Remember the first time Sean Avery got in trouble big time? Honestly, this was not that bad and blown out of proportion. However, shoving a cop will get you put in the pokey. Avery was arrested early this morning for battery and was held in a Los Angeles jail pending the $20,000 bail being raised. I guess slamming a door in a cop’s face was not exactly the smartest thing either.
Eventually we will get to the what happens next. However, it is important to note what action the NHL may or may not take first. Whatever the Rangers do after is secondary even to the fantasy hockey fan, who has to have a sick feeling in their stomach if they own Avery. Clearly there will be some ramifications from this as the NHL does not like this sort of thing and especially because it is Sean Avery. Here is the book and expect it to be thrown.
What does the league do? They are going to suspend him at least in some way. How long that will be remains to be seen? It is Avery after all. Besides they even make different sets of rules for him and probably have some bizarre “repeat offender” rule for those offenses committed off the ice. Then there are the Rangers who know Avery is in the last year of his deal and have several options, none of which are good to fantasy owners.
Like we had said, there was some talk that Avery MIGHT be paired with Brad Richards and Marian Gaborik. Obviously those two players need protection on a nightly basis because of their injury histories, fair or unfair. Avery would have been perfect, providing that agitating spirit and grit that would have allowed Richards and Gaborik to operate. Now that could still happen but honestly it looks very unlikely at this juncture. He went from having a chance to potentially putting up 40-50 points to being lucky if he is still a New York Ranger when training camp opens next month.
The Rangers could bury him, they could attempt to waive him, trade him, etc. Also, the team could just relegate him to fourth line duty/healthy scratch land like they did for periods last year. Clearly this helps the cause of players like Brandon Dubinsky and Ryan Callahan. They stand to gain a bit more power play time because Avery likely will be nowhere near it now. Yes too much may be made of this but the league and the team are going to take a bit of a hard line stance here. It almost does not matter if it is even fair or not.
We are almost sorry that this had to be written but it is important for fantasy hockey GM’s to know what is going on. Clearly it is too early in the process for Rangers brass to comment but they certainly had to read the news this morning and go “Oh boy, not again!”. Avery’s days as a first line complement this year are now numbered at zero. His fantasy value takes quite a plunge and returns to last year’s levels or lower. Maybe the Fantasy Hockey Patrol can help him next time to shut his big fat yap and maybe he will not see a cop and think it is Martin Brodeur next time. One can only hope.
Projection: Maybe he gets 20-25 points but I am thinking probably even less. He will still get 100+ PIMS though…maybe 150 even if it is not for the Rangers.
