Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Odds, Ends And Avery

First off, this is post #700 in Scotty Hockey history so I just want to take a second to say thanks to everyone for their support and their readership. When I started I was getting about a dozen or so hits a day, and now I get four hundred or so a day. You guys rock and I thank you all.

So to start off the special post, let's talk about a special player: Sean Avery. If I have given off the impression that I don't want him back, let me apologize because it is far, far from the reality. This summer I bought an Avery jersey because he left the Rangers with a fantastic legacy - he worked hard, he helped the team win, he cared about the fans and he hated our rivals almost as much as we do. If he can come back and do it again, then let's welcome him with open arms because the current crop of Blueshirts struggle with all of the above.

On another side note, with Alex Rodriguez taking the headlines for juicing, it really brings up an interesting contrast - baseball has steroids, hockey has sloppy seconds. According to Baseball Almanac:
The first positive test will result in a suspension of up to ten days. The second positive test will result in a suspension of thirty days. The third positive test will result in a suspension of sixty days. The fourth positive test will result in a suspension of one full year. Finally, the fifth positive test will result in a penalty at the discretion of the Commissioner of Major League Baseball.

Avery's last game with Dallas was on November 30th (a game which he scored a goal). That means that as of right now, he has missed 29 games over two-and-a-half months. While his official suspension was just six game, in effect he was suspended longer then a baseball player who had been busted three times for performance-enhancing drugs.

Does that make sense to you?

Ok, enough on Aves and other other items:

*There is a fantastic, fantastic article about one writer's day as an assistant coach for the Rangers' ECHL affiliate, the Charlotte Checkers. It is a fun read and many thanks to Kukla's Korner for the heads up.

*Carp saw new lines on offense at practice today. My question is why is Renney so willing to juggle his offense while he sticks with the defensive pairings? Redden and Rozsival are allowed to drag down Girardi and Staal and hinder their development game after game but Scott Gomez gets to try every possible winger to find some sort of chemistry. It just doesn't make sense.

*If you haven't checked lately, The Dark Ranger has really stepped up his game of late and his two 'political' cartoons atop his page are fantastic. I highly recommend heading his way and keeping up with with the darkness.

*There aren't many better ways to stick it to your former employer than the way Brendan Shanahan did last night. Tossed away as too old and too slow, all Shanny did was skate for 12:41 (with 1:16 on the power play and 3:42 shorthanded) and collect a beautiful assist on the game-winning goal. We miss you Shanny, as you can clearly tell. Thanks Glen.

*Ok, maybe I am not done with Avery yet. The incompetent columnist Mark Herrmann, who somehow survived the staff cuts at Newsday despite poorly writing about a sport he clearly has no clue about, made the pitch that the Rangers should go after Ottawa's Chris Neil instead of adding Avery. He incorrectly claims that Neil is on the trading block and Neil, frankly, is nowhere near as good as an agitator as Avery. A better fighter, yes, but he can't come close to getting under opponents' skin the way Avery does.

*And there is no telling how long he will have to be in the AHL, where he will be faced with every AHL idiot looking to make a name for himself, but that hasn't stopped The Manic Ranger from putting the cart before the horse and figuring that we will see the last of Lauri Korpikoski once Avery gets picked off waivers. The sad/scary thing? He is probably right. There is no way that the completely useless Aaron Voros will join Pat Rissmiller in Hartford, because that would show that three of Sather's summer free agent signings were complete failures (even though all six were).

*I will throw a Peepin' Foes together for the Caps later tonight or tomorrow morning but as sad-sounding as it is likely to come out we at least can look forward to seeing Alexander Ovechkin, the most exciting player in the NHL. Even Renney's soulless system can't keep Ovie's star from shining. It should be fun.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

You Avery lovers make me laugh. This guy got his pee-pee slapped in a HUGE way as a result of his antics, was embarassed, sent to a behavioral rehab center mandated by the NHL and has been relegated to the AHL. Do you really think he is going to come back into the rangers locker room (or any locker room) with anything other than his tail tucked firmly between his legs?

This guy, at 2 million is a good deal when he just plays hockey which is EXACTLY what he will do. The only reason that he has been considered for release back to the Stars is because they have deemed him rehabilitated. He WAS an agitator, but make no mistake, his antics will be toned down considerably and he will just play.

If you want him back, bank on having him back as the hockey player that he was minus his agitating tactics. This guy is going to be on his best behavior if/when he gets called up.

I also wouldn't bank on the Rangers being the only team who puts a claim in on him either--the Habs are also hurting and have just lost Lang for the duration, so there is no forgone conclusion of him being a ranger.

The fact that rangers are looking to him to come in and save their team only further expresses how pitiful that team is. Sather is a tool.

Canyon of Blueshirts said...

By Renney logic Voros will be on the first line soon enough once again. I'm not sure where his fascination with him started. But I guess it came from the same place where his logic of sitting Petr Prucha has come from.

I'm with you I'd obviously rather see Voros in Hartford than Korpedo. But realistically, Korpikoski might be Hartford bound in my opinion.

nyrmike21 said...

Anon1, even if the Habs put in a waiver claim, the Rangers will have priority since they are lower in the standings.

Anonymous said...

congrats on 700 posts. I read you more than any other ranger site now! I think avery will help a lot to shake things up, even if he isn't as big of a dick as he used to be, at least he cares. Hell, at 75% of his dickiness he'll help. I think all the hype went to his head over the summer and that's why it all fell apart. If he comes back acting like he did when we first got him we'll be a-ok. Looking forward to your next 700 posts!

Anonymous said...

Scotty, congrats!!! I love the blog and I read every post. Please keep up the great work. Couple things:

1) Voros... I don't get it. You see it all the time in sports; "Sure, he's only 5-9 but he PLAYS like he's 6-3!" Well Voros is 6-4 and plays like he's 5-6... 5-6 and 84 years old. Size doesn't count if you can't use it.

2) Not only do I worry about The Korpedo leaving, I worry about Kalinin coming BACK. I hate to admit it but, when he went down, the chant immediately went up in our apartment, "NEW KID! (clap, clap) NEW KID! (clap, clap)"

3) An Avery return, I think, would be a disaster. We don't have the senior leadership of a Shanny or even a Jagr to keep that in check. However, Avery WANTED to be a Ranger and he WANTED to win... Those two things alone might be a very refreshing change in this increasingly depressing season.

The Dark Ranger said...

If for nothing else, Avery's return will be quiet in the beginning and drama in the end. At least the guy adds personality to the game. We're all writing off the season already and he's not going to solve it, but he is a spark-plug and sometimes that's all it takes.

tdr (thanks for the plug, Scotty)

Anonymous said...

Congrats on no 700. How about turning over a new leaf and no more mean attacks on Gomez' ethnicity. Avery a good addition but the team needs a complete retooling.

Scotty Hockey said...

Coupla things:
-I don't think Avery is a cure-all, but at least he will make this team interesting to watch again.
-Joe, I don't think Voros plays small, he just plays like he is a tree. I wish he would just up and leave. Bum dum dum chhhh.
-At the same time Joe - can Avery's return be more of a disaster than this season has already been?
-As for attacks on Gomez's ethnicity, it is nothing against Mexicans, it is personal. As the Johnny Depp movie quote went, are you a MexiCAN or a MexiCAN'T? Sadly, Gomez has proven he is a can't. And it is a lot more fun than mocking Alaska is...

Thanks for the congrats guys and thanks for sticking around so long!

Duniyadnd said...

Woohoo.. Congratulations on the 700 posts!! Keep up the great work, especially the Peepin Foes and game reviews.