Photo: Avery Fans Make Voices Heard At MSG Opener With Banner/Chants

Sean Avery supporters have certainly voiced their displeasure with the decision of the New York Rangers, specifically coach John Tortorella, to send Avery down to the Connecticut Whale during training camp.  During the home opener at MSG they put that displeasure in the form of a banner reading "16 Avery...Send Torts to the Whale."

The banner was taken down during the first period, but with the Rangers trailing 3-1 during the third period the crowd began "We Want Avery" chants.

Photo via @DaveLozo

Video: Wayne Simmonds Uses Homophobic Slur At Sean Avery

Just a few days ago Philadelphia Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds was the victim of racial taunting when a fan threw a banana at the African American forward as he took his shootout attempt.  One would think having just gone through that he would know better, but tonight during the first period against the New York Rangers Simmonds clearly appears to use a homophobic slur towards Sean Avery.

Video via @TwoLinePass

Rangers Should Promote Avery to Play With Gaborik Permanently

This season has seen a lot of players for the New York Rangers accept their roles and thrive in them.  There has been no Ranger who has accepted his role, whatever it might be better than Sean Avery.  There has been no complaining about how no matter what he does on the ice he somehow continually ends up on the fourth line to give other players of more skill opportunities over him.  The interesting thing about it is both last night and possibly against Montreal, there has been no Rangers forward that has played better than Sean Avery. 

I have never been the biggest Avery guy, but this guy is working his tail off this season to do whatever it takes for the betterment of the team.  He has played the skill game when he has been asked.  He has played the agitator when asked to do that.  He has fought when he felt the need was there.  Instead of basically patting Sean on the head in the press for what he has done, it is time that coach John Tortorella put his lineup where his mouth is and move Avery up the lineup.  The man has more than earned it.

There is no player on the club who has had better chemistry this season with Marian Gaborik than Avery and yet at every turn, with every new or returning player to the lineup, Avery is moved away from Gaborik to try and use that person in the spot.  I am not saying Avery is a top line player because on pure skill he is not.  However, I am saying that Avery has been the best partner for the player they cannot seem to get going consistently and it is time to reward him for that fact as well as his other contributions to the team.  When you are constantly tinkering with lines because you are failing to have Gaborik find chemistry, it is time to keep it simple and put him with those whom he has had it with this year, and Avery tops the list.

Until such time as Avery forgets to play disciplined hockey and loses his focus there is absolutely no reason to separate him from Marian Gaborik.  Think of the two of them in the same fashion that you do Boyle and Prust and work on combinations from that point forward.

Later I will examine which center should work between these two.

Sean Avery Strips Down For Skin Cancer Campaign (Photo)

It is no secret to fans of the New York Rangers that Sean Avery is a fan the fashion world.  Avery has pursued multiple opportunities in that world from interning at Vogue to presenting a clothing line with Commonwealth Utilities during fashion week in New York City.  This foray into the fashion world has Avery is a different one for Sean.  This time Avery is lending his face, and maybe more importantly his bare body, to Marc Jacobs Marc Jacobs "Protect The Skin You're In" campaign.

The purpose of the campaign, regardless of whether one likes or dislikes Sean Avery, is an important one in that it seeks to raise awareness and funds for research to fight the deadly disease of Skin Cancer.

From the campaign's official Facebook page:

Marc Jacobs has reissued color versions of some of the most popular "Protect the skin you're in" celebrity nude T-shirts as part of an ongoing campaign to raise awareness about the deadly skin cancer and benefit melanoma research at the NYU Cancer Institute at NYU Langone Medical Center. The campaign, which features more than a dozen celebrities baring all for skin cancer, has already raised over $1 million for the NYU School of Medicine's Interdisciplinary Melanoma Cooperative Group (IMCG).

I am sure that being a part of this will lead to many different digs at Avery from those who do not like him, but that is part of what endears Avery to his fans.  Reality is the cause is a worthy one and if Sean Avery can use his body, his image or anything else to raise money for it, then all the power to him in doing so.

Stick salute to Puck Daddy 

Video: Avery Drops Carle During Rangers Flyers Fracas

With the Rangers down 3-0 to the Flyers and getting little going in terms of momentum in the game a fight was bound to happen. Originally the play started with just Brandon Prust and Darroll Powe, but then Scott Walker and Kris Newbury got involved and eventually it was all ten skaters that were on the ice at the time.

The funniest part of the whole thing was when Brandon Dubinsky tried to mount Jody Shelley, but thankfully for Dubinsky's healthy Shelley refrained from destroying him.

In the main fight that come out Sean Avery dropped Matt Carle, a non-fighter, with a right hand which showed why Rangers fans love him. In that same moment after he dropped him he showed why fans of other teams hate him as he kept punching Carle after he went down. Where you come down on that likely depends on which team you cheer for because it will either be if you get destroyed in a fight then you deserve it or Avery is dirty scum for doing it. Personally I hate that so many in the league do it at all as I do not see any honor in it, and find what Avery did to be BS regardless of the fact that others do it, but that's me.

There is also the issue of Avery taking on Carle who as I said is a non-fighter and that breaking the code of fighters in the NHL and I agree that should not happen much the way that Carcillo should have laid off Gaborik last season.

Interestingly enough the two that started the whole thing did not throw a punch or end up in the penalty box.

Sean Avery Needs To Be Unleashed

Chris McGrath/Getty Images

So far this season John Tortorella has pushed a lot of the right buttons this season and is certainly up there for coach of the year with the job he has done with this New York Rangers club.  One button he refuses to seem to consistently push however is the one player on the Rangers team that can push the other team’s buttons; Sean Avery.  While the Rangers were getting Avery’d by Subban there was Avery playing his three minutes per period as if the world would crumble if he got more time.  With each shift that Avery had even when the team was asleep at the wheel he made an impact and yet he still ended the night with a measly 9:46 of ice time.  Only Kris Newbury less ice than Avery last night and he was far from the second worst forward the Rangers had in the game for that to be warranted.  Subban said before yesterday's game when asked if he was an agitator, "I'm not Sean Avery."  Whether he is or he is not the Rangers need more of Sean Avery.

I understand that with every shift you send Avery on the ice there is the risk he could explode and hurt the team with a bad penalty, but there were plenty of those going around last night and Avery was one of the few who were helping when he was out there.  To continually short change Avery for fear of what he might do or to rein him in to prevent those things is counterproductive to the larger picture of what Avery can bring to this club.  If Avery goes out and does something wrong, then by all means punish him to the fullest extent that you can, but Avery has done nothing to hurt this team this season.

The reality is that Avery has been a great soldier for the team in not making noise with his consistent demotions, especially the one this week when he was demoted by the trade for Wojtek Wolski.  Avery had just played three excellent games with Gaborik and Anisimov and yet without a second thought he was immediately back on the fourth line toiling away with Drury.  The skill of Wolski and Gaborik together is an intriguing proposition, but what we have seen this season is that Gaborik is at his best when he has grit to play with him because he does not want to play the hard game.  A line of Wolski, Stepan, Gaborik has plenty of skill, but does not mesh with this team’s identity and breaks the rhythm of the way the other lines at least attempt to play. 

There will obviously be new lines today because of the performance last night and they might be the same as the ones we saw in the third period last night where the Rangers attempted their comeback.  If so that would see Avery with Boyle and Prust and he can certainly fit right in with those two in the role that Fedotenko has played this season.  What I would rather see is Drury removed from the kids and let Avery play with the skill of Stepan and Zuccarello so they have some toughness and protection on their line

I have never been one of Avery’s biggest supporters because of the antics that he seems to get caught up in more than the hockey side, but for the majority of the year he has been a focused hockey player and has shown his hockey skill and intelligence when given the opportunities to do so.  There is bound to be that moment where he loses focus, but until that happens let him play and stop treating him as if he is guilty until proven innocent.  Avery has produced as he is 10^th on the team in points (16) despite being 14^th on the team among forwards in average ice time.  It is time that Tortorella puts aside whatever his deal is with Avery and just sends him out there go play as he knows how because like it or not Torts saw firsthand last night what happens when a team gets Avery’d.

Rangers Stray From Identity Reveals Depth of Callahan Void; Avery Key To Filling Hole?

AP Photo/Kathy Willens

This season the New York Rangers formed their identity as being a hard team to play against in terms of hitting, forechecking, cycle/puck possession and grinding their opportunities that way.  One of the guys on this club that epitomized that style is assistant captain Ryan Callahan.  When Ryan Callahan was first lost 19 days ago to his broken right hand I said in the aftermath that while other players could step in and fill parts of what he does the whole of Callahan and the hole his absence creates could not be completely filled.  There have been players who have stepped up in his absence: Brandon Dubinsky, Artem Anisimov, Brandon Prust, Brian Boyle, Derek Stepan.  As a team in his absence if you count the Pittsburgh game in which he got hurt the team is a very respectable 4-2-2 overall. 

The problem for me is the way the Rangers go about their business has a much different feel and some of those results have a very hollow ring to them.  Of the four wins they probably deserved to lose the Phoenix and New Jersey games while in both Tampa games Lundqvist managed to steal them points.  Beyond that aspect of it, the process is not the same as this team truly is missing a spark.  Maybe it would be slightly different if Prust were really healthy and could fight or Avery were actually getting involved in the game, but the team seems to lack an overall drive right now.  Individual players that I mentioned above along with Mats Zuccarello who likely would not have come up if Callahan were healthy have played with their fire, but the team energy level is changed.

Video: Tortorella Gets Testy over Sean Avery in Press Conference

The press conference started off pretty cordial and Torts seemed to be in a very good mood talking about how the team played well and then it turned.

Sean Avery Showcasing His Top Line Abilities

A lot has been said and written in and by the press about Sean Avery over the years and most of it was less than flattering about the man Avery is and the way he goes about playing the game.  Last week following the Florida Panthers game I wrote a piece “Welcome Back Sean Avery, We Have Missed You,” in which I talked about how when Sean Avery decides he wants to focus on the hockey side, the skill side of the game instead of the antics side he can be a tremendous player.  I also said that I hoped to see more of that side to come as opposed to the other one.  Last night against the Islanders the forward with top six skills was on display in full force and with that version of Avery the team if they decide to play a full game and actually hit someone in front of their net can be dangerous.  

The Night In Video: Gaborik and Avery Steal the Show

Erik Christensen Goal:

Daily Recap: Gaborik, Avery Fry Fishsticks; Most Irreplaceable Ranger; Boogaard/Gillies slug fest

This morning on the site I asked which of the current Rangers is the most irreplaceable if he were to go down with injury and the main candidates that I wrote about in no meaningful order were Henrik Lundqvist, Marian Gaborik, Brandon Dubinsky, Ryan Callahan, Marc Staal and Dan Girardi.  Each of the six have different qualities that make them very valuable to the Rangers each time the team takes the ice.  Due to the different roles they are asked to play on the club statistics do not necessarily reveal the level of importance each may have, thus complicating such a question.  I went through each of the candidates strengths and weaknesses in this regard here.

This morning the Rangers announced that for tonight’s game against the Islanders it would be Martin Biron who was in the net and not Henrik Lundqvist, thoughts on that move and the other lineup issues were here.  The discussion with the Rangers when it comes to lineups and all the changes made during games normally is about the forwards and changing of linemates but tonight the change during the game was the pulling of Martin Biron in the second period and Henrik Lundqvist getting into the game afterall.

The stars of the game this evening were Marian Gaborik and Sean Avery as Gaborik recorded his 12^th career hat-trick adding a helper along the way and Sean Avery had three assists which only begins to describe the impact he had on the game as the Rangers pulled out a nail biter they tried to give away 6-5 against the lowly Islanders.  I wonder if I asked this morning’s question about the most irreplaceable Ranger tomorrow after this game would the results change with the show Gabby put on.  The full game recap is here, but while two points is two points this kind of effort defensively will not hold up against anyone of quality.

During the game there was also a nice long fight between a pair of tough guys as Derek Boogaard and Trevor Gillies went at it in the first period.  The video of the fight is here.

Daily Recap: Frolov on Way Out?; Avery Teaming With Gaborik; Critical Tests in December; Isles Preview

For a while the focus on the schedule has been all about how grueling the sheer number of games in November was going to be and the Rangers came through that at 9-7.  As brutal as all the games were I think December and a huge six game stretch will tell us as much about the Rangers and how real the team is this year as much as surviving the exhaustion of the schedule last month.  There is a natural inclination to take a deep breath after getting through all of that, but any loss of focus this month and all the work will have been for nothing.  You can see full thoughts on why December is so important, what it will take to consider the team legit and more here.

Sean Avery Gets Chance With Gaborik In Rangers Lineup Lottery

In the lottery type atmosphere that is John Tortorella putting lines together there was a new ping pong ball that popped up to be slotted with Marian Gaborik today and that was Sean Avery with Erik Christensen in the middle.  Avery is being rewarded for his improved energy, impact and overall play the last three games with a chance to play with the highly skilled Gaborik.  The combination of Avery and Gaborik is not completely new as they spent a limited amount of time together last season when that jackpot drawing was constantly going on.  Avery has a skill set that can allow him to succeed with Gaborik whether it be his speed, his willingness to work in the corner and behind the net or his ability to crash the net for rebounds on Gaborik shots.  A quick piece of advice for Avery would be to make sure to do something good quick or the next lotto drawing might be held by his third shift of the game.

Video: Did Sean Avery Attempt to Slew Foot Crosby?

Since the end of last nights game against the Penguins I have heard from various Pens fans that Avery attempted to slew foot Crosby later in the game and instead Crosby got a cheap penalty when Avery embellished the elbow.  I will stipulate without question that the elbow was embellished as Avery embellishes most contact he gets to try and draw penalties, much like Crosby does in fact.  Anyway back to the point I have asked each one for video of the apparent slew foot attempt by Avery on Crosby and received no response.  I went looking and all I could find with this NHL Network clip which actually says the play was a second attempted slew foot by Crosby on Avery.  I make no claims, just let you discuss this one.

To any Pens fan if this is not the incident you are referring to let me know and the offer still stands that any video showing Avery slew footing will go up as my beef is with the play more than the player involved. It is dirty, dangerous and needs to be out of the game.

Video: Sean Avery vs Jordin Tootoo

Welcome Back Sean Avery, We Have Missed You

I know that in this space I can be hard on Sean Avery for some of the antics he brings and the lack of energy he has brought over the last couple of weeks, but when I do that it is because of games like last night when Avery pulls out the pocket what he is capable of as a hockey player first.  With a team that is struggling through a brutal schedule at the moment and a lot of players with tired legs Sean Avery against the Panthers brought his game back to the rink.  Avery should have more life in his legs compared to many of the guys on the roster because he had been playing only around eight or nine minutes over the prior eight games and he brought that life out early and often last night.

Daily Recap: Lundqvist Back in Form; Staal a Scapegoat; Stepan and the Calder; Avery Rule Lives; Prust In a Battle

After the somewhat slow news day on the Thanksgiving holiday the Rangers got back at it today and that meant more news and stories on the site ranging from looking at Staal becoming a scapegoat for some; Stepan creeping up in Calder contention; previewing tonight’s game; looking at the Sean Avery rule being called on Chris Pronger and of course the recap of the game itself. 

This morning after a couple of days of reading a series of comments sticking the majority of the loss to Tampa on Marc Staal’s shoulders I wrote about how for some Staal has become a target to be criticized whenever things seem to go wrong defensively.  The fact is he did play a lousy game against the Lightning, but so did just about everyone else and to act like he was the main reason they lost that game just takes it too far for me.  If that part of it was not enough to then take a bad game and claim it as proof of him being over-rated is just beyond comprehension to me as he is one of the best defensive defenders in the game.

Following the Staal story I looked at how in the past week Stepan has made the most of his increased role and with his hot scoring was not only taking himself off the Hartford train but moving him into the talk for the Calder.  Obvious it will take more than a hot week for him to be a legitimate candidate for the award, but with the signs in his game the idea is certainly within the realm of possibilities.

The pregame is as the pregame always is, but today the question was about how the team and especially the best players would respond to being called out by Tortorella for the way they performed against the Lightning.

During the early evening the news broke about how during overtime of the Flyers-Flames game that Chris Pronger was called for the Sean Avery rule not only giving the Flyers a penalty but nullifying what would have been the game winning goal for the team.  I put up the video of the incident which to me looked relatively harmless though the intent from Pronger was obvious and the video of Pronger’s post-game comments which were great.  Later on I put up the video of back when Avery faced up against Brodeur literally and was the impetus for the rule in the first place.

From the game itself there was the video of an entertaining fight between two very good fighters in Brandon Prust and Darcy Hordichuk which can be seen here.  Finally there was the game recap in which I looked at how while the effort was better tonight the team did not play nearly well enough to have beaten a better opponent on the night and if not for Henrik Lundqvist and his brilliance might not have even beaten this one.  Stepan kept his hot play up making me look smart from this morning, Prust got his first of the year, Gaborik, Staal and Girardi all responded from their subpar games to have a very positive impact in this one.

The Rangers will be in Nashville tomorrow to take on the Predators and we will certainly cover that along with other news and stories.

The Original Reason For The Avery Rule That Cost Pronger's Flyers a Point Today

If we are going to talk about Chris Pronger and him being called for the "Avery rule" we cannot do that without looking back to the original that forced the NHL to come up with the rule in the first place. This play epitomizes the split on Sean Avery as those who love him think it is a wonderful play and Avery at his best while those who cannot stand him will see it is the epitome of why he should not even be in the league for things they see as below the dignity of the game.

Either way it was this play that in the end created the rule which would be enforced against Chris Pronger in OT against Calgary and instead of Mike Richards goal being the winner, the Flyers would lose to the Flames in a shoot-out.  Is nice to see that someone other than 16 in a Rangers sweater can actually be called for that penalty since I think most of us assumed it was an Avery specialty for the officials.

Video: Ohlund Clean Hit On Christensen; Avery Fighting Ohlund

As most of you know the other night during the third period of the 5-3 Rangers loss to Tampa Bay, with the score 5-1 Mattias Ohlund stepped up and checked Erik Christensen cleanly at the blueline not dissimilar to the hit Marc Staal laid on Matt Stajan a few nights prior. Sean Avery took exception to the hit as has become far too common in the league right now on clean hits and fought Ohlund. I know some of you wanted to see the video the other night, but I forgot to look for it yesterday, so here it is now.

Video: Pronger Called For Avery Rule; His Fun Postgame Comments Too

The play in question starts at the 4:30 mark. Dont see that as being the same as Avery though he clearly was trying to distract the goalie. The expanded video makes it look a lot worse than it seemed the first time.  Let me know what you think of the play and the call.