Tonight's the night.
The hottest ticket in the New York metropolitan area will be for Thursday night's hockey game at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, and it's certainly encouraging to see people finally interested in the team that has won two straight games. Bet all eyes will be on Kyle Okposo, right?
Wrong. Although some folks have been lured to arguably the worst arena in the league by the New York Islanders' "We're all Islanders" campaign, the media circus that will descend upon Uniondale will be there for one man alone: Sean Avery.
Avery was put on waivers earlier this week and, as expected, was claimed by the New York Rangers. After one practice with the team on Wednesday, the prodigal goon will make his return to the ice Thursday night, likely skating with the third line, where he was slotted during practice. One player who certainly is happy to see him is Henrik Lundqvist, who told the New York Daily News, "It was fun to see him again, we've had a lot of good times here."
It's been three months since Avery skated in the NHL, and he wasn't very productive during his shortened stint with the Dallas Stars earlier this season. Although his 10 points in 23 games fall in line with his career averages, those stats don't measure up to the benchmarks he achieved as a Blueshirt. During an 86-game span in part of the 2006-07 season and the duration of the 2007-08 season, Avery had 53 points -- about 0.6 points per game -- compared to his career mark of about 0.4 points per game.
One of the big debates in any statistics-based analysis is correlation versus causation. In this case, one would debate whether playing for one of the league's premier teams in one of the world's biggest media markets actually inspired Avery to perform better, and one also could debate the merits of the synergy he developed with his Rangers teammates playing his home games at Madison Square Garden. Whatever the reason, Avery appears to produce at a higher rate when he plays for the franchise, so his value in fantasy hockey also increases when he's a Ranger.
Avery, who is owned in less than 60 percent of ESPN fantasy hockey leagues, definitely will have an impact as we head down the homestretch. For owners who have issues in the penalty-minutes category, Avery has perennially proven to be one of the top producers in that realm. In the Rangers' remaining 18 games this season, he could rack up 80 or more penalty minutes, especially considering the rest of the docket is filled with division rivals. If you opt for rotisserie-style fantasy hockey, those 80 points could easily bring a team up a few notches. If you play head-to-head, he could single-handedly shift the balance of power in any of your matchups as we close out the season.
Love him or hate him, Avery will not go out quietly this season, and as he tells the Daily News, "Even a milder version of Sean Avery is still not that mild."
Ice chips
After the whirlwinds of trade-deadline day finished swirling -- the Rangers picked up two solid assets in Nik Antropov and Derek Morris -- two games were played. At the HSBC Arena, the Buffalo Sabres laid the lumber to the faltering Montreal Canadiens, shredding Carey Price to the tune of five goals. Derek Roy and Paul Gaustad each notched two goals, but the big story is the continued strong play of Patrick Lalime. I admit I'll have to eat some crow on this one, because last week I noted that better options should be available, but Lalime has allowed only 10 goals in his past six games. Additionally, Lalime has had to face 105 shots during his past three games, thanks to a somewhat porous defense in front of him. He has stopped 101 of those shots, good for a .962 save percentage. In spite of the team's acquisition of goalie Mikael Tellqvist at the trade deadline and general manager Darcy Regier's assertion to the Buffalo News that Ryan Miller will play again before the end of the regular season, Lalime should continue to start most of the Sabres' games for the time being. Pick him up if you need some ratio help, but bear in mind that the five goals for the Sabres' skaters Wednesday night followed a stretch of seven games during which the team mustered only 14 goals. … The night's other action took place at the Pepsi Arena in Denver, where the Detroit Red Wings took over as the league's No. 1 squad after downing the Colorado Avalanche, who took over the role of undisputed worst team in the league after their loss to the Islanders earlier in the week. Johan Franzen, Kris Draper and Valtteri Filppula scored for the Wings, while John-Michael Liles and Milan Hejduk paced the Avalanche. More importantly from a human interest and fantasy angle is the positive report out of Detroit on Marian Hossa's condition. After taking a bump from Blues defenseman Roman Polak during Tuesday's game, Hossa slammed headfirst into the boards and was taken from the ice on a gurney as a precaution. However, after a series of tests, it was determined that no serious damage occurred, and all indications are that Hossa will resume playing soon. "We're thankful that Hossa is fine, everything is going to work out OK, but it was scary for both teams," coach Mike Babcock told the Detroit Free Press. "One of the doctors [said] he asked if he could play tomorrow. I don't think he's playing tomorrow, but he's flying with us. Looks real good." And that mighty wind you feel is the collective sigh of relief emanating from the denizens of Hockeytown as well as Hossa's fantasy owners.
