According to Tom Gulitti and the linked article by his colleague Andrew Gross, the Devils aren't talking much about Sean Avery and the Rangers aren't even letting Avery speak to the media about this. Given the relative silence, I would like to point out something Avery-related that any reporters or anyone looking for, well, something to make out of this one.
You see, Monday's game will not be the only regular season game Sean Avery has laced them up against the Devils. Avery has faced Martin Brodeur and the Devils earlier this year when he was a Dallas Star. What did he do? Well, not much. Avery was largely a non-factor that night, as I originally wrote on the old ILWT:
The Devils, outside of David Clarkson for a few shifts, didn't focus solely on Sean Avery. And they didn't need to as Avery played the best game possible. He couldn't make good passes. He couldn't time his own passes or drives into the zone, causing some offside calls. Despite 4 shots on net, none of them really challenged Martin Brodeur. He got hit plenty of times from various Devils and he even fell down once. The fans let him know that he sucks and tonight, he truly did. He didn't contribute much to the Dallas cause of winning hockey games tonight, that's for sure.
Just to clarify, when I say Avery fell - it was when he was coming on for a line change. Sometimes the boards aren't where you think they are, I suppose.
The Stars as a whole were miserable that night as the Devils cruised to a 5-0 win. Only an announced 12,201 was at the Rock that night - but it was a
very vocal 12,201. Many cheers against Avery and the lackluster Stars; many cheers in favor of a superior Devils team. Instead of taking a crowd out of the game or inciting them otherwise; Avery was just a target for the crowd (and numerous Devils when he had the puck).
But I imagine this will go largely ignored. After all, it doesn't fit very well with the established narrative. Which is, I think: Avery
acted like a chump annoyed Brodeur and the Devils in the 2008 playoffs to great success, and he's now back in Ranger blue (not unlike
Toronto blue) and he could do it again and please ignore the
last three games between the two teams because SEAN AVERY is a Ranger again so
everything is different now. We can't go against the narrative after all. It's
established.
However, as indicated by the recent losses to
Atlanta and
Pittsburgh, Avery hasn't been, shall we say,
useful to the Rangers recently. Only one assist in both games and not much else to write home about off the boxscore. Yet, he commands attention.
Blueshirt Banter even blamed the league for a conspiracy against Avery, saying that officials are too focused on him. Seriously. He took one (1) goalie interference call against Atlanta and no (0) minors against Pittsburgh. If we're going on calls, there's more evidence that there's a conspiracy against Bobby Holik! It can't be that, you know, they're doing stupid things on the ice. Still, it's Sean Avery, so to some he commands this, um, attention?
Again, both teams aren't adding fuel to any Avery-related fire. That is for the best, I suppose. They are focusing on the game itself. According to Rich Chere,
Patrik Elias said Monday was a big game because they haven't been playing well. No mentions of a rivalry or Avery or a distaste for a franchise that stands for little and remains living on a very The Devils just want to snap their 4 game losing streak and it just so happens that the goal is do that against the Rangers. At this point, dealing with distractions like Avery would only hinder the Devils. This, I think, is the proper approach.
Sean Avery, frankly, isn't worth anyone's time given his recent play and what he did (nothing of significance) against New Jersey back in October.
