Sean Avery returns to Rangers; cover your ears (and eyes)
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As expected, the New York Rangers claimed Sean Avery from the Dallas Stars on reentry waivers today. Anyone care to guess how soon he will alienate his teammates and coaches again, as he did while a member of the Kings and at every other stop in his career?
Because you know it’s going to happen again. And again. And it will hurt the Rangers far more than it well help in their last 18 games this season.
The Rangers let him walk away last summer and he signed a four-year, $15.5-million free agent contract with the Stars, guaranteeing that Brett Hull will never be voted general manager of the year. Avery had angered all of his Dallas teammates with his selfishness and lack of impulse control long before his crude remarks about Calgary’s Dion Phaneuf dating one of his old girlfriends got him a six-game suspension from the NHL in December.
Avery underwent anger management treatment, but the Stars wanted no part of him. And funny how is it that they’ve improved so dramatically since they told him not to come back.
Avery’s destiny became apparent when Dallas, which doesn’t have its own American Hockey League farm team, assigned him to the Rangers’ farm team in Hartford, Conn. The Rangers claimed him today and will be responsible for half of his remaining salary, while Dallas is saddled with the other half. He’s scheduled to practice with the Rangers on Wednesday and might play against the Islanders on Thursday.
The Rangers have changed coaches since Avery last played for them, replacing easygoing Tom Renney with hard-driving John Tortorella, which makes things even more interesting. Before being hired by the Rangers, Tortorella worked as a commentator for the Canadian sports network TSN. When Avery ran afoul of the NHL in December, Tortorella unequivocally condemned Avery.
‘’Enough is enough. He’s embarrassed himself, he’s embarrassed the [Dallas] organization, he’s embarrassed the league and he’s embarrassed his teammates, who have to look out for him,’ Tortorella said then. ‘Send him home. He doesn’t belong in the league.’’
Oops.
Rangers General Manager Glen Sather told reporters last week that Tortorella would get along with Avery just fine, and given Sather’s stellar record in New York, that must be true.
‘’Over time, you learn to love him, just like I do,’ Sather said of Avery.
Tortorella changed his tune on today, according to this story in the New York Daily News. He must really need the job.
The implosion should be fun to watch.
-- Helene Elliott