Avery in Rangers win, Avery out Rangers lose

[lunchbox]

Originally Posted by Undertakr

Everyone bashes Avery for penalities, but the fact is, the guy gets a TON of penalties drawn from the other team, I'd guess around half or more of his penalties are evened up by the other team taking a matching penalty, he usually takes a player to the box with him that is better than he is as well. He can skate, he can score, he can get under the skin of every player on the ice. The Kings were forced to use him in a way that wasn't beneficial to him, he should be a 3rd or 4th line 10 minute a game guy to spark the team, but Avery is a huge asset. Yes, he has a big mouth and yes, he fights with his team, but he does that because the guy wants to win more than anyone can imagine. That's a great asset to me and I think if Avery was on a team like the Wings or the Sens, you wouldn't see the team issues you've seen.

I'm pro Avery, we should have kept him IMO and put him on the 4th line.

totally agree with everything you say. but by 3rd or 4th line, do you mean if he were still on the kings? he plays 1st or 2nd line with the rags, usually with shanahan and gomez.

[taz42]

Originally Posted by Undertakr

Everyone bashes Avery for penalities, but the fact is, the guy gets a TON of penalties drawn from the other team, I'd guess around half or more of his penalties are evened up by the other team taking a matching penalty, he usually takes a player to the box with him that is better than he is as well. He can skate, he can score, he can get under the skin of every player on the ice. The Kings were forced to use him in a way that wasn't beneficial to him, he should be a 3rd or 4th line 10 minute a game guy to spark the team, but Avery is a huge asset. Yes, he has a big mouth and yes, he fights with his team, but he does that because the guy wants to win more than anyone can imagine. That's a great asset to me and I think if Avery was on a team like the Wings or the Sens, you wouldn't see the team issues you've seen.

I'm pro Avery, we should have kept him IMO and put him on the 4th line.

Amen to that!!!

[Puck U]

Originally Posted by Dana

There's a very fine line I think when it comes time to call someone out for "abysmal" play within a locker room. If it's someone that's well respected and rarely did something that would take away from the team game, like Yzerman or Sakic, the message is going to be received a lot better than Avery calling someone out.

If I was in the Rangers locker room and I had to listen to a player like Avery who takes selfish and undisciplined penalties at inopportune times attempt to call me out for bad play, I wouldn't be fired up by it, I'd think "What a hypocritical bastard." Do you really think Brendan Shanahan, Chris Drury, or Scott Gomez gives a crap about what Avery has to say?

With a young team like the Kings, the last thing they needed was a player causing problems within the locker room and setting a bad example for the younger players. Young players are going to struggle and deal with consistency issues along with confidence problems and if the younger players were feeling intimidated by Avery, he was always going to be a detriment to the team. Not everyone responds to criticism the same way and if a young player is struggling on the ice and not feeling very confident, the last thing he's going to need is to be berated in front of his teammates for his on ice play.

Amen to that!!!

[Undertakr]

Originally Posted by lunchbox

totally agree with everything you say. but by 3rd or 4th line, do you mean if he were still on the kings? he plays 1st or 2nd line with the rags, usually with shanahan and gomez.

I mean if he was on the Kings. By putting Avery on the 1st or 2nd line, he's got too much time to take an unnecessary penalty and it messes up the chemistry of the line he's removed from. If you had him on the 3rd line or 4th line, if he went in the box you'd still have your 1st and 2nd line in tact. If he takes out a Pronger or Neidermeyer and puts them in the box with him, your scoring lines have a much better chance of scoring.

He can play a 2nd line, I wouldn't consider him a first line player, but to play to Avery's strength, I'd have him on the 3rd or 4th line, adding energy and grit and pumping up the team and I think he'd totally excel at that position and you would also have him available to fill in on the 1st and 2nd line if one of those guys take a penalty.

Avery is totally under-rated, but it's because he's place on the wrong line, IMO.

[lunchbox]

i got ya and concur. he was basically misused by the kings and is a large reason why he didn't work out here. i think people like to read too much into some of the media and it leads them to believe he's going to wear out his welcome in NY, but if you actually watch his teammates and coaches when they're interviewed, you can see how valued and appreciated he is by them. a lot is to be said for speech inflection and the lack of quote parsing done by visual as opposed to written media. anyone who doesn't watch NYR games regularly can't say he doesn't bring anything to the rangers.

[d dub]

I think this is interesting about the Rangers & their scoring woes. No team in the league has more money tied up in forwards than they do. Of the 9 non-forwards on their roster they've carried most of the season Staal is the only one tied up for next season. Lundqvist, Tyutin & Girardi are all RFA's, the other 5 are all UFA's, as are Shanny, Avery & Straka.

This is a team that could look radically different next year.

[nosoupforyou]

I remember hearing from someone that Brown was going to leave if Avery stayed because of how Avery was relentlessly being an a-hole to him all the time.

[d dub]

Originally Posted by nosoupforyou

I remember hearing from someone that Brown was going to leave if Avery stayed because of how Avery was relentlessly being an a-hole to him all the time.

I hadn't heard Brown was gonna leave, but it is not far fetched at all. I know he hated Avery a lot, even the LA Times had that story. Brown's point per game average pretty much doubled as soon as Avery was shipped. To me anything the Kings got from the Rangers that they can turn into a legit NHLer is gravy, because the trade paid off with Brown confident & tied to a multi.

[MuPPeT666]

The thing that changed his play the most is breaking up with that chick he had...can't remember her name though...one random bitch, doesn't really matter anyway...