I have a feeling that he was suspended more for his own safety than anything!

Posted by Mac from Canada on 12/02/08 at 06:00 PM ET

Funny Mac, I was talking with Alanah about that.  No Ott, no Morrow to help out Sean, he would have been in big trouble.

Posted by Paul from Motown Area on 12/02/08 at 06:03 PM ET

Oh well, this leaves Ribeiro and Robidas (two of my least favourite Stars players) to face the wrath.

Go Flames Go!

Posted by dash_pinched from Rumour Mill Bay on 12/02/08 at 06:07 PM ET

Awwww Dion got his fauxhawk out of joint.  Poor guy.  Way to go Bettman, you eliminated the only possible reason to watch a Calgary-Dallas game.  It’s like the NHL is TRYING to bore me.

Posted by Kerry from vancouver on 12/02/08 at 06:22 PM ET

Uh… ok.  I kinda get it, but at the same time… huh?

Posted by Karina on 12/02/08 at 06:22 PM ET

How crude!
Avery is such a low-life slime-ball.
The league would be much better without him.

Posted by w2j2 on 12/02/08 at 06:25 PM ET

That is BS.  Chirping happens all the time.

Posted by moore00 from the Ohio State University on 12/02/08 at 06:30 PM ET

Wow @ the Stars owner’s comments.  People get that upset by the term “sloppy seconds”???  I don’t get it.  No, it’s not very appropriate, and shows disrespect for the opponent, but I would think that there are much larger issues facing the league, and the Stars, than this.

Posted by Karina on 12/02/08 at 06:32 PM ET

A class-less move by Avery for sure. But to suspend him for it? Reggie Dunlop weeps.

Posted by Nate A from Dark side of the moon on 12/02/08 at 06:34 PM ET

Really? A freaking suspension??

Of course Avery is a classless moron who spews sewage from his cake hole but players can damn near kill a person on the ice and only/maybe get one game, and yet this is an indefinite (pending the hearing at the leagues leisure) suspension.

Give me a break you joke of a league.

Posted by moocat on 12/02/08 at 06:45 PM ET

Wait a second… The guy who makes fun of Jason Blake for having cancer gets suspended for calling his ex girlfriend “sloppy seconds”???

He’s an idiot, but this is the most ridiculous suspension i’ve ever seen.  How about suspend the guys who make fun of Avery for being gay?(whether he is or isn’t doesn’t matter, its still harassment.)

And we all know Phaneuf copies everything, I mean, he has Beckham’s fauxhawk, and now Avery’s ex, whats next?

Posted by Kevin from Pittsburgh on 12/02/08 at 06:55 PM ET

Whatever you say, I love avery and the crap he spews out of his mouth.  I don’t let it get to me and just find it amusing.  I can understand tho how people would want to rip his head off with the stuff he says.  But to suspend him for it? i guess it does give the league bad publicity having a clown like him around.  But even so, he makes it fun to watch.  Never know what hes gonna pull out next. Haha.hes like a Jarko Ruutu x 999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
I LOVE IT!! it was pretty funny that he got suspended though! hahaha i couldn’t stop laughing.

Posted by Luongo-is-my-hero on 12/02/08 at 06:57 PM ET

This is so ridiculous.  Of course Avery is an idiot for saying that stuff, but it definitely would have made more people watch the game (I know I wanted to see it more), and aren’t more viewers what the league needs?!?  I am quite angry with the NHL.

Posted by NHLJeff from Boston, MA on 12/02/08 at 06:57 PM ET

i think it would have served to have him stay in the game and get his ass handed to him.  But i guess the league doesn’t want another steve moore incident, which i would have to say, would be pretty likely with the stuff he said.

Posted by Luongo-is-my-hero on 12/02/08 at 06:58 PM ET

As some of said, maybe it would have been bad publicity, but no one would read those comments and think “Wow, the NHL is full of jerks” or anything like that, they would think “That Sean Avery is an idiot,” and they would watch the game to see him get the crap beat out of him.  Now that he league has suspended him for this, people will see it in the news and think “wow, what a joke the NHL is to suspend a player for trash talk.”

Posted by NHLJeff from Boston, MA on 12/02/08 at 07:01 PM ET

So… anyone gonna let Bettman know how rediculous the fans think this is?

Posted by Karina on 12/02/08 at 07:06 PM ET

I would have watched the game tonigh too...but I think there’s a “greater good” issue here. Hockey players in general are reserved, respect the game and their teammates, and for the most part genuinely seem like nice guys.  I don’t want the NHL to turn into the NBA or NFL where the chest thumping and trash talking of egotistical players overshadows the game. 

What next? Some shallow idiot scores a goal and pulls a pen out of his sock to sign the puck?

Posted by Gabriel from San Diego, CA on 12/02/08 at 07:10 PM ET

damn, i had the DVR set and everything. the monster is gonna murder that little SOB sooner or later, on the ice or off.  hell, i would.  avery is a clown, nothing more.  anyone who supports him purely does so for the “entertainment value” if you can even call that, and are not true hockey fans. i don’t care if they kick him out for life...go play in russia, you joke.

Posted by Animal Drew from A Nightmare on Helm Street on 12/02/08 at 07:17 PM ET

What a *#$%@& idiot.

Posted by mudshark from Divetown, Colorado on 12/02/08 at 07:19 PM ET

When I think of the NHL, I think of guys with ultimate class...Wayne Gretzky, Steve Yzerman, Gordie Howe.
Sean Avery is the total antithesis of this, and his odor fouls the whole NHL and every player and fan.

Posted by w2j2 on 12/02/08 at 07:22 PM ET

So… Pronger can jack Datsyuk in the head and get nothing, but if some loudmouth jerk makes a comment about a guys girlfriend… anathema.

I just will never get the NHL’s decision making process.

Posted by HockeyinHD on 12/02/08 at 07:53 PM ET

Avery = hilarious

Posted by DrW from Detroit on 12/02/08 at 08:16 PM ET

Kinda funny that it’s mentioned on TMZ…

http://www.tmz.com/2008/12/02/cuthberts-ex-suspended-over-sloppy-seconds/

Posted by Bethany on 12/02/08 at 08:29 PM ET

This is so very, very, VERY stupid.

If the league is concerned about the “objectification of women,” (one comment I read) then what’s up with the proliferation of eye-candy ice-girls?

If the league is concerned with it’s image, it might be nice if they could figure out how to encourage players to not try to take each other’s heads off with flying elbows or stomp on someone with a skate blade - or actually do something about head shots.

The guy is a jerk and made classless comments about his ex.  Nothing new, nothing special, and nothing unusual for many guys.  Either let Phaneuf “defend his girl’s honor,” or ignore the whole deal unless and until Cuthbert speaks up for herself.  That of course assumes that either of them even cares what Avery thinks - which, if they have 1.5 functioning brain cells between the two of them, they don’t.  This should get no attention at all - from anyone.  Just plain stupid.

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 12/02/08 at 08:40 PM ET

The ONLY reason I can possibly see to keep him out of this game is to stop another Bertuzzi incident. If he gets fought by 8 guys in 8 seperate fights during a game, thats fine, but if someone just starts punching him and/or hitting him with the stick or something like that, it would be huge. THAT kind of stuff gives the NHL a bad name. Some people compalin about fights and what not, but nothing hurt the NHL’s image quite like Bert socking Steve Moore did. Well maybe the lockout, but thats a whole other post titled “Things Bettman has F*cked Up”

Posted by Kevin from Pittsburgh on 12/02/08 at 08:52 PM ET

Watching the Habs/Thrashers game on TSN via CI, one of the crew guys in the studio said Avery may have played his last game with the Stars.

It could happen, maybe some kind of moral clause in his contract, if they want to go that far with this.

Posted by Paul from Motown Area on 12/02/08 at 08:55 PM ET

After the comments the owner made, I’m guessing it definately is his last game, the guy really threw him under the bus. Off all the things he’s done, this is just plain silly, but for whatever reason the guy seemed pretty mad. I wonder who would pick him up? I’m sure someone will want him, I just wonder who.

Posted by Kevin from Pittsburgh on 12/02/08 at 08:58 PM ET

After the comments the owner made, I’m guessing it definately is his last game, the guy really threw him under the bus.

Holy-excuse-to-get-rid-of-a-locker-room-cancer, Batman!

Posted by mudshark from Divetown, Colorado on 12/02/08 at 09:26 PM ET

some of the blame has to go to dallas front office for not warning him about his arrogance but now they are paying the price with his cap hit

Posted by FlyersFan on 12/02/08 at 09:29 PM ET

I believe that it is possible to kill a man on the ice and not get so much as a penalty for it (in fact I think at least one death or permanent paralysis is not only possible but likely unless the NHL bans head shots), yet dumbass here gets a suspension because he’s got a big mouth.

Thanks Gary.Ass

Posted by monkey from Gary's World, setting fire to McCrimmon on 12/02/08 at 09:39 PM ET

My only complaint with this suspension involves the fact that it exhibits the NHL’s tendency to wait until a player’s fourth or fifth flagrant offence to finally suspend him.  If you’re going to let “boys be boys,” even when they’re showing no respect for each other by pile-driving each other into the boards or hunting for head and knee hits, why does the league wait until things spiral out of control to do something about it?

Your enforce player-to-player respect or you don’t enforce it.  You decide when players have “crossed the line” with off-ice comments, or you don’t.  You don’t whittle around and wait to decide whether you want to allow a little bit here and a little bit there because players need to “keep their heads up” or because “things are said on the ice” that are appropriate in one context but not another.

This is hockey.  This is NOT the NFL.  This is NOT the NBA.  This is a sport where you’re supposed to have to stand behind what you do both on and off the ice, and what you say, both on and off the ice.

When a player decides to go out and say such a thing on a premeditated basis...Legal concerns aside, I would have rather seen Avery get his teeth handed to him in a towel than see him suspended and spared from both the Flames’ and his own teammates’ wrath...But this was one too many, I guess.

Vulgar personal insults like this don’t make the game more exciting--they demean people, and if you do that, you should have to back up your words with your fists. 

Don Cherry of all people called it at the end of the October 25thedition of Coach’s Corner when he said, “I’m telling you, Brett Hull, you’re gonna rue the day you ever got that guy.”

Posted by George James Malik from South Lyon, MI on 12/02/08 at 09:43 PM ET

I think this cheapens the suspensions that should happen, like Pronger’s elbows hitting somebody in the head.  As far as I can remember, stirring the pot and talking trash is part of sports, especially hockey.  And since when has the NHL cared about the character of its players?

Point is, Avery is good for the NHL.  He draws attention.  I usually only watch one particular team, but when I heard what he said, I was going to watch the Flames-Stars game.  Now that he is suspended, what is the point?

Posted by drimo on 12/02/08 at 09:49 PM ET

Point is, Avery is good for the NHL.  He draws attention.

i have to disagree.  i don’t want this kind of attention brought to the NHL.  let football have its T.O.’s and the NBA have its Rasheed Wallace’s but we don’t need some loud mouth punk running his mouth as a publicity stunt to bring attention to the league.

my only regret is not being able to see Phaneuf (or Iggy) pound Avery’s face in.

Posted by Animal Drew from A Nightmare on Helm Street on 12/02/08 at 10:57 PM ET

...oh and the fact that he asked if the press had a camera before he started running his yapper just goes to show how classless this guy is and how much he loves hearing and seeing himself talk in front of flashbulbs and tv cameras.  No one on the Dallas team was even going to touch this one…

“well hopefully he doesn’t back down, he better show up like a man. but we expect that out of him, we have all year.  ya know...the show continues” - - Marty Turco

Posted by Animal Drew from A Nightmare on Helm Street on 12/02/08 at 11:00 PM ET

What next? NHL suspending a player for looking at the ref the wrong way? Yeah, it’s ridiculous but Avery’s suspension had to be done.

The fact that Avery took it to the media instead of keeping it on the ice, off camera is why the NHL stepped in. When Avery took it public like that, the NHL isn’t going to sit around and let it happen. It’s kind of “tit for tat” (no pun intended). Avery specifically mentioned the NHL and then the vulgar comment. NHL hit back at Avery. Kill each other on the ice, not in the media, i guess.

What Avery’s comment has also done, is at this point in time when political correctness has set in as someone can practically get arrested, jailed, fined and then have their life ruined for offending someone, is opened the door for the next player that does get offended by a comment, to go to the NHL board and file complaints to have the offender punished. And since Avery comments have set the precedent for this to happen, look for it the next time Semin says something about Crosby. Then look for this type of action to pick up during playoffs when teams want a key player to get suspended.

Whoa, but wait, what about when coaches publicly calls out their own players in the media for under performing - ala Mike Keanon?

Now for others that think Avery was suspended to prevent another Bertuzzi incident - if those type of players that would conduct such acts of violence are in the NHL now, shouldn’t we suspend them immediately, for their own good, before something tragic happens? After all, Dion has a mean streak, if he can’t be held accountable for his own actions for a retribution of words, then he must be not allowed to play, to protect the others.

Just a big can of worms that was opened here.

Media wins, they get their story, NHL loses because those that run the show are idiots, and poor Miss Cuthberson gets all the sympathy.

Posted by TheFreak on 12/02/08 at 11:13 PM ET

The ultimate punishment would have been to let him play, however, the Stars have said they would have suspended him anyway which leads me to believe what some, like the TSN panel, are saying in that he is done in Dallas.  The question is then does someone else take a chance on him?

Posted by Mac from Canada on 12/02/08 at 11:27 PM ET

I’d have a bigger problem with Avery’s comment if what he said wasn’t true. I mean, dear lord, how far down the list of NHL jerks did Cuthbert have to go to finally end up with a complete ass like Phaneuf. Avery might have been somewhat kind in labeling her “association” with Scary Face as only sloppy seconds.

In the end, this probably will cost both Avery and Hull their jobs. And the biggest jackass of all, Phaneuf, will still be around head-hunting his way through the league.

Posted by OlderThanChelios from Grand Rapids on 12/02/08 at 11:48 PM ET

3 goals in 23 games on the second worst team in the NHL.  $3.5 million just don’t fetch what it used to.

Posted by Django on 12/02/08 at 11:50 PM ET

I freaking love Sean Avery.  We need more of these guys.

Posted by Hippy Dave from San Francisco by way of Detroit on 12/03/08 at 12:10 AM ET

p.s.:

Not so sloppy if you ask me.

Posted by Hippy Dave from San Francisco by way of Detroit on 12/03/08 at 12:38 AM ET

Jack Bauer is gonna kick his a**.

Posted by Hippy Dave from San Francisco by way of Detroit on 12/03/08 at 12:39 AM ET

It’s about class, or the complete lack of it. It’s about the unspoken lines that are drawn but anyone with any sense knows they are there. It’s about respecting people, especially women. Look, you morons (and no, you probably don’t know who you are): how do you suppose his comment makes women feel? If you are already an adult and you don’t understand it, you WON’T EVER understand it, because you are missing something that should have been taught to you when you were growing up, but no-one ever took the time or effort to teach it to you. Or maybe you were just thick, and couldn’t learn it. Anyway, the NHL probably needs villains: but it sure doesn’t need the sort of person who would go out of his way to insult women in such a cutting, crude, vulgar manner.  Mr. Avery, no doubt, will soon find his place in the sports world and his fans will be able to keep up with his career on prowrestling.com.

Posted by Paul from Brandon on 12/11/08 at 11:09 AM ET