The Ottawa Senators will be going into Madison Square Garden, "The World's Most Famous Arena" on Saturday afternoon for a tilt with the Rangers, but something important seems to be missing.
And that something is Sean Avery. Banished to Wade Redden's lonely corner of the hockey world in AHL Connecticut (although Keith Richards makes his home in the state - no sightings of him at any Whale games yet, probably because they don't allow smoking).
Everyone has an opinion on Sean Avery. A lot of those opinions are unprintable in your average family newspaper. Yet, the guy is as entertaining as they come, especially if you like mobster movies where Joe Pesci randomly shoots people.
There are a lot of smug smiles around the NHL because John Tortorella won the attention war in Manhattan, but here's a little reminder of what was, what could be, whatever this is.
Has Mike Comrie suddenly become the "Dead Man Walking" of the Ottawa Senators?
Quietly, Comrie has begun to disappear into the lineup, playing marginal minutes on the third line and being fairly invisible on the power play.
Comrie hasn't had a point since March 22 against the Rangers (He got one tonight). That was 8 games ago.
Before that Ranger game, Comrie had gone 5 matches without a point. So that math is now 2 points in his last 13 games. In total he has 7 points in 19 games as a Senator.
Not only is Comrie not making a case for himself to stay near his current 4 million salary, he's making himself an also-ran in the unofficial "Comrie or Neil" sweepstakes.
Bryan Murray may only have the money to sign one of Comrie or Chris Neil and right now, it's a no-brainer. Neil is the guy.
Just take a look at tonight's physical match in Montreal. Neil was noticeable all night long in a game that was as close as the Senators will get to a playoff atmosphere. Comrie was tiptoeing through the tulips.
It's clear that Ryan Shannon has outplayed Comrie and has gained the trust of Cory Clouston. That's why Comrie is treading water on the third line.
Comrie is an excellent player at times and he still has a lot to offer a team like Ottawa, but right now it doesn't look like his head is into it. I'm not saying he's pouting at the minutes he's getting, but he's also not proving Clouston wrong by playing his way back up the charts.
I'd expect Murray to look elsewhere to park Eugene Melnyk's money next season. The feeling is likely mutual.
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Larry Brooks of the NY Post makes a great point about the overblown hullabaloo surrounding Sean Avery's comical Slapshot act with Bruins goalie Tim Thomas:
"Excuse me, but Milan Lucic sticks out his leg and injures a defenseless Nik Antropov by going knee-on-knee midway through the second period on Saturday, and it's Sean Avery who should be suspended for kind of stupidly using his stick to tap Tim Thomas on the back of his helmet during a TV timeout?
The absence of context is the crux of the issue here, just as always. Headhunters such as Chris Pronger and Gary Roberts, who historically injure opponents, are routinely deified, notably by the sanctimonious brigade north of the border, but Avery, who has never hurt anyone but himself, must be banned for the good of the sport? "
To be honest, it's getting a little tiresome listening to the morality brigade trying to kick Avery out of the NHL for even the mildest of incidents.
What Avery did to Thomas was hilarious and solidly in the long NHL tradition of the pest.
The self-righteousness of the punditry when it comes to Avery is getting stale. They complain the game doesn't have enough personalities yet they hammer down every nail that dares to rise up from the grain.
One minute they love Alex Ovechkin and his wild celebrations, the next they want him humiliated for celebrating too hard.
And Brooks is right. The hockey media establishment in Canada thinks they own the game and deem themselves the ultimate arbiters of taste and behaviour. They haven't seen an outrageous personality like Avery before and they don't like it (yet they forget the likes of Eddie Shack and Tiger Williams were almost equal the morons of a guy like Avery. Williams once did the same thing except it was to Scotty Bowman's head when he was on the bench watching the play down the ice. True story. Look it up.).
They try to pin the blame on Avery for the Dallas Star's lost season but in reality, it was not having a healthy Sergei Zubov and Marty Turco playing the worst hockey of his career that led to their downfall.
They've been rid of Avery for a long time now but they completely faded down the stretch on their own.
So save the morality lessons and let the kid goon it up. It's fun to watch.
For those of you who missed Saturday night's Dallas-Boston game (and I'd bet that 95% of you did...who would watch that on a Saturday night?), these two lengthy clips distill the best moments of what turned into an absolute gong-show of epic proportions.
Steve Ott and Sean Avery were running around like nutjobs and the Boston Bruins not only stood up to the Stars, they embarrassed them with some old time Boston hockey. I don't care what team you root for, you can't help but cheer the Big Bad Bruins as these clips unfold.
You probably don't have the 20 minutes to watch these but if you do, it is worth it.
Ott, who was much worse than Avery if you can believe it, probably was the main inspiration for Mike Modano's now already famous two day quote when he said, “It was one of the most embarrassing things I’ve seen. If that’s what we’re going for, then they need to find me an office job.'’
Even Marty Turco got in on the act, elbowing a Boston forward in the jaw right behind his net.
I've just made a decision to watch both of these teams a lot more this season on Centre Ice. The Bruins are really coming into their own and the Stars are just too entertaining to pass up.
The city of Dallas already has Terrell Owens making headlines for all the wrong reasons, but now Sean Avery is starting to bring it from the hockey side.
"Word is Avery showed up to the Stars plane the other night in sweatpants and a T-shirt. Players are pretty much required to wear suits on team flights. I’m also told Avery was on the cell phone prior to the game when Stars Head Coach Dave Tippett told him it was time for a team meeting. Avery’s response to his Head Coach was, just a minute. ...
(Brett) Hull is one of the few people in the NHL that really respects this guy and gave him a four year contract worth $15.5 million this past July. It’s been said throughout NHL circles that long time Dallas superstar Mike Modano was very upset with the signing. "
Sean Avery has a broken bone in his right hand and told the New York Post he was "done" for the season before rectifying his remarks after the team talked to him. He claims he may need surgery which is a bad sign for the Rangers. Without Avery, the Rangers never seem to have any spark and that was in evidence last night during a brutal loss to the door-mat Lightning.
More and more, it's beginning to look like the report that Sean Avery made comments concerning Jason Blake's cancer during a mini-brawl on the weekend is completely false. If this is true, then Avery has definitely been slandered unfairly and there should be consequences.
Not one Toronto Maple Leaf has confirmed Avery made the comments and Jason Blake himself claims that he never heard it. Here are some of the relevant quotes:
"I was standing there the whole time," Hollweg said. "I saw everything happen. I made sure I was nearby just in case anything happened.
"We all know who and what Sean is. But the accusations that were made are untrue. I don't even know why Blake was there to begin with because it had nothing to do with him - it was between Tucker and Avery. I saw Blake swing his stick first and then it all happened from there.
"So, if anybody is to blame, I'd say it would be Jason Blake."
"That's not true. That's absolutely not true and the Toronto players confirmed it," Shanahan told reporters yesterday. "The players who would have every reason in the world to accuse Sean of that, they've already confirmed to an outside source that that was never heard?I would sue the guy if I were him."
Gotta hand it to Sean Avery of the New York Rangers. He is building himself up to be one of the most hated players in NHL history, right up there with Claude Lemieux, Esa Tikkanen, Ken "The Rat" Linseman and Darcy "Mother" Tucker.
"He's pissing guys off," Belak said yesterday. "He'll bring harm to himself and not too many guys around the league are going to be sad to see it.
"If he keeps this up, someone is going to kill him. One day he's going to say something the wrong way and he'll be clubbed. "
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Clubbed? Hilarious.
Avery is the most entertaining player in the league on most nights. Scoring is going down again and the trap is back in vogue so sometimes we have to turn to guys like Avery to get any kind of excitement.
And for Belak to be complaining about Avery is a little strange considering that his own teammate, Darcy Tucker, is just as bad. Tucker consistently yaps and dives to the ice in mock agony anytime someone touches him. Avery is essentially just a more effective version of Tucker.
Avery does a questionnaire with the New York Times. This guy is different from your average Canadian farm boy and that's a real good thing in my opinion. The game needs more guys who can string together a sentence that is cliche free.
My favourite part of the interview is when he is asked who his personal hero is. Every hockey player would say immediately "My father/mother". Avery simply says he hasn't found one yet.
The cookie and milkers will find that appalling (Ron Maclean of the CBC will have a coronary) but at least he's not bullshitting anyone.
First Mike Comrie is spotted in Ottawa's Hy's Steakhouse cutting into a medium rare rib-eye with none other than Jack Bauer's daughter Elisha Cuthbert during the Sens run to the Cup finals. Apparently they were just friends as Cuthbert was dating Sean "The Ratfucker" Avery at the time.
Undaunted, Comrie moved down the list of talentless blondes and came up with ... Hilary Duff. Ottawa players have dated celebrities before - Yash with C-lister Carol Alt (check out her acting chops in the made for TV movie Swarmed. Not since Bambi on her first sheet of ice has anyone looked so clueless) , Daigle who pretended to date Pamela Anderson (she couldn't stop laughing when a reporter asked her about the "romance") but ex-Sen Comrie seems to be the man on the move these days.
Too bad Comrie didn't re-sign in Ottawa because then we might have gotten to spot Hilary in the organic section of Hartmans grocery store on Bank Street. Oh, we would have screamed ...
