Avery should only be cheap for this season, for whoever picks him up, as Dallas will have ended up paying like 2/3 – 3/4 of his yearly salary for this year. The next three years of 4 mil a year would all have to be picked up by the team acquiring him, at least to my understanding. That’s pretty unattractive for a guy who is a real niche player, especially considering that the position he is in basically allows a team who wants to risk acquiring him to bend him over the barrel in terms of pay and contractual stipulations.

Avery will be good for this year. Maybe next. But I absolutely cannot believe that he won’t just go back to what he always has been. It’s who he is, and its going to absolutely drive him crazy that he can’t be himself. I’m not even sure if he could make it work in NYR, but its probably his only chance now. I’ll repost something I wrote on the old BoC site when he initially was suspended for the sloppy seconds comments, because its still applicable to the Stars, and more than that, its relevant with regard to any team who is interested in Avery.

(How do I make this all appear in one big block?)

Avery was a great fit in Detroit, and I’ve said this so many times… With Detroit, Avery could be the pest (and he did a HELL of a job of it), draw penalties, and even score a few goals. The thing was, on a such an amazingly deep and talented roster, Avery was not GUARANTEED a roster spot. Thus, and this actually did happen sometimes, if Avery took dumb penalties or whatever, he would get benched. He was kept in check by a team that was good enough that they could say “we don’t need you this bad” and sit him, and not be any worse for it.

When he went to LA, if you were gonna bench him, who were you gonna pull up instead to fill that roster spot? RudyKelly? Sitting Avery for those teams would mean sitting one of the better forwards you had, without anything to replace him, and at the same time, giving him one of the two largest mouthpieces in the country to piss and moan about it from.

The Stars were stupid to think that they could create the same environment that allowed Avery to work as a Red Wing. First of all, Sean Avery had already become THE SEAN AVERY EXPERIENCE. Once you uncork the monster, you can’t put it back. Secondly, Dallas isn’t that good!!! Sure, no one could see this absolute collapse coming, and particularly Turco’s play of late has been a surprise. But frakly, the Stars aren’t good enough. Those Wings teams with Avery had SIX Hall of Famers at Forward positions alone, and thats not counting Datsyuk, who may become a HoF’er. In fact, you know who is conspicuously absent from the 01-02 Wings roster, while Sean Avery is on it? Henrik Zetterberg!!! That’s how good those Wings teams were. The Stars are nowhere even close to that good.

I wish the Avs had signed Avery. First, I live in Denver now, so I’d at least find myself significantly more entertained by the local awful hockey team. Second, it would help add a little to the Wings/Avs rivalry.

Oh shit, that’s right, I forgot about the recall waivers. On recall waivers, does the acquiring team eat the full cap hit, while paying only half of the salary? If that is the case, it could still be a sticking point for NYR. 4 million is chump change in that market, but 4 million against the cap is a little different, especially when you’re throwing bags of money at Gomez, Drury, Redden, and anyone else who happens to get a little too close.

I think Avery is hilarious. He even has some skill as a hockey player. I don’t think he should have been suspended and I certainly don’t think he should be banned from the game for the “Sloppy Seconds” comments. Bertuzzi broke a guy’s neck and he’s still playing. The problem Avery is going to have getting back in the league is that no team wants him disrupting their locker room and team chemistry. If the Rangers want him, more power to them.