http://www.yardbarker.com/content/player/4821 Recent articles about Sean Avery en-us Well my fellow DIE HARDS this season at the very worst will be really fun to see . The NEW ! York Rangers will be quick REJUVENATED and vibrant . This team will come in with gusto ! For the most part I feel Mr. Sather has done a pretty good job at sifting through the free agent market to find our beloved team the best hungriest players available . I feel the trades he made were even more impressive. I'm very happy this team was not bullied into signing Jagr or Avery , don't get me wrong I love both players but money was definitely an issue and furthermore this team has to make room for some talented call ups . The NYR are in the midst of changing over there is a metamorphosis about to take place right before our eyes . There is one thing I would be elated to see ,and that's the signing of MATS SUNDIN this guy would thrive here and I know many of you guys probably think this cant happen but I strongly believe that the hesitation on SUNDIN's part is because he truly wants to be a NEW YORK RANGER ! many sources have reported that NY is tops on his list . Well with all this said I love what my team has done getting rid of the dead wood , and signing guys who were overlooked or unhappy but most of all very skilled . This season is gonna rock ! The Hockey GODS are SMILING on the NEW YORK RANGERS ! Thu, 17 Jul 2008 18:22:31 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/291908 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/291908 ........... that Glen Sather and the New York Rangers did not have the cojones to sign Sean Avery and Jaromir Jagr. I'm not really ticked off they didn't sign Jagr, but the Rangers need Avery's grit and sociopath tendencies. What are the Rangers beat writers going to do now that Avery is in Dallas? What is Vogue going to do without its fashion intern? Mon, 07 Jul 2008 20:14:58 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/287040 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/287040 I have to be honest, today could very well end up being one of those days where I cut off the interest level of 98% of our readers decide to talk about my teams specifically. Do you really want to read another post about how to fix the MLB star game? Fine. Don't vote in [...] Mon, 07 Jul 2008 15:58:47 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/286860 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/286860 Sean Avery was certainly one of the more interesting characters to play for the New York Rangers over the years. He didn't have the quiet dignity of a Jean Ratelle. He didn't have the class of an Adam Graves. He didn't arrive as a Hall-of-Famer like Mark Messier or Phil Esposito. But he was an instigator. He was an agitator. And he was fun. He likes actresses. He doesn't like Canada. He likes fashion. He doesn't like radio broadcasters from Toronto. He likes shooting his mouth off. And he really doesn't like Martin Brodeur. Avery's battles with his arch nemesis are already legendary. Nobody can get under Brodeur's skin like Avery. He has the ability to turn the goaltender into a quivering mess. Whether you agree with his "Slap Shot"–like antics or not, they worked. The Rangers beat the Devils by getting Brodeur to concentrate on everything but stopping the puck. Brodeur couldn't even shake Avery's hand after the series. He was last seen rocking back and forth in a padded room muttering, "Avery…Avery…Avery." Now Avery has to find someone in the Western Conference to torture. You really can't blame Glen Sather for letting Avery walk away. Is he worth $15.5 million over four years? No. It seemed like whenever he was in the lineup, the Rangers won. But at the same time, he missed a lot of games with an assortment of injuries, which hurt the team. And even when did take the ice, he was inconsistent. Look at the 2006/07 playoffs?he had a goal and four assists in the sweep of Atlanta but then came up empty with zero points when the Rangers were beaten by Buffalo. Though he was only with the Rangers for a little over one season, it was certainly a memorable time. He's always got something to say, whether you like it or not. He often mixed it up with the other team and could turn the Garden crowd into a raucous mob. Just about every player in the league can't stand him, but that's all part of the fun. But hockey is not his whole life. He's been spending the summer interning at Vogue (remember when Gordie Howe did that?), and says he's more passionate about fashion than hockey. And now he's heading to Texas. Have fun with that fashion thing there, Sean. But anyway, good luck and thanks for the memories. We'll always have Martin Brodeur. Thu, 03 Jul 2008 10:46:18 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/285512 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/285512 Tirico Suave. Apparently, now your number one source for hockey news on the net. While the rest of the blogosphere buzzes bout Baron Davis's move to the Clippers, (wow, an early congrats to LAC on winning around 45 games next season, finishing 7th or 8th in the West and getting swept by the Lakers or [...] Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:04:36 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/285176 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/285176 Tirico Suave. Apparently, now your number one source for hockey news on the net. While the rest of the blogosphere buzzes bout Baron Davis's move to the Clippers, (wow, an early congrats to LAC on winning around 45 games next season, finishing 7th or 8th in the West and getting swept by the Lakers or [...] Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:04:36 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/285176 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/285176 According to Fan590 is Toronto the Dallas Stars and controversial former New York Rangers winger Sean Avery have agreed to a 4 year $15.5 million dollar contract for $3.875 million per year, the exact contract that Avery had been seeking...... Wed, 02 Jul 2008 13:16:06 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/285127 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/285127 Sean Avery is strapping on his spurs and heading to Dallas, where the Stars have agreed to lavish the professional pest with a four-year, $16 million deal. While it seems the Rangers were interested in bring Avery back, GM Glen Sather was unwilling to come anywhere near that exorbitant figure. As I've stated in the past, Avery is a guy who was denied his petition for a $2.6 million annual salary in arbitration last offseason and was instead award a one-year, $1.9 million pact. The notion that the diminutive winger is worth anywhere near $4 million annually is absurd, regardless of the Rangers' win-loss record with and without him. Speaking of which, that win-loss record might not be so stark were Avery in the lineup every day. Avery missed a whopping 25 games last season due to injury. We'll miss you around here, Sean. Hell, I made a t-shirt design in your honor. But as we noted here yesterday, the Rangers have already begun to prepare for life without you. Now we can all sit back and wait for the parting shots Avery is sure to deliver on his way out the door. Wed, 02 Jul 2008 13:04:34 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/285123 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/285123 On the heels of signing rough and tumble winger Aaron Voros, the Blueshirts have agreed to terms with San Jose's Patrick Rissmiller, another physical forward. Neither player is going to make New York fans forget Sean Avery any time soon, but at least the diehards in the blue seats need not fear the team going soft in Avery's absence. The Rangers have also reportedly agreed to a deal with Andreas Jamtin of the Swedish Elite League, a diminutive but aggressive player described as "a pest on the ice." Hmmm, why does that sound familiar? The writing's on the wall, folks. I just hope Avery didn't overplay his hand here, for both sides' sake. Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:58:23 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/284793 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/284793 The Rangers dove head first into free agency this afternoon, signing Aaron Voros from the Minnesota Wild. The 26-year-old forward scored seven goals and seven assists in 55 games as a rookie last season. Alright, so maybe it's not so much a "dive" as an exploratory toe in the water, but hey, it's something to talk about on what's been a surprisingly quiet day. Voros adds size and depth to the forward corps, but perhaps little else. I wonder what this means, if anything, for fringe players like Ryan Hollweg, Colton Orr, and Petr Prucha. Over the last several days the word through the grapevine seemed to suggest that Sean Avery is most likely ticketed out of town, possibly to the Toronto Maple Leafs, who have cut ties with agitator Darcy Tucker. Earlier this afternoon, the Journal News' Sam Weinman reported that there were "rumblings" that Avery's exit was imminent, but nothing official has been announced as of yet. If true, this would be a bizarre move. You may recall that it was in Toronto where Avery instigated a pre-game shoving match with the aforementioned Tucker and allegedly mocked Jason Blake's chronic myelogenous leukemia. Additionally, Avery has been a vocal critique of the city of Toronto, and in general seems to hold a fair amount of disdain for his home nation of Canada. Even forgetting these off the ice issues, Avery seems an odd fit for Toronto, where his act won't play nearly as well as it did in New York, where lately it seems the Garden crowd needs a player like Avery to get its own pulse up. Meanwhile, some movement on the Jaromir Jagr front as Sportsnet.ca is reporting that the Pittsburgh Penguins have offered a contract to their former captain and marquee superstar. The Penguins were willing to pony up $7 million per over five years for Marian Hossa, thus having been spurned, it's not a stretch to imagine the club offering Jagr that same money on a one- or two-year contract. Remember, Pittsburgh got a first hand glimpse of Jagr at his most dominant this season - during the playoffs. And finally, you can probably scratch Brian Campbell off your wish list. Aaron Portzline of the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch reports that the Campbell camp is only accepting offers of $60 million or more (update: Campbell has agreed to an eight-year deal for an average of $7.142 per season with the Chicago Blackhawks). Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:57:23 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/284792 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/284792 It's looking like any move the Rangers make this off-season is going to have to wait until after Jaromir Jagr has decided what he wants to do. That's because general manager Glen Sather has a man-crush on the 36-year-old winger and doesn't want to mess with the team's salary cap until he finds out how much Jagr wants. Which is why Sather has reportedly turned down an offer from Michal Rozsival of $20 million over four years. It also means that the Rangers will not reach an agreement with defenseman Brian Campbell, who they have the rights to negotiate with, but could be asking for as much as $7 million per. Finally it's the reason why wingers Sean Avery and Brendan Shanahan have been waiting for any further Ranger offers. How much will Jagr want? Well according to an unnamed source in the NY Post, Omsk of the Russian Super League has made him a formal offer which is in the three year - $35 million range. Which is of course more money than the Rangers are even allowed to offer Jagr which means for him to return he must be willing to take quite a hefty pay cut. The Rangers should really try to keep Jagr on Broadway, but not if it means more than a one-year-deal in the $5 million area. Anymore than that could really handcuff them from making other necessary deals. It has been reported that he would prefer a two-year-deal which would net him a bigger pay day and allow him to return to the Czech Republic at around the same time his father is finished building a rink. If the Rangers cannot lock down Jagr they should probably cool themselves on the Mats Sundin front. Right now it looks as if the 35-year-old center is the team's number-one target on July 1, but if he's not working with Jagr the Rangers have too many centers and should look elsewhere for offense. Regardless of what happens the Rangers should keep from alienating Sean Avery too much. In the past Avery has been quoted saying he does not want to return to his native Canada to play hockey. "I don't enjoy hockey-obsessed Canadians," Avery said. "The (US-Canadian dollar) exchange is not very good right now. And it's going to cost me a lot of money in tickets for people I don't even like." It looks like he's now backed off those statements and could be interested in playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs. The reason is because Sather simply doesn't want to give Avery the money he is looking for and the Leafs offer is looking more attractive. They may continue to make it more attractive as well since they've lost their enforcers Tie Domi, Darcy Tucker, and Wade Balek. As for Brendan Shanahan, the Rangers are making him wait, and they should. Shanahan still has one of the best shots you can find, but he certainly skated like 39-year-olds should be skating and it hurt the Ranger offense and power play. So Sather has handled him very well when he told him to sit tight. Basically Shanahan will return only after the team has looked at every other option and if they find something better they'll take it and Shanny will skate off into the sunset. If after they finish their dealings and there is an open wing available then the Rangers could make him the next captain have one more year before deciding between Chris Drury or Scott Gomez. The Rangers will also likely make an offer to free agent defenseman Wade Redden of the Ottawa Senators on July 1. After not wanting to leave Ottawa and turning rejecting two potential offers this past year he has put his house up for sale in Canada and is ready to move on. He will reportedly be seeking a deal worth at least $5 million and could go as high as $6.5 million and possibly more. Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:32:21 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/283046 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/283046 Why wait until July 1st? Read now where Marian Hossa, Brian Campbell, Jaromir Jagr, Mats Sundin, Ryan Malone, Sean Avery and all the other big free agents are going to sign when free agency kicks off in less than a week. Wed, 25 Jun 2008 22:57:34 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/282463 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/282463 On this past Friday--draft day--the Montreal Canadiens traded their first round draft pick--25th overall--along with their second round draft pick next season to the Calgary Flames for forward Alex Tanguay. Here are some statistics and an opinion on how Tanguay will affect the Habs. Tue, 24 Jun 2008 17:07:07 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/281879 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/281879 When I found out that Sean Avery was using his offseason to work as an intern at Vogue, I envied the guy. Not only does he play a professional sport for a living and get to date A-list celebrities like Elisha Cuthbert, but he now gets to work with another one of my interests; clothes! Mon, 23 Jun 2008 13:11:06 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/281053 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/281053 Sean Avery's describes his internship at Vogue magazine, why he think his Rangers are the best dressed team in pro sports, his injured spleen, and more Mon, 23 Jun 2008 11:54:05 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/281035 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/281035