Avery No More For New York Rangers?

My guess is that it is all but over for Sean Avery on John Tortorella’s Rangers.  Avery’s ever decreasing ice time has been chronicled on this site for awhile now, and it hit an all-time low when he was a healthy scratch against the San Jose Sharks on the 12^th.

Avery said all of the right things regarding his removal from the lineup however, and he was ultimately put back in against the New York Islanders on Tuesday.

Throughout the game, Avery played the pest role to perfection, and got under the skin of several Islander players.  He eventually drew a penalty from Islander winger Kyle Okposo, but was sent to the box himself for goaltender interference.  Overall, Avery made good use of his limited ice time in the first two periods, and for most of the third as well.

Then, he unraveled.  With less than five minutes remaining, and with the Rangers up a very comfortable 6 goals to 2, Avery took a completely unnecessary roughing penalty during an offensive zone faceoff.  Coach Tortorella was visibly angry with him, and when the Islanders scored on the ensuing powerplay, Torts blew up.

He let loose a string of expletives that could only have been directed at the player who was skating toward the bench from the penalty box.  Avery sat down at the far end of the bench and did not get up the rest of the game.

In 70 games this season, Sean Avery has only produced 24 points (3g 21a).  His potential to do more harm than good makes him a serious liability to a team that can’t afford to lose games due to stupid penalties.  He will most likely be replaced with Wojtek Wolski the rest of the way.  Avery has one year at 1.9 million dollars left on his current contract.

There will likely be a lot of drama surrounding Sean Avery and the Rangers this offseason.  Expect the Rangers to attempt to move him, but don’t expect them to succeed.

Dante Vassallo
dantepv9@gmail.com
follow me on Twitter @dpv9