Detriment! What?!

I’ve never read the New York Post before but based on its website it looks about as reliable as the National Enquirer. Nevertheless, I ventured over to the (news)paper to read the full article in which Slats calls Avery a ‘Detriment’ to the Rangers. Avery’s arbitration hearing is scheduled for today so it’ll be interesting to find out the results of the hearing and how each party responds. But let’s get back to the main story at hand.

According to the NY Post, Avery found out today that “management called him ‘a reasonably effective player as well as a detriment to the team,’ in the team's salary arbitration brief”. OUCH! BURN! NOT FAIR! WAAAAA! (ok, the last two were my impersonation of Avery.) In response to those unfair, harsh words, Avery stated:

“It's hard not to take something like that personally and not to be emotional about it. I know this is part of the business, I know this is part of the process, but it's extremely disappointing to read something like that coming from Slats [GM Glen Sather] and not to be offended by it. They talk about me taking, 'unnecessary penalties,' and make a lot of references about me that I don't want to go into but that I don't think are fair. I certainly don't think I was a detriment to the team. At the end of the season, my hope was to sign a long-term deal. I would have loved that. . . . But that never became a legitimate possibility. It became obvious pretty quickly that I was going to wind up going to arbitration. That's OK, I understand the situation with the cap and I understand that this is a business, but not only aren't we anywhere close, they've decided to really go after me in this brief. The arbitration hasn't changed my opinion at all about wanting to be a Ranger and being excited about this season. I'm really high on the team. I just wish Slats hadn't said these things about me. That's hard to take."

I’m not sure how I feel about Avery being called a “detriment” to the Rangers. Honestly, he was waaaaaaaaay worse during the ’05-’06 season with the Kings. Talk about bad penalties, turtle-shelling instead of fighting, and being an all-around douchebag. But never did management ever call him a “detriment”. Management did bar him from playing with the team towards the end of the season and its successors (DL and co.) put him “on a tight leash”, but never did they outright talk shit about him. And seriously, from what I read, Avery seemed to be the right player at the right time for the Rangers: the one who sparked something with the team. Hell, NBC even had him on the intermission show to talk about how effective he was for the Rangers during the playoffs. I can’t say that those observations are in fact what was happening, but that was the impression I got from a bunch of articles and analysts. Does anyone who actually watched Rangers games towards the end of the season have anything to say about his contribution to the team? I’d love to hear from a fan’s perspective rather than a journalist/analyst.

If the Rangers don’t sign him, look for Edmonton to pounce all over him.