pwoznic
The Rangers should claim Avery
Posted 9:56 PM ET | Comments 7
It's really quite simple. The salary cap (and Sather's spending) has ruined this team for the mid-long term. It would be great if the cap was, I dunno, $70 million, but that's not going to happen in this economy, and with 30 teams.
So why Avery? Well, I'm a numbers guy, and Avery's numbers are impressive with his time on the Rangers, both season and post season.
2006 - 2007 season
8 goals, 12 assists, 20 points in 29 games. That is .69 points per game (PPG). He also had 28 points in 55 games with the Kings that year, giving him 48 on the season.
2006 - 2007 post-season
1 goal, 4 assists, 5 points in 10 games. That is .50 PPG. We all saw how effective Avery was against the Thrashers (i.e. making Hossa and Kovalchuk practically cry).
Drury ruined that playoff run, and soon ruined our cap situation.
2007 - 2008 season
15 goals, 18 assists, 33 points in 57 games. That is .58 PPG. That's not bad, considering he missed time to injury and played through his wrist injury.
2007 - 2008 post-season
4 goals, 3 assists, 7 points in 8 games. That is .88 PPG. Even though the Penguins spoiled our playoff hopes *cough* Hossa, Avery showed his love for the team by playing with a RUPTURED SPLEEN!
Point summary
Season:
53 points in 86 games. That is .62 PPG.
Post-season:
12 points in 18 games. He never played a post-season with another NHL team. That is .67 PPG.
When Avery was injured last season, he spent a considerable amount of time walking around the 400s of MSG, greeting and drinking with fans. This was on his own time. He didn't have to, but he loved the city that loved him.
Avery's suspension from the NHL and the Stars was uncalled for, in my opinion. He has never laid out a dirty hit nearly breaking a neck, such as Pronger, Neil, Hollweg, Ruutu, and the list goes on.
What did Avery do?
He called his ex-gf something semi-indecent prior to playing her new boyfriend against the Flames. Do you think Avery would drop his gloves against Dion? Probably not. Would he draw a few penalties? Yup.
The Rangers have the following RFAs and UFAs at the end of this season:
Zherdev
Prucha
Bell
Korpikowski
Sjostrom
Dubinsky
Callahan
Dawes
Orr
All of these players are due for a raise. Assuming the Rangers grab Avery on re-entry, that is a $1.9m cap hit, and a guaranteed signing for the next 3 seasons.
With that kind of production, why not?
So why Avery? Well, I'm a numbers guy, and Avery's numbers are impressive with his time on the Rangers, both season and post season.
2006 - 2007 season
8 goals, 12 assists, 20 points in 29 games. That is .69 points per game (PPG). He also had 28 points in 55 games with the Kings that year, giving him 48 on the season.
2006 - 2007 post-season
1 goal, 4 assists, 5 points in 10 games. That is .50 PPG. We all saw how effective Avery was against the Thrashers (i.e. making Hossa and Kovalchuk practically cry).
Drury ruined that playoff run, and soon ruined our cap situation.
2007 - 2008 season
15 goals, 18 assists, 33 points in 57 games. That is .58 PPG. That's not bad, considering he missed time to injury and played through his wrist injury.
2007 - 2008 post-season
4 goals, 3 assists, 7 points in 8 games. That is .88 PPG. Even though the Penguins spoiled our playoff hopes *cough* Hossa, Avery showed his love for the team by playing with a RUPTURED SPLEEN!
Point summary
Season:
53 points in 86 games. That is .62 PPG.
Post-season:
12 points in 18 games. He never played a post-season with another NHL team. That is .67 PPG.
When Avery was injured last season, he spent a considerable amount of time walking around the 400s of MSG, greeting and drinking with fans. This was on his own time. He didn't have to, but he loved the city that loved him.
Avery's suspension from the NHL and the Stars was uncalled for, in my opinion. He has never laid out a dirty hit nearly breaking a neck, such as Pronger, Neil, Hollweg, Ruutu, and the list goes on.
What did Avery do?
He called his ex-gf something semi-indecent prior to playing her new boyfriend against the Flames. Do you think Avery would drop his gloves against Dion? Probably not. Would he draw a few penalties? Yup.
The Rangers have the following RFAs and UFAs at the end of this season:
Zherdev
Prucha
Bell
Korpikowski
Sjostrom
Dubinsky
Callahan
Dawes
Orr
All of these players are due for a raise. Assuming the Rangers grab Avery on re-entry, that is a $1.9m cap hit, and a guaranteed signing for the next 3 seasons.
With that kind of production, why not?
Excellent, well thought out blog. If Im not mistaken, you are saying that we Avery at 1.9 million is a better deal than giving a raise to some of those FAs. Because tight against the cap as we are, it would be hard to re-sign Zherdev, Dubi, and Cally. Adding Avery to next years cap may make it impossible. And I know this is a numbers blog, but it is worth pointing out that this is a vanilla team and it needs some spice. We got some on the bench, now lets add some on the ice.
Nice right up Pwoz.Avery is def needed on this team not only because he is a super pest but he is also a point producer and has a nice set of skills that go unlooked. Glad to see someone pointed them out. BTW has their ever been a player that screwed this team over more than Drury?
I'm not saying that signing Avery is more important than let's say, Zherdev, but we have to assume that with so many RFAs (primarily Prucha, Dubinsky, Callahan and Zherdev), there is a good chance that at least 2 of them will get offers Sather can't match.He might be able to match those offers with or without Avery... so it's a chance, but it's one Sather should take. At least it would be entertaining!
Going out of your way to pick up a problem player that your new coach has publicly stated (on TSN no less) he would never want on his team doesn't seem like a situation that is going to do anything to help the Rangers get out of their troubles. I'd say the 1.9 mill Avery would take up would be much better spent elsewhere to deal with things. Just my 2 cents...
makes sense.
I'm hoping some other team claims Avery before the Rangers get to him... Otherwise it's possible we can be spending the next 3 seasons wondering what if someone else did and we wouldn't be in the mess we are in (if all doesn't go as well as planned w/ his antics)
Yeah this could end up pretty poorly, we really need to give Sather the boot and have Schoeny take over...