Tucker the Hypocrite

So, Sean Avery gets into a pre-game confrontation with Darcy Tucker and Jason Blake in Toronto on Saturday night. The confrontation between Avery and Tucker continued throughout the Rangers' shootout victory over the Leafs, including a first-period scrap.

After the game, Tucker goes all over TV and radio calling Avery classless (um, pot? Kettle?), and planting seeds in the heads of the Toronto media about what Avery might have said before the game.

Two days later, Howard Berger reports on Toronto's 590 The FAN that a Rangers' player told him that Avery made a remark about Jason Blake's recent cancer diagnosis, and a media firestorm is created.

Let's face it, Sean Avery is an easy target. Everyone who isn't a Ranger fan hates him, so it isn't exactly difficult to get the North American hockey media in a lather over this controversy. And, what do the media like more than getting up on their PC high horse to criticize someone whom no one likes? It's a no-lose proposition.

Now, no one would condone anyone making a derogatory remark about someone having cancer. Certainly not me. I lost my Grandmother to cancer when I was seven, and watched my brother beat Hodgkin's disease, just three months after he graduated college.

Having said that, is Darcy Tucker serious? Let's put aside for a second that there is not a shred of evidence that Avery actually made such a remark. Even if he did, is this where Darcy Tucker draws the line in the sand?

Tucker has made his entire NHL career on being a cheap shot artist. A man (and, I use that term so very loosely) with such little regard for his fellow players that he has no trouble putting their health and livelihood at risk each time he steps on the ice.

Is making a distasteful remark about cancer really worse than intentionally blowing out Michael Peca's knee in the 2002 playoffs?

Look, I'm not one of these people who thinks we should take fighting and hitting out of the game. Physical intimidation has been, and always should be, part of the game. But, have we become so PC that someone with a history of intentionally injuring opponents can get up in front of cameras and self-righteously pontificate about someone's allegedly insensitive remark, and no one bats an eye? Could no one in the media be bothered to point out to Mr. Tucker that he might have been the last person who should be commenting on any of this?

Since there is no proof that Avery said anything about Blake's cancer, and Blake himself has said he has no knowledge of any such remarks, I'm giving Avery the benefit of the doubt. And, even if I'm wrong, and Avery said something that I would personally find reprehensible, the last person I want to hear lecturing us about class is Darcy Tucker.

How Sather “Dropped His Briefs” to Let Sean Avery Escape .... In a White Ford Bronco???

In the worst jurisprudence blunder since the Simpson prosecutors allowed O.J. to handle his own gloves on the witness stand in the 1995 “Trial of the Century”, Rangers general manager, Glen Sather, has made a “bloody mess” of the entire Sean Avery affair.

Please understand that I’m not trying to equate the injustice of a double homicide with the incompetence of a poorly executed contract negotiation, as this would be highly insensitive to the homicide victims and their families. However, there are two scarcely mentioned (yet undeniable) links between the New York Rangers and O.J. Simpson. The first part of this irrevocable bond occurred on June 17, 1994, when just hours after the Rangers and their fans celebrated the recent Stanley Cup victory with a downtown ticker tape parade, Simpson & Co. (inside the White Ford Bronco) began their historic “slow speed chase” with the LAPD. The second (more indirect) link was that the insatiable public appetite for anything and everything Simpson-related (after the car chase), along with the accompanying “media circus”, forced Sports Illustrated to place Simpson’s police mug shot on the front cover of their next issue – a spot that SI was unquestionably reserving for the story about how the Rangers had finally ended their 54 year curse (1940-1994).

And speaking of curses (while getting back to Avery), if Rangers fans thought that the 54 year hex was a “bitch to bear”, it might be nothing compared to what awaits them after next summer. Because at that time (barring a miraculous and unlikely reconciliation), Avery, who is already known on the ice as trash-talking, vindictive, contentious and the “most hated player in NHL” (as voted on by his peers), will hit the UFA market with a chip on his shoulder the size of Mount Everest, along with a venomous vendetta aimed directly at Sather and (by default) his entire organization. And the most unfortunate aspect to this entire debacle is that it could have been so easily avoided – several different ways.

The first way Sather could have avoided the Avery ordeal focuses on the root cause of the problem – which is the Rangers tight salary cap numbers. When Slats signed premier UFAs, Scott Gomez and Chris Drury, for a combined $14.4 million per cap year, it put a noose around the Rangers “cap collar”, which has been tightened a notch by each additional signing - with only the Matt Cullen trade providing any slack. It’s far too early to judge the Gomez/Drury signings with so many factors to be determined down the road, such as: how well the two play on Broadway, how much longer some of the other highly paid veterans play, how well the Rangers low-salaried prospects pan out over the next few years, how the salary cap upper limit fluctuates in upcoming years, etc.

I also can’t find fault with the signings of Prucha, Lundquist and Hossa, as the cap realities in addition to the three players wanting to be part of this year’s potential Cup run, allowed all parties to come to fairly amicable, short term resolutions. There is one glaring exception here – Brendan Shanahan.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Shanahan as much as the next Rangers fan, and I’m delighted that he’s back with the team. He provides leadership, character, professionalism, team spirit, versatility, endless hustle, and even occasional goals. Occasional? I will clarify this with cold, hard facts. After his stellar scoring stampede of the first 29 games (22 goals on 141 shots, 15.6% SP), Shanahan’s scoring stumbled sharply in the next 29 games (6 goals on 116 shots, 5.2% SP). These are his pre-concussion stats. In the final 9 games of the season, he scored 1 goal on 38 shots with a 2.6% SP – giving him a total of 7 goals on 154 shots (4.5% SP) over his last 38 regular season games. One could argue that he is a streaky player who was in a slump - but for 38 games (29 pre-concussion) I don’t buy it.

Notwithstanding a fine 5 goal (12.2% SP in 10 games) playoff performance, which I admit does give me a little bit of reservation here, it would seem that Shanahan’s days as a 40-50 goal scorer are behind him. Furthermore, Shanahan didn’t show particularly good chemistry with several linemates (Prucha being the most glaring), nor with Jagr on the Power Play. Far too often Shanahan’s presence on a line caused his linemates to focus primarily on feeding him the puck for his classic one-timers – which is just fine – if he scores on them a lot more than the 4.5% of the time he did over the last 38 regular season games.

My point is that at age 38 (soon to be 39) Shanahan has become somewhere between a valuable role player and a star, and he should be paid accordingly. Given the fact (much to his credit) that Shanahan didn’t want to talk to other teams so he could be part of a potentially special Ranger squad this year, and that he essentially said he would do anything that made financial sense for the Rangers to help accomplish this goal, it seems to me that $5.3 million ($2.5 counting towards this year’s cap) is ridiculously high. At most he should have received the $4 million ($2 million salary & $2 million bonus) he earned last year, or even $3 million ($1.5 million salary & $1.5 million bonus). Had Sather paid Shanahan reasonably, he would have had another $500,000 to $1 million of salary cap room this year that could easily have been sent Avery’s way to avoid any arbitration and the ensuing consequences.

In fact, if it ever came down to prioritizing between Avery and Shanahan (in this stage of their careers), I’d choose Avery. The Rangers went 17-6-6 with Avery in the lineup. In games that Avery played and Shanahan didn’t, the Rangers went 8-3-4. In games that Shanahan played and Avery didn’t, the Rangers went 25-24-4. Certainly a stingier defense and sharper goaltending were big factors in the Rangers surge to the playoffs, but Avery was perhaps the biggest single factor in the Rangers remarkable turnaround last season.

As Larry Brooks of the New York Post wrote it in this article - Avery added “a jagged edge to a team that had been way too smooth for its own good the first four months of the season”. Avery, at age 27 and in his prime, got under the skin of his opponents - drawing far more penalties than he took. He displayed never ending energy, hustle and grit – while proving that he also had plenty of speed, skill and scoring ability. He kept himself in control (just enough) to be an extremely effective player without overly rocking the Rangers burgeoning boat along the way. And on top of all this, he played with an assortment of injuries that would have kept many a tough competitor out of the lineup.

Let’s face it, when the Rangers trashed the Thrashers in that four game playoff mercy killing, was there any Ranger more valuable than Avery? In addition to his offense output of 1 goal and 4 assists, Avery had the Thrashers top line so uncomfortably pestered that they looked as though they were skating in circles the entire series in search of insect repellent. No doubt, Avery has become a player whose intangible value is almost immeasurable. And for the first time in his career, Avery has built a connection with the fans, his team and their city. They love Avery, and in turn, Avery loves playing for them. This nomad had finally found a home.

Now all of this is not to say that Avery wasn’t in need of an attitude adjustment when he first arrived with the Rangers – a procedure that quickly and somewhat surprisingly was deemed a success (much to the credit of Shanahan). However, as we’ve discussed, attitudes weren’t the only thing in Rangerland that needed adjusting. Just like piano strings have to be tuned every once in awhile, I’d say that Sather’s purse strings (as well as his priorities) could have used a fine tuning before July 1 – with some purse strings being far too loose while others being far too tight. Had Slats been tuned in time, Avery could have been rewarded for his outstanding efforts from last season, and the ugly events of the past week could have been avoided.

But even after the fiscal mistakes (detailed above) were in the rear view mirror, Sather could have driven the dangerous Avery (and all his personal baggage) to safety, if not for the second of his three mistakes – not settling before the arbitration hearing on the obvious $2 million compromise. This is something that everybody with at least one marble rolling around in their head knew was going to happen anyway. The Blueshirt Bulletin summarizes its best in a post entitled: Why Bother?

Why didn’t both parties meet around the $2 million range – given that the numbers submitted at arbitration were $2.6 million by Avery and $1.3 million by Sather? Perhaps it was mutual stubbornness by two people with a history of having rather contrary dispositions. Right now it is unclear if either side offered the $2 million compromise and other side refused. If Avery was the one to refuse, then most of the blame would point at him. However, Sather’s reputation for playing hardball with his RFA entrants, make him the odds on favorite in this blame-game derby.

Still, despite these “comedy of errors”, the real damage had not yet been done. The third way this fiasco was avoidable would have been if Sather had used a more long-sighted, diplomatic approach throughout the arbitration process. Had he done so, Slats wouldn’t have pushed the volatile Avery into feelings of shock, resentment and disbelief. The handling of Avery, both on the ice and in negotiations, is as delicate a task as handling Nitroglycerine. Done properly, and Avery becomes a powerful weapon capable of helping you win wars. Done carelessly, and Avery can blow up in your face.

I realize that Avery and Sather both signed the arbitrator’s $1.9 million peace offering and that both sides are now talking “nice-nice”. But Avery’s initial reaction to Sather’s overly harsh treatment of him during the arbitration process is proof that Slats had already dropped the Nitro, and the inevitable explosion will come next summer.

Ordinarily the story would end here because we all know what happened and why it happened … or do we? It turns out that up until now, we’ve only been presented with a partial picture of the events surrounding the arbitration process. However, brand new evidence from a strange, yet somewhat familiar, source will astound even the hardened hockey fan.

The source I speak of is now a part-time European scout for the Rangers. He is a Finnish man with a somewhat Czech-ered past, including a stint as an actor in both Finland and the Czech Republic. Having a hard time making ends meet, he once appeared in a Finnish porn film – getting a good “bang for the buck”. This scout, who is extremely affable, has a magnetic personality – especially when it comes to beautiful women. He understands the English language quite well when heard or in writing, but he barely speaks a word of it. He is very popular with the Rangers brass when he comes to New York – not the least of which is because of his reputation for knowing how to find all the best European hotspots and parties in Manhattan. So when he comes to town, it’s nothing for Ranger employees to “put him up” in their guest houses. Wait a minute…guest houses? It couldn’t be….. could it? Remember, I said he was Finnish, so you know that we’re not talking about Kato. His name is actually Reijo – Reijo Raitinen.

According to Raitinen, Sather was very thorough in his preparation for the Avery arbitration hearing - gathering documentation on Avery’s entire career. Contrary to popular belief, Slats put together a fair, reasonable outline that effectively stated the Rangers case without being overly harsh to Avery. Sather intended to use the information contained in the outline to create a brief for the arbitration proceedings.

The night before the Rangers had to present the Avery brief to the arbitrator, Sather and a lower-level, but trusted, assistant were having coffee at local bistro. All of the Avery documentation was in Sather’s briefcase when Slats and his assistant went to the men’s room to answer nature’s cappuccino call.

Both men were standing at the urinals when Sather (with one hand holding his briefcase) used his other hand to loosen his own belt. It is at this time when Sather endured the executive embarrassment of eternity, which began when Slats’ slacks slipped (try saying that 3 times fast). Then, while trying to grab his trousers, Sather’s hand hooked his Hanes – accidentally pulling them down. And when I say that Sather “dropped his briefs”, I mean that Sather really dropped his briefs – as the Avery documents came tumbling out of his briefcase and all over the grungy bathroom floor. Bottomless, bewildered and berserk, Sather frantically put the papers back in the folders. However, in his haste Slats placed the papers from Avery’s “Pre-Rangers” folder into the “2007 Arbitration” folder and vice-versa.

Completely pressed for time now, Sather handed his “2007 Arbitration” folder to his assistant, who then couriered them to Cam Hope, the Rangers Assistant General Manger of Hockey Operations. Then against all hope, Cam wrote the final arbitration briefs from misplaced documents out of the wrong folder. The Avery briefs presented to the arbitrator said (among other disparaging verbiage) that Avery was “a reasonably effective player as well as a detriment to the team”. This statement is absolutely true - from 1999 to February 4, 2006. Shortly after February 5, 2006 (the day he was traded to the Rangers) we all know that Avery was an extremely effective player who was a major asset to the team.

By the time of the arbitration date, July 30, the briefs had already been submitted to the arbitrator. Sather had since discovered the mistake, but it was too late - they had to proceed with what they had previously written. As Sather and Hope (soiled briefs and all) stormed into the hearing, they replaced Simpson detectives, Tom Lange and Philip Vannatter, as the latest version of “Dumb and Dumber”. Of course, the ultimate irony in this fantastic farce is that it was never a case of premeditated mediation mangling (as commonly believed), instead it was a case of unplanned underwear undermining.

You may ask how did Reijo learn the details of the “Brew House Brief Bungling”? Apparently the night of July 30, while “hanging” at the Rangers corporate offices, he heard three mysterious, loud thumps. Quite concerned, Reijo had a secretary call the police. After detectives investigated the incident, they discovered no signs of burglary or foul play. Instead, the sounds actually came from Sather himself, who had pounded his fist on desk three times in anger over the day’s events.

You may also ask how do I know Reijo? Well, it turns out that we have a mutual friend – the girl he costarred with in that Finnish flesh flick. She and I have what you might call a ….uh-hum….professional relationship.

How will all that transpired affect the Rangers in the short-term? Ironically, it could help them. With Avery playing like man possessed next year (trying to earn a big UFA payday) and the Rangers having a very strong team already, a little luck and some timely tinkering by the otherwise competent Sather could result in another ticker tape parade down the Canyon of Heroes next June. Certainly, the Rangers are considered contenders for the Cup, but in all likelihood their chances of winning it are relatively low. As good as they are, the Rangers still have a number of holes to fill, and the very competitive nature of the NHL, makes it difficult for any team to win it all.

As for the long-term consequences of the Avery affair - fear not, I have no doubt that one day the Rangers will again “Skate the Cup”. The only problem I have with this prediction is that of timing - given that the Rangers big day might well be the same day that O.J. and his posse of PIs make good on their 1994 promise and catch the “real killer”. Which leads to my final word of warning to Ranger fans - don’t hold your collective breaths while waiting for the next Stanley Cup. With the “Avery Curse” soon to be hanging over the Rangers heads, this wait may “last a lifetime”.

DISCLAIMERS:
Everything written after (and including) the paragraph that begins “Ordinarily the story would end here…” is completely fabricated – a figment of my “slightly-warped” imagination. To the best of my knowledge Slats' slacks never slipped, and every fan’s favorite Finnish house guest, Reijo Raitinen, does not actually exist – but it was sure fun partying with him!

Courtesy of The Hockey Humorist - http://hockeyhumorist.blogspot.com/

Did You Enjoy This Post? If So, Tell Me - If Not, Blast Me!

Emery, Avery, Cammalleri, Roy, Ryder, Hunter, Stempniak

Arbitration is a time of year where fans hold their breath that one of their favourite, usually good, players doesn't demand too much and sign for more than he's worth.
If you want a relevant example of how arbitration affects the new NHL and its salary cap, see JP Dumont with the Buffalo Sabres at this exact same time last year.

The French-Canadian was awarded a one-year contract worth an estimated $2.9 million by a salary arbitrator after coming off a decent season while scoring 20 goals and adding the same number for assists in 54 games.

The number was grand, grand in many ways since a checking-line player is hardly worth anything over $2 million these days, so, the Sabres exercised their right to reject a contract and let Dumont walk to free-agency.
Dumont eventually signed for about 700K less with the Nashville Predators and scored 66 points with the last season, a career high.

That's only one and perhaps the best example of salaries awarded that affect a team's ability to keep him under the salary cap.

EMERY UPDATE: TSN reports that the Senators and Ray Emery have avoided salary arbitration with them agreeing to a 3-year contract worth $9.5 million (or almost $3.2 million per season)
(Hat tip to Sherry over at Scarlett Ice)
Now the question remains, what will they do with Martin Gerber?

This year promises to have some pretty big surprises on both sides, starting with the Senators' Ray Emery, coming off a career year all while carrying Ottawa to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in the modern era.

Emery had 33 wins, a 2.47 GAA and a .918 SPCT after overtaking Martin Gerber as the team's number one heading into December.
He made $925,000 last season and is looking for a hefty raise, that will likely come easily.
Reports out of Ottawa suggest that the only way Murray will be able to effectively sign Emery and have room to re-sign Jason Spezza (RFA), Dany Heatley (UFA), Antoine Vermette (RFA), Patrick Eaves (RFA) and Wade Redden (UFA) next summer is if he moves backup goalie Martin Gerber and his $3.7 million salary, which will be a difficult task.

All in all, Emery should get between $2.5 and $4 million next season, as arbitrators have proven they're still in love with the old NHL way of doing these things.

His agent, J.P. Barry is rumoured to be negotiating a multi year contract for Emery, and should Murray not be able to dump Gerber, he could have no choice and let Emery walk to free-agency, deeming his potential hefty salary too high for a goalie of his current status.
The trading of Peter Schaefer last week to the Bruins cleared up significant cap space over the next few seasons for Ottawa, in order to attempt to keep Emery and the crop of 2008 free-agents mentioned above.

Gerber finished the season off well for Ottawa and put up the exact same GAA and SPCT% he had with Carolina 2 seasons ago, all while maintaining a total of 15 wins.
The Swiss-born keeper is capable of a lot more than a backup role, and many fans feel that way; as we saw last season, if Gerber is not confident, he is weak...VERY weak...so Sens fans better be hoping that if Emery is indeed let go (and come on, it's not the end of the world) that Gerber finds his confidence and uses it like he did with Canes 2 seasons ago, and like he did when he shut out Team Canada with an amazing 47-save performance at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino.

Among others, Buffalo's Derek Roy could command a Nathan Horton type salary, according to the Ghost, who has a great post handling the fact that Roy could indeed be an equal to the Panther forward.
Roy, an impressive +37 last season, is the team's projected no.1 centre next season, with Bufalo GM Darcy Regier losing both Chris Drury and Daniel Briere to the Rangers and Flyers respectively via free-agency.
The Sabres are expected to push hard to sign Roy and don't expect another JP Dumont-type situation to unfold this time around, as whatever the arbitrator awards Roy, Regier will pay with open arms.
He had a career-year as the team's 3rd line centre, scoring 21 goals and adding 42 assists for a total of 63 points in 75 contests.

On the other side of town, Sean Avery and Marcel Hossa's cases are still unresolved, with both wanting and deserving raises from the salaries they had last season.
Avery, being the most deserving, made $1.1 million last season and could command a salary upwards of $2.5 million in arbitration, while Marcel Hossa is second-rate and definitely not a priority in this case.

The Rangers may indeed sacrifice Hossa, should his contract be too expensive for their taste, and focus on signing the hard-hitting and well-hated Avery instead.
Avery, who came over in a deal from the Los Angeles Kings at mid-season, scored 18 goals and added 30 assists with LA and New York, 20 of those points coming in 29 contests after his trade to the Rangers, making his value as a checking-line player skyrocket.

Speaking of LA, the Kings will have a difficult case in Mike Cammalleri.
Coming off a career year, the 25-year old tallied 34 goals and added 46 assists to lead the Kings, his salary projects to be upwards of $4 million, and his best-case scenario would likely be a salary of $5 million, though, at this point of his career, the Kings better hope it's a multi-year deal for that kind of money.

The Islanders have scoring centre Trent Hunter heading into arbitration, and the veteran shouldn't be too expensive.
Coming off a 20-goal and 35 point campaign, Hunter is likely to get a deal within the likes of $1 and $1.8 million.

Michael Ryder, a potential 40, maybe even 50 goal scorer for the Canadiens, is scheduled for arbitration on July 30, same as Sean Avery.
Ryder had an up-and-down season in Montreal, potting 30 goals and adding 28 helpers for a respectable 58 points.
The downside? A horrendous -25 rating and a decrease in consistency could hurt Ryder's value when it comes time to talk turkey.
Still relatively young at age 27, Ryder still has the time to fully break out into the 40-goal scorer he was projected to become, although he may prove to be pricey when this is all said and done.
Ryder made $2.2 million last season and is expected to once again, get a raise from that.
Often criticized of being a one-dimensional player, Ryder actually evolved into a penalty-killing role last season despite putting up a +/- rating of -25.
He is a key component of Montreal's already borderline offence, a salary of $3 million sounds reasonable.

I have long suggested the Canadiens should do a kind of sign-and-trade of Ryder in order to acquire that star player the Canadiens have longed for, someone like Patrick Marleau.
Besides Ryder, there isn't anyone the Habs could realistically trade that has good value without jeopardizing the club's future (Carey Price, Chris Higgins, Andrei Kostitsyn, Guillaume Latendresse).

Lee Stempniak, the 24-year old scoring sensation out of Darthmouth University in New Hampshire, is the kind of player the Blues need to lock up for a long time.
Stempniak scored 27 goals and 52 points in only his second pro NHL season!
He will likely get a deal done that will pay him between $2 and $3.5 million

And that's all folks, hope you enjoyed BBeR's preview of this year's arbitration saga, which is shaping up to be an intriguing one in many ways!
This took me a long time to write, with only statistics and salary numbers being available to me, I have yet to find a decent list/preview of all this out there, so I decided to write one up myself!

-In goalite news, the Blues have acquired goalie Hannu Toivonen from the Boston Bruins in exchange for centre Carl Soderberg.
Toivonen had a terrible 2005-2006 campaign after a spectacular rookie season, a trade was expected with the B's acquisition of Manny Fernandez from the Wild.

-Some more goalie talk, Brian Boucher is heading back to where he started, signing a one-year minor-league deal with the Flyers' farm club, the Philadelphia Phantoms.

Cheers!

--BBR

Rangers pursue their Quest

Tomorrow, the Rangers will face the Buffalo Sabres in the 5th playoff game of their series. After tying the series up at 2 games-a-piece after a controversial play, the Rangers are looking to grasp some kind momentum going into the HSBC Center.

Some Rangers have shown up in this series whereas some others do not even seem to be present on the ice surface. Among the first group, are captain Jaromir Jagr, goaltender Henrik Lundqvist and pest-in-chief Sean Avery. Each helping the Rangers in their own way, Jagr with the goals, Lundqvist with the saves and Avery with "pi**ing off the oppostion", have, all combined, given the Rangers a chance at a task, a dream that was out of proportion a mere week ago.

Even though having lost their last game in Buffalo, the Rangers kept the Sabres' explosive offense to a slim 3 goals, but failed to tie the game in the final minutes, thus losing the game 3-2.
But something happened after that loss, something stronger than that very Sabres' offense, that sparked the Rangers' and their defense. The result to that "something" was the fact that the Rangers would only allow 2 goals to the Sabres in their next 2 games.

Hopefully, that streak will continue and the Rangers will be able to net (at least!) one on Ryan Miller tomorrow in Buffalo.

Go Rangers Go

Ever thought about this...Sean Avery and Chris Neil?

Oh, and sorry for my lack of posting recently, I've been busy.

I was thinking about this last night, as a matter of fact, wouldn't it be interesting if Chris Neil faced off against Sean Avery?

Actually, no, have you realized the similarity between these players.

Their styles of play are both the same, if not nearly identical.
They both can score, although Avery had 20 more points than Neil this season (and most of those came after he was dealt to the Rangers) and are probably the most annoying players any team can face?

Yes, but you'll counter that Avery's more popular.

True, Avery is the more popular one, but consider these career stats.
Avery and Neil had virtually the same number of penalty minutes, and are up there in certain career stats, heck, Neil is +41 and Avery +6!

Sean Avery (NYR) : 322 GP, 50 G, 80 A, 184 P, +6, 913 PIM, 8 GWG, 20 PPG, .077 %
Chris Neil (OTT): 383 GP, 52 G, 52 A, 104 P, +41, 953 PIM, 4 GWG, 12 PPG, .113 %

At a glance, you can see that Avery is the superior offensive player, even if Neil has more career goals.
Avery's the better playmaker, as 30 of his 48 points were assists, 18 of them goals.

Neil and Avery alike, can play on the powerplay and are efficient in making Ryan Smyth like plays by bothering goalies.
Neil actually has nearly 200 less shots than Avery in his career, and he's played 61 more games!
That tells you something else: Avery's been on a scoring line his entire career, especially with the Kings.
Neil's essentially been a 3rd-4th line winger with a surplus of ice-time in the past few seasons, more than a checking player usually gets.

What else does that stat tell you?

The .113% versus Avery's .077% also indicates that Neil has the better shooting percentage, and that he could potentially have done more damage had he shot more than he does now.
But he can't shoot more if he's not a top 6 forward.

Neil and Avery are both players you want on your team, they may have, according to some ignorant fans, cheap-shotted your favourite players or called your goalie names, but that's what you need in the new NHL: an enforcer than can be a top-6 forward with more than just limited physical ability.
Scoring ability counts in the new NHL, and that's why players like Aaron Downey are becoming a rare commodity that teams don't need to bother with.

Oh, and we must not forget their fights so far this year.

Avery has fought 4 times, and has been declared winner 3 of the 4 (he took a nice little beating courtesy of Ian Laperierre and all this courtesy of hockeyfights.com); Neil has been involved in a more controversial situation this year, it came against the Buffalo Sabres when he upped Chris Drury, who had his head turned away at full speed.

Drury, the Sabres' captain, was laying on the ice with blood dripping from his face.
Stafford dropped the gloves and went at it with Neil and there was a whole "Slap-Shot" like scum, with the crop of the fight arriving once Martin Biron and Ray Emery exchanged a few punches.

Neil fought twice against the Canadiens this season, one that you can't really call a fight in which Neil and then-Hab Aaron Downey dropped the gloves and just circled at centre ice, this was early in the year.

Mike Komisarek got into a little scum with Neil as well, but the refs didn't really let them go...too bad, Komi would've kicked some Senators butt!

Oh, but, it may be to Neil's account here that this is unfair, but Avery wins this one for me, even if he wasn't drafted, because he was able to draft certain Elisha Cuthbert into his life.

The Rangers trail the Sabres 2-1, and I have yet to see how Avery will punish the Sabres like he promised, the Sens shut out the Devils yesterday to take a 2-1 lead in their series against New Jersey.

Even if they do meet later on, highly doubtful though (sorry Rangers fans), Neil would never play against Sean Avery, unless Avery wants to give TSN SportsCentre a new topic for their "Top 10" feature.

And to finish this off:

Chris Neil/Sens vs. Drew Stafford/Sabres


Sean Avery vs. Darcy Tucker

Tonight's Sabres-Rangers game should be interesting, as Lindy Ruff (who went overboard at the end of Game 2) promised it will be dirty.

Hope the 'Nucks win, so I can take a lead in my local hockey pool (no, not the blogger one )