By now, you're no doubt aware that Sean Avery -- the Dallas Stars' filthy fourths, following his stints with Detroit, Los Angeles and New York -- got popped for a six-game suspension with some anger-management classes thrown in to boot. Says National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman in an NHL.com sitdown: "I'm not entirely surprised it got to this point."
At last, the great Daryl "Razor" Reaugh has weighed in on Avery -- and the what-mighta-been had Dallas gone in a different direction (which is to say, not to the bottom of the Pacific Division standings). Last night Razor posted to his blog several complimentary quotes about Avery from Stars' front-office folks, among them co-Stars GM Brett "What the" Hull -- who, after the jump, talks to the media gathered in front of NHL NYC HQ following Avery's sitdown with the commish yesterday. (Funny stuff.)
Then, Razor wonders in a later posting: What might have happened had the Stars stuck with Nik Hagman as opposed to the Men's Vogue intern. Because, after all, "Hagman had value in a lot of areas. He was a good teammate, an
effective and deadly penalty killer (Stars PK is currently 27th), a
workaholic, durable, and could be counted on for 25 goals. Sean Avery
is none of these things, a lot of other things, and is/was on pace for
9 or 10 goals. $3.3 million for Haggy vs close to $4 million for Avery?" As always, I blame Tom Hicks. --Robert Wilonsky
