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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Ouster Bucks: A Foolproof Plan For Solving The "Repeat Offender" Problem

{Cross-posted to Interchangeable Parts}

We've alluded on IPB to a little invention we call "Larionov Bucks". Upset with the poor play of Igor Larionov in the 2003-04 season, we finally reached a point where we hoped the Devils would start handing out a form of currency called Larionov Bucks for suffering through watching him play. These reward points could be used to purchase items at the concession stands and team store, but they could also, if enough Bucks were saved up by enough fans, be exchanged for the permanent removal of Larionov from the team. It would be a fun way to determine conclusively how highly fans valued his not being in the lineup, to measure whether enough fans felt strongly enough about how sucky he was that they would forgo cashing their Larionov Bucks in for hot dogs and beers.

Today we found ourselves reminded of Larionov Bucks in a bad way. No, not because the Devils have a creaky old guy who passes on breakaways; rather, in the wake of the Steve Downie non-suspension, we've decided it's time for the NHL to use the concept of Larionov Bucks to give the fans some say on how the thugs and goons of the league are handled. Here's how it would work: every player who has been suspended, and every player who has accumulated more than some set number (three? Five? We aren't really sure what's a fair number) of the assy penalties (slashing, boarding, elbowing, et al) at any point in the season, will be put on the Ouster Bucks list. Once a guy is on the list, the fans who have to suffer through watching him play their favorite team are awarded 10 [Player X] Bucks for each game. If he injures one of their players, those fans are awarded 100 [Player X] Bucks. No, we're not entirely sure how "the fans watching the game" would be determined -- would it just be the fans in attendance, or would the league have to figure out how to tell who's watching on TV? Whatever. We never claimed this was a perfect solution, and those are kinks that can be easily worked out later. The point is that the fans would be able to use their [Player X] Bucks to buy things at NHL.com or their team stores, but they would also be able to turn their [Player X] Bucks in at the end of the season; if enough [Player X] Bucks are collected to meet some agreed-upon and not insignificant total, then the player will be oustered from the league, or banned for life, or however you want to put it. This way, the NHL would have to act on the fans' displeasure. And at the same time, we'd be able to see which players are well and truly loathed by vast numbers of fans, and which ones are vocally loathed by only a small group of fans, while the rest of the league's fans are willing to trade their chance at contributing to the guy's ouster for some trinkets or baubles from NHL.com. (We, for example, would happily hoard our Avery Bucks, but would gleefully spend our Pronger Bucks on baubles.)

So other than the question of how to distribute Ouster Bucks and to whom, there really isn't a single thing wrong with this plan. Right?

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Flyers suspensions

Downie gets 20 games. Jesse Boulerice gets 25. I'm not surprised at all.

Over the summer, the NHL Board of Governors received an agenda request to discuss questionable hits to the head from last year that did not result in player suspensions, and to clarify the criteria for reviewing them. Input was received from league- and team-level management, coaching staff, and player representatives. Criteria were agreed upon and will be considered for hits this season and forward.

The criteria do not ban hitting in hockey, because no one is interested in seeing that happen. They do help to review situations where one player hits another player in the head, and determine what action may be required.

Training materials were prepared (including video) and distributed to every team in time for camp.

What is surprising?

(a) I don't have a problem with either suspension, but I'm not impartial when dealing with hits to the head.

I have first-person experience with chronic health issues resulting from sports-related traumatic facial injuries. Another family member had a basal skull fracture from a hit to the head, and he always jokes about the things he doesn't remember (when, in reality, it's that he can't remember them) and the change to his personality from it.

(b) Both guys attended training camp. To the best of anyone's knowledge, no one missed the mandatory training with regard to the new criteria. They deserved to be reviewed, and in light of the criteria, they deserved suspensions.

So, this doesn't affect me - as a fan - in any way? Not true.

I am completely pissed off that we have two guys on my home team that seemingly gift-wrapped two opportunities to the league in two weeks.

More importantly, I despise the fact that these two seemingly don't give one s**t about the team's well-being.

Finally, I can't stand the fact that this is overshadowing the bigger story. The Flyers are returning from their worst year with a better line-up. They're working hard to forge themselves into a new team unit and working together more every time I see them.

I'll be interested to see what the league does with other reviews for other teams as the season progresses. (Because unless these two suspensions stop the flow of every player's testoterone and make it clear that long suspensions are likely for anyone, I don't believe they're the last ones of the season.)

Meanwhile, I'll be at tonight's home opener to enjoy seeing the rest of the guys live, and deciding who's going to be on my jersey.

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Ok ladies...

I know you saw the hit last night...so here it is again...what do you think? Is Pronger going to be suspended? How long? Is the league going to take a stand?



UPDATE Pronger was suspended for one game...way to take care of the repeat offender NHL. Article and Interview with Carlyle

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