]

Good Luck Sean in Dallas thanks for everything.

He is not worth 4 million a year. Watch him get hurt next year. Like Nylander did

[scinoc]

Cwede -- Amen. The Rangers have calculated that he wasn't worth the money, and years. Only time will tell if this is the right course. For the time being, let's move on.

[Puluche]

Cwgatti - good question. My answer is Avery and Orpik, as opposed to Rosival and Voros. Who would you rather have now?

[Orts41]

Dubi, Jess - Any word on the Rangers still in the running for Brooks Orpik or are they done in terms of signing defensemen? I think Orpik would round out the defense nicely with:

Staal-Redden
Tyutin-Girardi
Roszival-ORPIK

Also, we don't have a lot of options up front, but I would try to sign Naslund to play wing on Gomez' line.

[paulinflorida]

Something big better happen....this team is looking like swiss cheese right now. This was one of the fears heading into the off-season....coming out mediocre....and looking toward the '09-'10 season. The Avery interviews after his signing should be good... he called Marty 'fatso', what will he call Sather??

[Beamer]

He needed us more than we needed him.

Adios, Sean. Some of us are sad to see you go. I'm not one of them. You were a douchebag and a jackass and I'm a bit ashamed that you wore our colors. Maybe if you had shown up against Buffalo two seasons ago or Pittsburgh last season I would have been able to overlook it all, but you were a douchebag and a prima donna first, a hockey player second, and while those things can work together it can't be in that order.

[rangerbill94]

Just mixed emotions for me. I like stats, I think they tell a story and it's hard to question what Avery was worth to us based on the W/L record. But there is also the intangibles: how many penalties did he draw and we never got the call? How many times was he called when there was NO PENALTY? What impact did the leagues "bad boy" have on our march through the playoffs? When he was playing his game and keeping his trap shut, he was a positive factor on the team. Do we need a replacement, not sure. That will depend on the youngsters and how they perform. He got a real shot at "being a hockey player" here, let's see what dallas does with him.

[kwill]

no biggie, sather made the right decision letting him walk. He still needs to sign a first line wing. There is no room in the books for a 3rd line winger and a first line player on this team anymore.

Voros was a fan favorite in Minnesota and I am sure he will be the same here. Avery took just as many penalties as he created and didnt help the rangers image in the NHL's eyes which i'm sure was apart of the conspiracy to not give the rangers 1 call in the second round.

It was also time to bring in a big guy whole could skate and throw his body around. Avery threw his body around but wasn't all that big. Without a first line winger, jagr or whoever coming in this team won't go very far unless they get a huge output from gomez and drury and the young guns. Bringing back avery would have done nothing for this team. maybe an 8 seed at best with Avery and no first liner.

[the poster formerly known as John]

I don't blame Glen Sather, and I think he will be vindicated in the long term for this decision. I was always uneasy about having Sean Avery on "my" team, even though the record with him in the lineup spoke for itself. Despite that, he is NOT worth almost $4M. Bye bye, Avery.

[cwede]

sorry Orr I don't think this was exactly about the money. For less NHL $$'s, he'd make more overall in NYC; it was his competitive/pride that led him to prefer the size of the NHL contract instead (1) the garden crowd treating him like a hall-of-famer (2) his fashion industry interest (3) Page 6 and the paparazzi (4) endorsements. Avery was as self-defeating as some post-ers are saying Sather was...

[Puluche]

Beamer - you're obviously not a Ranger fan and lack hockey knowledge and posting etiquette as well. Why don't you go get ready for summer school...

[Greg L.]

Avery was here not a long time , his personality and grit will be sorely missed...He is now into Vogue ? He did play some games all a fire and was racing around hitting and scoring. Some games he was just out there , some games he was hurt . I think Vogue has tied a scarf too tight around Averys head !!

I say if the finger painted , premadonna ,big mouth for a short guy, basket ball blocking moron wants to go ...show him the door !! I'm pissed and at one time this team was the walking dead , with only avery here to wake us up and take some pressure off Jagr. He talked about loving NY , really he loved $$$

. Big deal losing him because all he would have done this season is break a nail and sit on the IR for months. Thank god hes gone , who wants that fickin homo anyways!!?? (Brodeur is doing cartwheels in his living room at this moment!!) sighhh.

[prescott]

This will be a "Big Yellow Taxi" day for Sean. Maybe for the Rangers, too. ['don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you got, til it's gone']

[Joe (perplexed and breathing heavily) in DE]

As much as hockey is just a wonderful game, it is a business. And for these guys, it is their job. It's easy to say that 600K isn't a lot of money to these guys, but I bet it is. I'm sure most, if not all, of these guys come from backgrounds where 600K could buy you a real nice house, or 2. Add that up every year...it's a lot of money.

Avery was a great Ranger and I think he will be missed sorely. Yes, his stats can be replaced. But the spark he brought to the team I don't think can be. I don't think any Ranger had a harder work ethic. I only wish him well, he's earned a fan for life. Now I need to buy a Stars jersey.

I just hope this doesn't come back to bite us

[ThisYearsModel]

Avery will soon be forgotten if Voros comes to play. What of all of Avery's pronouncements about playing in NY, origial six, NYC perfect for him, etc.? Not as important as the benjamins. Hope he enjoys Dallas. Glad he did not end up in NJ, PHL or NYI.

[cwgatti]

Who is Brian Fahey?

[Lupo]

Bottom line: we all loved Avery not because he was a great player, but becasue as New Yorkers we could identify with him the most. He's tough, rude, abrasive, took no crap from anyone and always stuck up for his friends and his team. If that isn't the description of a New Yorker, I don't know what is.

[RobZ]

The question now is who the hell is Brian Fahey?

Wow We need a scorer, If we dont get one I hope SAther sits on a cigar.

Dubi what you hearing? If anything.

[chris]

So who is scoring for this team by the way???

[Jeff]

Extremely dumb move on Sather's part. The record with Avery in the lineup speaks for itself. The Rangers are thin on wingers as it is and they let Avery walk. SO STUPID!!! KYS Sather!!

I loved Avery and the intensity and guile he brought to the Rangers. Hopefully someone else can fill that role. Good luck Sean, you will be missed!!

I also am wondering what Dallas was thinking with this move. They have good depth at wing and already have Steve Ott. Ott is a bigger, Western Conference version of Avery. Not sure why they need both players unless they are shopping Ott. Maybe the Rangers can grab Ott to replace Avery...

[Chris QCT]

4 years is way too long anyway....

...and if there was even a hint of a no-movement clause, then it was a GREAT MOVE BY SATHER in not signing him.

[RobZ]

Orr, wheres Korpi, Moore, Byers and possibly Anisimov on your depth chart?

This sucks!

[stillz]

just got news boys that the rangers signed Mike Commodore... i dont know if thats good or bad so....yea

[rangerbill94]

Orr

"Now we don't have any scoring." You know, so many people are turning on the gas because Avery is gone. Well, let me remind you of last year at this time. We signed Gomez and Drury and everybody said scoring won't be a problem, but the defense is just awful. Well, it just didn't turn out that way, did it? So lets just chill out and see what kind of product we put on the ice and what kind of chemistry developes. Avery was not part of the PK or PP. So far it looks like we may have helped the PP. We have improved the blueline. The issue of Jagr is still outstanding, so we need to see where that goes.

[RobZ]

I thought Columbus signed Commodore yesterday.......lol

OOO MAN I can see it JJ is going to Pitt and Shanny to the Devils...UNREAL!

[roc]

Commodore signed with the Blue Jackets

BRIAN Fahey is a 27 year old journeyman defenseman that has never played in the NHL. He is take Hutch's spot in Hartford I guess!!

[Joe in DE]

Greg L., I couldn't disagree more. Avery a homo? The dude played a whole game with a lacerated spleen. That's HARDCORE. OK, he had wrist surgery. He took his time, healed up, and when he returned he was more productive than before. Would you rather him play hurt like Rozsival or rush back from an injury not fully healed like Shanny and be slow and unproductive for the rest of the season? I don't understand why Avery is branded as damaged goods. Rozy just had hip surgery and we threw money at him.

At 5'10", 195lbs, Avery was probably one of the strongest guys on the team. Even Gomez had commented on it. His conditioning was sick

[Ros]

i waana cry about Avery leaving for under 4 mill. damn it!

[stillz]

okkkkk...calm downnn.. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/hockey/nhl/06/26/free.agents/index.html
that website if u go to senators where it says Lost: Mike Commodore (Rangers)

i guess it was a mistake chillllllll

[roc]

The rangers did not qualify alot of guys. It looks like they need to fill out the Wolf pack Roster too. I know Glen has something up his sleeve. No signings in an hour. Whats going on?

[Cletus]

THANK GOD Avery is gone. The most overrated player in recent New York Rangers history. I’ve never heard so many people clamor for a 15 goal-scoring 3rd liner in my lifetime. The cult of personality surrounding this guy was nauseating. If you want attitude and outlandishness so badly, watch the WWE. As far as hockey goes, his $16 million will be far better spent elsewhere. I guarantee you he won’t finish this contract with Dallas before he’s traded, waived or just quits playing hockey. There’s a reason why he’s been on four teams in such a short time.

[tares]

Avery is gone and what is the big deal. He is a time bomb.
He got what he wanted, money, and now he wears a cowboy hat.

[Chris]

Avery aside... WHO IS SCORING GOALS FOR THE NEW YORK RANGERS THIS SEASON?????

[rangerbill94]

Hossa signs a ONE YEAR deal with Detroit? What's that all about? There seems to be a deal going for Dan Boyle. Surely the Rangers aren't involved in that? Hainsey would be a good addition. If JJ can't come to terms with the Rangers, Satan may the the next #1 RW for us.