[Note from Nick Montemagno: As I reported on Tuesday, the New York Rangers notified Sean Avery that he need not attend any further Connecticut Whale (AHL) games or practices as he is now officially off the roster. I refused to write an article of my own on the matter because I feel like I would be repeating the same opinions over and over again - we've discussed the guy plenty of times on here. So, instead, I allowed Mike (the writer of the weekly NHL columns here on the blog) to take this morning's slot and bid Avery his final farewell. Enjoy because this will be the final Sean Avery article you will read on The Rangers Tribune.]
Amid the carnage that was the New York Rangers’ 4-1 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday night, the Rangers organization made a transaction that was not the slightest bit surprising, but nevertheless reverberated across Rangers die-hards, everywhere. The Sean Avery era on Broadway is officially over. If there was even the faintest shred of a possibility that Avery would ever return as a member of the Rangers, the organization squashed it.
If you were so focused on what was one of the most lackluster performances of the season by the Rangers that you missed the news, Sean Avery is not only no longer a member of the Rangers, he is no longer a member of the Connecticut Whale. He is out of the organization entirely. Avery was informed on Tuesday that not only would he not be on the playoff roster for the Whale, but he should not attend team practices or even enter the team’s practice facility. Essentially, Avery was told that his services for the organization are no longer required, and that he can stay home, collect the remainder of his $15.5 million contract, and hit open free agency in July.
Say what you want about Sean Avery, but at the end of the day, it is hard to dispute that he was one of the most polarizing players in the history of the Rangers organization, particularly when considering his role was rarely greater than that of a third-or-fourth line forward. Avery supporters pointed to his passion, intensity, ability to get into the heads of opponents, and penchant for playing well in big games as reasons why he should be a Ranger. Detractors will point to his mindless penalties, frequent off-sides, lack of point production, and lightning rod persona as reasons why his departure is a good thing for the team. No matter where your place on the Sean Avery fan spectrum lies, there is almost certainty that you have a strong opinion of Avery … which is what makes this situation so unique. Sean Avery had a role for the New York Rangers, and he was effective in his role. The New York Rangers have let effective players go before. But never has an effective player brought with him the kind of attention that Avery did.
My take on Avery was that I was part of the Team Avery camp based on what I saw on the ice. Actually, I probably could have been President of the Avery Fan Club. I watch almost every Rangers game, and what I saw night in and night out was a player who was the perfect fit for this team. Under Tom Renney, Avery flourished by occupying a role that no other Ranger had. The Rangers were talented under Renney, but did not play with much of an aggressive edge, a dynamic that hurt the team, particularly against more physical and tougher opponents. That is, until Avery came along. During the 2006-07 season, Avery was just phenomenal down the stretch to help lead the Rangers to the playoffs, and a year later, had the guts to finish a playoff game against the Penguins despite playing with a ruptured spleen … a medical condition that would render most mortal humans unable to play hockey since they would be too consumed by screaming and crying to skate.
There was also the so-called ‘Sean Avery Rule,’ Martin Brodeur’s refusal to shake his hand at the end of a playoff series, and countless other moments to make Avery a Madison Square Garden favorite. For a player who was not an all-star, the number of Avery t-shirts and jerseys worn at Ranger games was just stunning. When he left for Dallas as a free agent at the end of the 2007-2008 season, many were left to question why the Rangers would let him go.
As stunning as Avery’s departure was, so was his return. Amid a suspension and pretty much a banishing from the Stars barely three months into his career in Dallas, the hockey Gods found a way to bring Avery back to New York, this time to play for John Tortorella. The move was necessary considering the way the team was playing at the time, but surprising nonetheless because Tortorella was publicly not an Avery fan.
Remember Tortorella’s quotes as a broadcaster for TSN before becoming Head Coach of the Rangers? “He’s embarrassed himself, he’s embarrassed the organization, he’s embarrassed the league and he’s embarrassed his teammates, who have to look out for him. Send him home. He doesn’t belong in the league.” Tortorella also used some more coarse language to describe Avery. Pretty remarkable for a coach who would oversee Avery’s return to the very club he was coaching. And also quite insightful considering the Avery-Tortorella dynamic once he returned to the Rangers.
Clearly, Avery never warmed up to Tortorella and vice versa, but even a tenuous player-coach relationship did not stop Avery from having some highlights for this team. Last season, when it seemed that nobody could emerge as the third forward on Marian Gaborik’s line as Gaborik struggled most of the season to find his scoring touch, Avery had opportunities to play on the top line, and became one of the Rangers top feeders, finishing with 21 assists despite limited playing time overall. During the playoffs, the Avery/Brandon Prust/Brian Boyle line was arguably the Rangers most effective forward unit.
However, it is crystal clear that Sean Avery was never the same player under John Tortorella that he was under Tom Renney. Sure, Torts claimed publicly that Avery was not held on a leash or curtailed in any way, but just by watching, you could tell that something changed. Avery still had an edge to his game, but the fire was not burning quite as brightly. Something held Avery back from being the player he was before leaving for Dallas, and ultimately – for better or for worse – Avery’s declining effectiveness has to be traced back to John Tortorella. Remember Tortorella’s comments when Avery was first waived in October? He practically slammed the door in Avery’s face on the way out. While Tortorella never said he disliked Avery, he certainly made it clear that there was no room for #16 on the Rangers bench.
What baffles me the most here is that if you look at the Rangers style, and their ticket to success under Tortorella, it is hard to imagine a more perfect fit on this team than Sean Avery. The Rangers are a system team – get the puck, get it deep, win the puck along the boards, wear down opponents, and create opportunities based on grit and determination. The Rangers’ system is based on determination and sacrifice. They have been called the ‘black and blueshirts’ by many in the media, where success is based on will above skill. Is there a player who personifies this more than Avery?
For a player who is not even six-feet tall, and went undrafted out of junior hockey, Avery was as blue collar of a Ranger as one could be on the ice. He was a physical presence despite average size, and skated unbelievably on every shift. Sure, his hard-skating would have the occasional wobbles and slips, as he certainly wasn’t the smoothest player on the ice, but his ability to chase the puck with reckless abandon cannot be questioned, and his overwhelming desire to stand up for his teammates was perhaps his greatest trait. From the standpoint of the ability to execute within a system, Sean Avery was – in many ways – the perfect Ranger … on the ice. His physical attributes were ideal for this team’s system, and it is a fact that he elevated the overall play of this team. Whether or not Tortorella wants to admit it, there were absolutely times when Avery was sent on the ice purely to provide a spark. Let’s face it, on Tuesday night, with the Rangers playing utterly lackluster hockey in New Jersey, is there any doubt that Avery would have seen regular shifts purely for purposes of a spark?
However, let’s remember one thing here. Everything positive written above about Sean Avery was based solely regarding what was seen on the ice. I never once met Sean Avery off of the ice. I never observed him in the locker-room or behind the scenes. I never had the chance to really find out how Avery interacted with his teammates when it mattered the most for chemistry – away from the arena.
What I do know is simple: For the third time in his career, and second time as a Ranger, Sean Avery found a way to be jettisoned from a franchise. When he left New York via free agency in 2008, it was widely reported that the Rangers made no effort to sign him. He lasted 23 games in Dallas before the Stars were so desperate to see him go, they kept half of the salary of his enormous contract on their books in order to allow him to play someplace else. And now, whatever happened in Hartford, a player with nearly 600 games of NHL experience and dozens of playoff games under his belt became so impossible to work with that, despite being perfectly healthy, he was told to stay completely away from the team for their playoff run. This is an AHL team we’re talking about … a team that could seriously benefit from Avery’s decade of NHL experience … and they told him to stay away under no uncertain terms.
Say what you want about Avery, but when somebody is told to go away once, perhaps it was a misunderstanding. But when it becomes three times, we’re talking about a pattern. There is something about Sean Avery that makes teams not want him. Despite an impressive skill-set, there is a trait about this man that suggests that his presence is more risk than reward. On the ice, Avery is still the kind of player the Rangers need, but away from the games, there is something about him that seems to hurt teams. It is one thing to be benched, and even banished to the press box, but to be told for a third time to either stay home or to seek employment elsewhere is a bold statement … particularly when the statement came from an AHL affiliate where Avery should have been one of the best players on the team.
Detractors will say that Avery was forced into a position where he acted out in some fashion to lead to this decision by the Whale. The Rangers had the chance to place Avery on re-entry waivers before the recent trade deadline, and make him available for claim by another NHL franchise, but chose not to in order to keep the remainder of Avery’s salary off of the salary cap. It has been reported that the decision to essentially disallow Avery one more crack at the NHL this season led to a series of disciplinary issues that resulted in Avery’s ultimate expulsion from the franchise.
And if that is your feeling on the matter – essentially that Avery was forced to misbehave in order to be heard – you basically prove the point that Sean Avery has no business on this Rangers team. Avery was mistreated by the Rangers, particularly Tortorella. Tortorella could not have handled Avery’s first time being waived any worse than he did, and his statement was a slap in the collective faces of Avery, and the fans who wholeheartedly supported him. Rangers General Manager Glen Sather then chose to not allow Avery to hit re-entry waivers in order to preserve salary cap space, but then chose to not make any moves at the trade deadline to require the remaining cap room for the Rangers this year, inaction that likely infuriated Avery. It is human nature to think that Avery would have been livid at the way the trade deadline unfolded.
However, part of being a professional anywhere, particularly a professional athlete, is understanding that there will be moments of personal adversity, and that great athletes use these moment to become triumphant. Less than 24 hours after Sean Avery’s tenure in the Rangers organization officially ended, another professional athlete suffered a similarfate. Despite great history with an organization, and tons of leverage to stay with the organization, he was let go … and he handled the decision with one of the classiest, most graceful, and professional press conferences in sports history.
That man’s name is Peyton Manning, and whether or not Manning returns to form with a new franchise, his presence as a professional is going to be highly sought after as a free agent. Sean Avery was never a Peyton Manning on ice skates, but he had the same opportunity to be a professional when faced with adversity. Instead of being a leader and mentor to a young AHL team during what will be the first professional post-season run for many of the team members, instead of proving his worth as a veteran presence on a roster to a future NHL employer, Sean Avery – if the reports are true – elected to focus on one singular item … himself. If these reports are indeed true, and Avery turned adversity into a temper tantrum despite being paid the entirety of his $15.5 million contract, the decision made by Glen Sather and his staff was the right one despite Avery having a skill-set the Rangers could use for a deep post-season run.
Ultimately, this situation is a continuation of what was discussed in last week’s ‘This Week in Hockey’ column regarding Glen Sather. The General Manager is the toughest position in sports. At all times, decisions have to be made in the best interest of the organization, regardless of how outsiders feel. I would tend to think there are more Sean Avery lovers than haters among Rangers fans, but how many of us truly know what happened away from the arena and behind the scenes? Was Sean Avery a great player for this particular system on this particular team? Absolutely. However, based on the pattern that Avery carved out for himself, would keeping Avery on Broadway come at a steep and non-financial cost? I am now almost certain that the answer is yes. In this case, Glen Sather made a series of decisions regarding Sean Avery that may not be popular, and may not be completely understood, but if one is truly out after three strikes, allowing Sean Avery to leave permanently is the right move for the New York Rangers organization … and this comes from one of his biggest fans.
The Sean Avery era for the New York Rangers is over, and the Rangers are moving towards the home stretch of the season and the playoffs without one of their most rugged playoff performers in recent memory. But, they have a locker-room that is truly united – something that is perhaps more important than a rugged veteran in the line-up. Don’t worry, Rangers fans, we will soon see Sean Avery again. If he is true to form, he will be back in the NHL, and he will play in Madison Square Garden. And, knowing Sean Avery as we got to know him during the last five years, it will be while playing for a fierce New York Rangers rival. He will get under our collective skin, and find a way to infuriate us. However, if he does so while playing under a brand-new New York Rangers Stanley Cup Championship banner, we will all be able to say that the end of this era only meant the beginning of brighter lights on Broadway.
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