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The Sean Avery Suspension
by PuckStopsHere on 12/03/08 at 12:39 PM ET
Comments (24)
I was away from anywhere that I could easily gather hockey news for a while yesterday. When I came online I saw a TSN story titled NHL Suspends Avery Indefinitely for Comments, Pending Hearing. The story is similar to this one although since TSN updates stories over time, it is now longer than the story I first read. My first thought was that the NHL is not usually in the business of suspending players for comments, so whatever he said must be awful. Not only was he suspended, it was an indefinite suspension, so I assumed there must be some profanity laden tirade. When I found out what he actually said, I was disappointed. All he said is:
I am really happy to be back in Calgary. I love Canada. I just want to comment on how it’s become like a common thing in the NHL for guys to fall in love with my sloppy seconds. I don’t know what that’s about. Enjoy the game tonight.
It was an off-color comment referring to the fact that Dion Phaneuf of the Calgary Flames (who he was to play that night) is dating Elisha Cuthbert, who is an ex-girlfriend of Avery. Jarrett Stoll of the Los Angeles Kings is dating another Avery ex actress Rachel Hunter. It’s not a tasteful comment, but it’s not worthy of suspension.
Sean Avery is the best player in the NHL at agitating his opponents. He has the ability to say and do things that get his opponents to stop concentrating on the game and start concentrating on hurting him. That is a major victory for Avery and his team, because presumably they are trying to win the game and will gain an advantage to their opponent’s loss of focus. In the process of doing this, Avery has made enemies with much of the media and with many hockey fans. He might be the least popular player in the NHL. However, his skill at agitating opponents is a valuable one. It earned him a four year $15.5 million contract from the Dallas Stars as a free agent this summer.
I support the idea of trash talk. I think it is a useful way for players to agitate opponents. Avery said something that would likely upset one of the best players on the Calgary Flames (Dion Phaneuf) who he was about to play and he managed to do it by saying something that was clean enough for national TV. That is an accomplishment. He had to hit Phaneuf with something personal to do this. It seemed to me like a rather minor incident. It was something that might be played in the broadcast of the Dallas at Calgary game that night and soon be forgotten (it is possible some larger incident may come during the game which would keep it in the news - but most likely it would be soon forgotten).
The NHL had other plans. They suspended Avery for his comments. A large number of fans applauded - many on the logic that they hat Sean Avery and suspending him for any reason is a good thing. The problem is this reason for his suspension is a weak one. It’s not the worst off ice thing that Avery has done. He has given a camera man in New York the middle finger and had off-color verbal comments about Darcy Tucker and Jason Blake.
Avery was suspended because he is Sean Avery. Had another player been in his position, there would likely have been no suspension. The league is looking to suspend Sean Avery. If this becomes a precedent for further suspensions for pre-game trash talk, that will lead to more suspensions for relatively minor offences. If there are no further suspensions for pre-game comments, then it shows that Avery is being unfairly treated as he is being punished when others in the same situation would not be.
The NHL got some attention that it craves with this suspension. Here is coverage of the story in the Huffington Post. This is an example of a source that has no history of covering the NHL giving it coverage due to the Avery suspension. Had he played and had a fight with Dion Phaneuf in an otherwise run-of-the-mill regular season game, there would have been no such coverage.
Dallas Stars owner Tom Hicks said that had the NHL not suspended Avery, the Stars would have. This seems like a big over-reaction to an attempt to trash talk an opponent. It seems that Dallas is having second thoughts about signing Avery to a large contract this summer. When you are last place in your conference (as the Dallas Stars are) you often re-think things. On a winning team, Avery might be a valuable player, but when the team is losing it is easy to blame the unconventional free spirit. The Dallas Stars will not have Avery accompany them to Edmonton for their next game. Sean Avery’s relationship with the Dallas Stars is in jeopardy. They may act to get rid of him - and possibly weaken their team in the process.
Sean Avery is a controversial NHL player. He chooses this style because it allows him to gain an advantage by agitating opponents. That is a strength of his game. The problem is that it leaves many people hating him. It makes Avery a target for disciplinary action, which in this case would likely not have occurred had it been any other player who did the same thing. The NHL gains with its fans who do not like Sean Avery and are happy to see him suspended for any reason and it gains with those who rarely notice the NHL who are hearing about a story when they normally would never notice the league. I think this suspension is the wrong move by the league.
The most forgotten (and should be most important) part of this story is that Dallas defeated Calgary 3-1 and Marty Turco played well, which is a rare occurence for him this season.
Filed in: | The Puck Stops Here | Permalink
Tags: Calgary+Flames, Dallas+Stars, Dion+Phaneuf, Sean+Avery,
Comments
Can we, as a culture, get our collective thumb out of our mouths?
Posted by Mark from nc on 12/03/08 at 01:50 PM ET
Avery orchestrated this own thing from the start. He was instructed by the Stars to not talk to the media. Instead, he made sure that the cameras were rolling before uttering his prepared speech.
I don’t have a problem with trash talk generally, but it should be on the field/surface of play. Not only did Avery not do this (what a surprise), but he crossed the line with his comments, plain and simple. He’s a bitter little coward and he should be thanking the NHL for suspending him and avoiding facing the music last night.
Posted by dash_pinched from Rumour Mill Bay on 12/03/08 at 02:31 PM ET
You missed the point entirely. If he said this on the ice - great. But making a big show out of it for the cameras demonstrates that he’s just an attention seeking media whore trying to build himself up. Seriously - talking trash to the media about someone’s girlfriend? Lame. What’s next - insulting their kids? Agitate on the ice all you want, but don’t preen for the cameras with selfish, classless comments. This is the NHL - not some lame reality TV show.
Posted by Smokey from CA on 12/03/08 at 02:45 PM ET
Making a show out of it was why the agitation worked in this case.
So what if Sean Avery is an attention seeking media whore? Is that a suspendable offence now?
Posted by PuckStopsHere on 12/03/08 at 02:47 PM ET
Don’t waste your keystrokes, Smokey, it’s not surprise he doesn’t get it, this is the same guy who doesn’t think team defence (or lack thereof) has any impact on a goalie’s numbers.
Posted by dash_pinched from Rumour Mill Bay on 12/03/08 at 02:51 PM ET
dash_pinched
When you make a point, it helps if your point is not this easily proven false. Perhaps you enjoy knocking down strawmen instead of arguing with what is actually being said.
Posted by PuckStopsHere on 12/03/08 at 02:57 PM ET
I think the NHL did the right thing. Had the NBA or the NFL been as dominated by thugs and criminals when my sons were young as they are today, I would never have let them watch either. I’m sick of professional sports coddling criminal culture, and the NHL here has taken a stand for decency.
Good on them for it, too.
Posted by rwprof on 12/03/08 at 03:00 PM ET
Whatever helps you sleep at night, pal. Here’s a little bit of advice (I know you’ll probably ignore it), but there are plenty of intelligent people out in this world that will have opinions that differ from yours. You might want to take some time to consider what they are saying instead of instantly trying to save face. Statistics tell only a part of the story, not the whole story.
Paul has one of (if not the best) hockey sites on the internet. I visit this site because it provides great hockey information as well as other interesting hockey-related stories. I also like to visit individual blogs to get other people’s perspectives on hockey-related matters. Is it any coincidence that your blogs (in my opinion) seem to get a lot of traffic with people that have different opionions from yours? It should make you pause and wonder why that is the case.
Posted by dash_pinched from Rumour Mill Bay on 12/03/08 at 03:20 PM ET
One of the losers in all of this is Tom Hicks. Hicks just signed the biggest agitator in the NHL to a four year, $15.5 million deal and now wants to act completely oblivious to the fact that Avery is an agitator.
Did Hicks not know what he was getting into when he dished out $14.5 million to an agitator?
Is Hicks trying to portray that he is character is so squeeky clean that the term “sloppy seconds” offends him and taints the characterization of his hockey team?
Did Hicks not know what he was getting into when he dished out $14.5 million to an agitator?
Is Hicks bending over backwards for star yuppie, Mike Modano, who a few weeks ago publicly whined about the agitating type game played by the Stars in Boston?
Did Hicks not know what he was getting into when he dished out $14.5 million to an agitator?
Hicks’ public remarks were also dimwitted as they don’t help the Stars with any direction they take with this incident.
If they decide to keep Avery, he now thinks he plays for an owner that doesn’t back him now and won’t back him in the future.
If they decide to get rid of Avery, Hicks just hurt Avery’s plummeting stock. What team is going to want to pay $4 million for Avery given the headaches, the potential future headaches, plus the fact that he hasn’t been producing like a $4 million forward should?
Nice job Tom. You are true businessman and leader.
Posted by Sig from DC on 12/03/08 at 03:41 PM ET
Puckstopshere....Is what Avery said a suspendable offense??? Your darn right! What he said was not about another player only, he brought up another players girlfriend. That’s crap! On the ice, what is said is between players. What is said in the media is heard by everyone including parents. That was a rude thing to say about anyone. What a P.O.S. And it’s not the comments alone that warrented suspention. The league just wants to avoid another “black mark”. Avery would have got hurt in the game....for sure. And to avoid another player getting messed up for life, the league saved his a$$!
Posted by Buffdaddydarren from Saskatoon on 12/03/08 at 03:49 PM ET
Dash
Why should the NHL try to save him? They should have left the comment alone, and let Phaneuf pummel Avery right onto the waiting stretcher. Whether he did it on ice, or planned on a podium makes no difference either. Should we pretend now that the goalies NEVER speak behind those masks? That the words during the face-off’s are “good luck!”? What Avery said was a hell of a lot cleaner than any athletes on-ice trash talk. Should he get the living crap kicked out of him by his Ex’s present beau? Damn rights. But let the player deal with it.
If Bettman really cared about the image of the league, he’d be trying to clean up the dirty hits from behind and the rash of goalie-running that has become an every-game occurance in the league. Let the Stars, Avery’s teammates, and his opponents worry about his mouth. Phaneuf would’ve made sure it wouldn’t have opened for a while at least.
Posted by 41 Long Ones from Edmonton on 12/03/08 at 03:52 PM ET
In my humble opinion, the guy hurt worst by this fiasco is Brett Hull.
It appears that all the “hosanas!” last year about his management prowess might have been premature.
Posted by w2j2 on 12/03/08 at 04:34 PM ET
PuckStopsHere wrote: “Making a show out of it was why the agitation worked in this case.
So what if Sean Avery is an attention seeking media whore? Is that a suspendable offence now? “
To the first point - ya but that is cowardly as heck and has no place in hockey. Let him say that to Phaneuf’s face, on the ice, not to a bunch of reporters when there is time for the league to act. The suspension was a big surprise but was there any doubt that NHL hq would make it clear to Calgary that they wouldn’t tolerate any ‘bertuzzi-ing” as a result of these comments? If he had played I bet nothing would have happened - just like when he went back to NY & NJ earlier this season. When the league can see retribution coming they act.
To the second point: It should be, and apparently is. Nobody likes media whores, so shut them up and play hockey. Sounds good to me!
Posted by Smokey from CA on 12/03/08 at 05:41 PM ET
The NHL brought this to the spotlight by suspending Avery. Because of the suspension there are a dozen articles on this site and every major sports network and radio program have talked about this.
What he said was inappropriate and not surprising, but if it was handled in a more low key manner by the NHL most if not all of us would not even know about it.
Posted by Brian from Bay City MI on 12/03/08 at 08:29 PM ET
I just want to thank you. Seriously. As a avid Avery fan, I have followed him since he played for my home state team, the Detroit Red Wings, across the country to Dallas now. I was sick to hear the news about this. I feel like the NHL has forgotten so much about the sport of hockey and focus way to much on the politics and P.R. Honestly, if they do not want players like Sean making comments like this, then keep the press out of the locker room. This close and comfy relationship between the teams and the press is sickening. Honestly, with everything that Sean has done over the years that has offended people, this is what the league decides do punish him for? Also, my all time favorite hockey player is Brett Hull, but after all of this and his comments he made about Sean made me lose a lot of respect for the man I refer to as my hero. He knew, probably better than anyone what Sean is all about. He is always running his mouth about something, flipping off camera’s, its what you get with Sean Avery. It is a part of his hockey game, he gets under the skin of other players and beats them down, makes them lose their focus. And as far as his comment being offensive, Elisha is a self-proclaimed “puck bunny” and she knew what she was getting into when she first dated him. Honestly, he’s said a lot worse, the league was just laying in wait to get him, and the did and in the end they made themselves look ridiculous. I am now like many people waiting on the results from the league and the hearing. Honestly, if Sean is done in the NHL because of this, I don’t know how much I really care to keep following NHL hockey. At the end of the day, if you can’t stand the sarcasm, keep the mic away from Ave’s and just let him play his game.
Posted by Jordan from Sault Ste Marie, MI on 12/03/08 at 11:05 PM ET
If you’re going to take issue with the NHL’s case, you should at least address it. Their point is that Avery crossed a line with his public, derogatory comments about other players’ personal lives. I can’t think of any other comment in recent memory that would match that description, so I don’t think the league is being hypocritical in this case (as it often is).
Is that the right place for the line? Maybe not, and we could debate where the line should be all day. But having a line is better than not having one… unless you want c-words and n-words flying around in the press before every game. We’d end up with a sport that’s 90% sideshow and 10% hockey.
Posted by tysester on 12/03/08 at 11:06 PM ET
I think its safe to say with the media and everything around this they have turned NHL hockey into a sideshow. Honestly, Sloppy Second’s is offensive? Really people, and with the leauge wanting so much media coverage, lets give them mics to wear on the ice and just have it brodcasted, that way we can hear the really good stuff. That would be where you’ll find the offensive comments, and I’m sure way more entertaining ones as well, not that sloppy seconds wasn’t classic, that was friggin classic.
Posted by Jordan from Sault Ste Marie, MI on 12/03/08 at 11:23 PM ET
Avery refered to a woman as ‘my sloppy seconds’ and should be hit just as hard as if he’d called those reporters together with the express purpose of referring to Iginla with a racial slur. That kind of conduct shouldn’t be tolerated by the NHL and he deserves to be hit in the wallet.
Whatever the Stars decide to do is up to them. There’s no doubt Avery has embarrassed his team.
Posted by Grande Mal from Vancouver on 12/04/08 at 07:20 PM ET
So..., a whole lot of people that have commented here seem to be very squeekyclean.
Honestly, what Avery said (imho) was nothing. Go out on any high school playground, and you hear a lot worse. I’m guessing any of you even said worse.
Turn on the TV, watch a soap, a lot worse things are being done. Watch a movie, same there.
I am not saying that what he said was classy, far from it. But a 6 game suspension, claiming that he got away with enough is weak. If he did something in the past that was punishable, he should have been punished right then. WIth video review there is no excuse to have let it pass. My guess is, they hate him because he made them change a rule and the NHL brass was pissed because of the work.
So yes, I totally agree with Puck stops here. Absolutely. Of course, I live in Europe. Maybe we have a broader morality here…
Posted by fish from Antwerp on 12/16/08 at 07:41 AM ET
If you’re such a huge fan of Avery and his degenerate douchebagisms, may I reccomend you stick to writing commentaries on WWE forums and leave discussions like this to people who would rather watch a good hockey game.
Posted by Dustin from Montreal on 12/17/08 at 03:44 PM ET
What Avery did was stupid, true, and had it been anybody else (or been said on the ice for that matter) this situation would not be blown out of proportion. I think this is a matter between management and coaching and Sean Avery basically gave them the fuel they needed to retaliate at both him and Brett Hull. Look at what Willa Ford said about the coaching staff and Doug Armstrong two months before Mike Modano got married and how nothing ever really erupted. However, Avery did cross the line, but seriously anger management confinement for “sloppy seconds” comment? Come on, look at the physical violence that can sometimes erupt on the ice and this beforehand, before stepping on the ice, you would think Elisha Cuthbert was royalty? Basically zero due process from the NHL commissioner and definitely none coming from the Stars administration or his previous fellow teammates for that matter. I would hate to follow the Stars players into battle, because it appears a person would have to watch their back from all sides, especially the ones who were supposed to have it when the jersey (or uniform) was put on. No wonder Modano was replaced as “C”, Brendan Morrow is the only stand-up guy and he’s IR.
Posted by dayjob from Dallas, Texas on 12/17/08 at 10:08 PM ET
The karma bank foreclosed on Avery’s sorry ass. He’s a no class wanker and he got what was coming to him. Whether the league has your approval or not doesn’t matter. Avery’s dug his own grave. No one wants a $4million forward who spends more time running his mouth than playing the game, nor do they want an inflated ego like his in the dressing room.
Posted by Dustin from montreal on 12/18/08 at 03:22 AM ET
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Excellent article Puck! My thoughts exactly about the whole NHL vs. Avery thing. They missed their chances at suspending him with real reasons in the past, and are now looking for any reason to hit him hard.
And Hicks just seems to be covering his own ass by using public opinion and the NHL suspension to look good now.
Posted by 41 Long Ones from Edmonton on 12/03/08 at 01:05 PM ET