Sean Avery, What Do We Do?

Ah, Sean Avery. Hate him if you will, but he certainly keeps things interesting around these parts, doesn't he? The latest development is something he said about Dion Phaneuf's current flame (see what I did there?), Elisha Cuthbert (who also dated Sean Avery, and Mike Komisarek if memory serves me correctly). He made a comment about how guys fall for his "sloppy seconds". This probably wasn't directed totally at Cuthbert and Phaneuf, because I heard that he also dated Rachel Hunter, who is now with Jarret Stoll. Nothing like the gossip mill, huh?


It's absolutely no secret that the Dallas Stars have been sub-par this season. Oh, fine, I won't lie - they've been pretty awful. There are tons of things that fans and the media are blaming this on - among them Sean Avery. So this didn't come at a good time. I feel like if the team were performing well, a lot of fans would just have a laugh at it and move on. But having a member of the team missing, no matter how useless you may think he is, hurts. The Stars have (I think) about fifteen million dollars worth of players sitting on the bench - Brenden Morrow (ACL), Jere Lehtinen (upper body), Joel Lundqvist (shoulder), Steve Ott (hand), Sergei Zubov (undisclosed), and Avery. That's a whole lotta dollas. Sean Avery didn't need to bring another distraction to the team.

Tim Cowlishaw of the Dallas Morning News disagrees with the suspension, saying that Bettman should have just let Phaneuf pound the snot out of Avery - and I agree. In 2004, Todd Bertuzzi was suspended indefinitely for the Steve Moore incident - does what Sean Avery did equate? It's possible that they just threw out the words "suspended indefinitely" about Avery because it all happened so fast. I heard that the Stars plan to send Avery home Wednesday morning, and I have no idea when his pending hearing with Gary Bettman is.

This may have just been the straw that broke the camel's back - Avery's been mouthing off to the media and other players for awhile now, and hasn't faced any repercussions. I think that if they were going to suspend him for giving lip, they should have just done it the first time rather than letting it go on and on until he gets suspended for saying that Cuthbert and Hunter are "sloppy seconds". Certainly, Avery crossed the line with his comment that was completely irrelevant to the game. Does he deserve an indefinite suspension from the league, or should it have been handled by the team? Owner of the Stars, Tom Hicks, released a statement saying that if the NHL hadn't suspended Avery, the Dallas Stars would have. I would have completely agreed with that. The Stars like to be known as a classy organization, who treat each other and their opponents with respect and class. Avery goes against that. Brett Hull knew that when he signed Avery, and told him that he has to conduct himself properly to be a part of this team. I recall the direct quote containing the words "don't embarrass the team". Perhaps we should all be thankful that this is the first Avery Incident with the Stars.

Avery's behavior is not sitting well with the well-respected veterans of the Dallas Stars. Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News wrote an article containing some interesting quotes from other members of the organization. Goaltender Marty Turco called it "disrespectful" and "a slap in the face". Forever Star Mike Modano says that the team's identity has changed, and that the perception of them has "been tarnished a bit". They no longer get the benefit of the doubt with referees, and are no longer a "quiet, confident group". This can't mean anything good is happening in the locker room, if veterans are speaking out about Avery's behavior. Earlier this season, Modano made some comments about the rough-and-tumble nature, calling the hard-hitting game against the Bruins (okay, less hard-hitting, more dirty-hitting at times) idiotic and stupid, saying "if that's what we're going for, then they need to find me an off-ice job." There must be some discourse between players, and it doesn't leave me hopeful for the state of the team.

As for Avery's future with the Dallas Stars, I don't know anything about that yet. General managers Les Jackson and Brett Hull won't say specifics, but Jackson did say that the Stars cannot be a good team when the player puts himself above the team. Even Hull, longtime Avery supporter, says that Avery must be responsible for his own actions. Modano, though, had the most cryptic, yet strongly-worded statement:

"It's going to take some time," Modano said. "It certainly will be a situation we'll have to address when that time comes ...if it does."

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