Avery Mania Sweeps NY

If you saw the media crowd around Sean Avery's locker Monday night on the visiting side of MSG, you'd think he was Sidney Crosby or even a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Avery made his much-publicized return to the Garden Monday night and continues his NY tour in Newark and Long Island this week. It was in New York where Avery became most notable in his role as a pest, agitator.

The Rangers record with him in the lineup was 50-20-16 and 9-13-2 without him. It was a number that often got mentioned in the game notes, which is something I'd think Avery's agent would have had to use in contract extension talks.

It's a nice story, agitator scores some goals, says some funny things and the Rangers win. It was the case in 2007 when I asked him for a simple description of his two goals and he quipped: "I just didn't want the fans to keep yelling shoot".

If you're a Ranger fan, keeping him would be nice, but at the same time their record disparity kind of indicted others on the roster. You'd expect a losing record when Jaromir Jagr, Chris Drury, Scott Gomez, Brendan Shanahan are out of the lineup.

Sure his addition helped in 2007 but when he was hurt, the Rangers' struggles were not due to his absence. It was due to figuring out how to get Drury and Gomez acclimated.

Are the Rangers better without him? It's nice that he can score and agitate but plenty of teams have won with just playing hockey and using their talented players and his antics can get tiresome.

I'd think there was a segment of Ranger management that felt the same way, which would explain them offering four years, 12 million as opposed to the 15.5 million he got from Dallas.

While Avery's tenure here was interesting, the Rangers never made it past the second round. A makeover was needed and Avery leaving is not necessarily a bad thing, although we'll see how the Rangers do.

Their record is good and maybe the fatigue of playing seven games in 11 days has gotten to them in the last four games where they've scored just six times. (not counting the shootout vs. Toronto).

In their first five games, they didn't necessarily put together a full 60 minutes. They got the goals when needed.

Now that they haven't had the goals when needed, the lack of a full 60 minutes is exposed as it was Monday when they couldn't adjust against the Dallas Stars, who defended things the way hockey fans are accustomed to seeing.

As for Avery, his next stop is the Prudential Center with his two "friends" David Clarkson and Martin Brodeur, whom he "affectionately" referred to as a "minor league bonehead" and "fatso".

UPDATE - Besides the antics on the ice, Avery has his share off the ice, including this one with one of the MSG broadcasters.

Media confrontations happen from time to time but doesn't it seem like Avery intended to stir something up there?

Voros in front of net equals goals and rousing start for the Rangers

Roughly 90 minutes after the ice had been cleared the fans were gone, the vendor was wheeling his unsold t-shirts into the elevator and moving them into storage for the next night of hawking Rangers merchandise. The cart did not include any items containing the name Aaron Voros.

Chances are they might the next time. Especially if Voros continues to find his way in front of opposing goaltenders to deflect those big drives from the point.

Voros did just that Monday and the Rangers are 5-0-0 for the first time since 1983-84. If they win again Wednesday against Ryan Miller and the Sabres, that will be a franchise record.

So who is Aaron Voros? He's a guy who has the passion for standing in front of the net. He said so himself.



The initial comparision is Sean Avery, whose tactics prompted the league to name a rule after him. Tom Renney's better comparison is Thomas Holmstrom of Detroit, who has scored 176 times since 1996 by doing just that and so far Voros has caused this song to play three times by his actions.

His actions have along with those of Brandon Dubinsky - who is becoming a clutch player in the mode of Chris Drury - have prompted this song to be played five times in as many games so far.

Making matters even more impressive is that the top line of Scott Gomez, Markus Naslund and Chris Drury did not even register a point against the Devils.

Before the season started, the popular vote had the Rangers somewhere around sixth in the East because it was going to be a season of seeing how Jaromir Jagr could be replaced but the Rangers have done that by replacing his plodding style with a quick strike and speed game and that is what can win a lot of games these days.

That's not a knock at Jagr, it's just the reality of the league and the Rangers have embraced it to the tune of 10 points. It has not all been perfect, there have been stretches that would be nicely classified as "not so good", but it's a rousing start.

The latest win came after prospect Alexei Cherepanov passed away at the way too young age of 19 in Russia and while playing alongside Jagr. Jagr remained in contact with the Rangers and said he was good enough to play on a second line in the NHL.

The best way to honor something so tragic is to put forth these kind of efforts that lead to more wins than losses.


"Just stay humble. Work hard. Work harder than the other team every game, and work harder in practice. “Take nothing for granted, especially on a day like today. How could you? It’s a gift to be playing in this league. It’s a gift to walk the planet. So you know what, leave it on the ice every single night and let the results take care of themselves." - Tom Renney