According to TSN, the Dallas Stars made it official and announced that agitating and abrasive forward Sean Avery will not return to the club.
Avery will continue to be paid and receive support from the Stars organization while he undergoes counseling, however, as we said on December 5th, he will not play for the Stars again.
In the statement released by Dallas, Co-General Manager Brett Hull said: "We do care about Sean and want what is best for him. We've agreed to do what we can to help find him a place to play hockey once he addresses his personal issues."
Although they could have, Stars management said the team would not challenge Avery’s contract under the conduct clause in the Standard NHLPA Contract. The agreement’s Paragraph 2 (e) directs NHL players “to refrain from conduct detrimental to the best interest of the Club, the League or professional hockey generally.”
Instead, in their statement the Stars said they will honor Avery's contract while exploring all of their options for his future. Possibilities include assigning him to the minors or loaning him overseas, trading him, or buying him out - when the buyout window in the collective bargaining agreement opens at the end of the year.
The Stars would still owe Avery his entire salary if he's sent to the minors (although it wouldn't count against the cap), or two-thirds of the three remaining years on his contract if they buy him out at season's end. That total is around $8 Million and is spread out over twice the remaining seasons for the purposes of the salary cap hit. A buyout seems likely if they cannot trade him or lose him via waivers - and Avery WILL be waived at some point.
Who would possibly take this mess off of Dallas' hands? Well if you believe Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun, Sean Avery could be headed right back to the NY Rangers, via their AHL affiliate in Hartford until he has completed counseling and is ready to play. The Rangers would still pay his salary but again, it wouldn't count against the cap if he plays in the AHL.
However, I take everything Garrioch says with a grain of salt - he's like the NY Post's Larry Brooks in his never ending (and never correct) prognostications. Why the Rangers would suddenly want to trade for and pay Avery what they refused to pay him in the offseason is a serious headscratcher.
Even if the theory is the Blueshirts will be dumping D Michal Roszival and his $5M cap hit over 4 years in the deal to free up room to sign Mats Sundin - the fact is Sundin would then be the 6th center on the Rangers roster. A LOT more dominoes would have to fall to fit in the 37-year old procrastinating pivot, and even then? It still feels like the Sundin to NY rumors are purely media fiction. As a die hard Blueshirt fan, I hope they are.
Fantasy Analysis:
Well, if you listened to us 9 days ago, you dropped Avery ASAP. However, while only 28% of teams own Avery in public Yahoo leagues, a shocking 75% of ESPN Leagues still have Avery in play.
Once again, while Avery was a great source of PIMs and Points, you are FAR better off dropping Avery and targeting similar players on other teams.
Since recommending St. Louis' wing David Backes on Dec. 5, he has tallied 3G, 3A, 8 PIMs, 1 PPP, 14 SOGs and is +1. Phoenix's Danny Carcillo has put up just 1 Assist, but also 21 PIMs to go with 8 SOGs in the same stretch.
Other possible Knuckle Numbers candidates would include Colorado's Ian Laperriere (1g, 2A, +1, 11 PIMs, 1 SHP in the last week) and Ottawa RW Chris Neil who has 5 fights in his last 6 games, accumulating 31 PIMs over that stretch.
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