Avery wasn't playing on Monday. Sean hasn't played in how long. Buffalo in early December. He barely played at his last few games being a healthy scratch.
Boyle is a far better defensive player than Avery. It's not even close and that is coming from someone who likes Avery.
And I don't care what the goal total is, Dubinsky is a better player than Avery by a mile. You poll every single player on the Rangers and every single player would come back with the same response.
Avery is still a nice player, but we currently have better players ahead of him. The only argument I side with Avery on is vs Christensen. And perhaps Wolski, but at least Wolski deserves a chance first.
Torts seems to disagree with you and it seems to be working. Outside of EC, Boyle is currently the #1 face-off guy on the team at 51.6 and has taken the 2nd most on the team.
Additionally he averages over 2 hits a game. They may not "be as hard" but they still do their job at wearing down the opposition.
Avery used to be one of my favorite players, but the lack of logic on HF sometimes is mind "bottleing".
Faceoff % is more indicative of a center problem for the Rangers than a notch on Boyle's belt.
Given the same amount of ice time, I would venture a guess that Avery would have more hits per game, and much more to the variety that wear defenceman down.
However, if the rationale behind the demotion was salary driven, Avery is the guy to go clearly.
Just don't try to sell the fan base that you have better players than Avery on the Roster.
It's a blatant lie.
Torts preaches accountability, time to be accountable to the team and the Org.
Your 3rd line center is on pace for 4 goals and 14 assists. 18 Points from your 3rd line center that averages 14+ minutes a game. To make things worse, he averages :53 seconds of PP time per game as well.
That's atrocious.
If you are truly preaching accountability, then you need look no further than the Big Slow.
Some observations from someone in neither the love Avery or hate Avery crowd.
To the love Sean side:
Keep the comparisons to those who play the same position, comparing him to Boyle, EC or Prust doesn't help your case no matter what you think of those players, and if your counting on Prust to be a significant offensive contributor then this team has bigger problems than Sean playing in NYC or Hartford.
To the Hate Avery side:
He was a regular on the PK during his time in LA and here under Renney, in 07-08 when the Rangers had the #6 PK his SH/TOI was :50 per game. In 06-07 split between LA and NY he averaged 1:41. I know you hate him but lets not overlook facts.
To both sides:
Pick a stat and stick to it...last year the hate crowd pointed to lack of goals and the love crowd pointed to assists. This year the hate crowd is pointing to lack of assists and the love crowd is pointing to goals.
I'll step off my now and let both sides continue this
The teams will lining up to claim Avery on waivers if you read this forum. Too bad for Sean some of the people here aren't running NHL teams because might have a chance to remain in the NHL this season and in the future.
I can answer this pretty simply. Boyle and EC are capable of playing special teams, particularly Boyle on the PK, which Avery can not. EC adds shootout skill, which Avery does not. Rupp might not be the best skater, but there are no shifts where the guy is invisible, unlike with Avery, and provides an experienced voice in the locker room. Mitchell, also, is rarely invisible and provides puck control along the boards.
So, all of these players provide things that Avery doesn't and I actually like Sean Avery a lot.
And as with BlueshirtBlitz, after this post I'm done here. We've been through this.
I agree with this, I'm what you would call a Avery supporter, i saw this coming when Rupp actually came back and with the emergence of Hagelin & Mitchell, it was only a matter of time, this frees up Cap space for some more healthy bodies to come back...
Can't have 15 active forwards with EC/Avery/WW rounding it out.
You go back to that weird interaction after Avery scored his last goal.
Something off ice has happened that has alienated him from the team. In my opinion Tortorella has full support of his players this time.
As much as I liked the way Avery played...... the team is winning without him, you can't argue against that.
I doubt it. That clown Incarcerated Bob will lead you to believe something was happening but I don't think so. He was with the team at the Christmas party a week ago and everything seemed to be fine based on their tweets. Plus if something really happened I'm sure they would have banished him as soon as it possibly became a problem, not three weeks later.
I feel like if Avery did something off the ice Torts would've had him waived the next day.
Don't even know if it's the rumoured issue, but if it was at that point it was just a rumour. It could take some time decide what is fact and what is fiction.
Or it could be just not listening, not doing what is asked of him. The issue to me is that his play on the ice didn't deserve a demotion, that's why I suspect something people don't know about.
lets be honest, you and I had as much chance of playing in the WC as avery. right or wrong, barring injuries he wasn't getting back in the lineup anytime soon.
I can't wait until next season so Avery is totally off the team. I'm so sick of seeing Avery threads..... It's not even about the player any more, it's about the fans who think he is better than 70% of the league.......
Avery brings more to the table than Christensen. However, neither play much and Avery is twice as expensive. It makes sense to waive him.
Bingo. This man right here gets it.
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