Stating the obvious.

Rangers dressing room scared.

And as they should be...

Because their front office has LOST THEIR MINDS.

This rumour has come up before, but it was from an alum that I figured had been hit in the head a few too many times ... this seems a bit more serious.

from TSN.ca

"A day after handing the New York Rangers a huge 10-2 loss, the Dallas Stars, as expected have placed forward Sean Avery on waivers.

The New York Post reported on Friday that the Rangers held discussions involving the front office, coaching staff and players to determine if the troubled wingers' return to the team would be beneficial."

*UPDATE* Good god, this actually happened. He's been assigned to the Rangers AHL affiliate the Hartford Wolfpack.

Random thoughts for the day.

Sundin Saga. Full closure.

Sundin will play HOCKEY tonight. I think my favourite part about all the hooplah surrounding his debut with the Canucks is a quote from Sundin himself.

"I know it's not a perfect situation as a player," said Sundin. "The players are in mid-season form and it's going to be challenging."

Hey, Sundin? Just a thought on avoiding that whole.. "aww everyone is at midseason form..." problem. PLAY WHEN YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO.

Ok. I'm done now.


Yum, Yum.

Jarkko Ruutu was suspended by the NHL for two games after biting the finger of Buffalo Sabres enforcer Andrew Peters.

OK. OK. It's kinda crazy and Mike Tyson-esque. And Ruutu is a shift disturber extraordinaire. But if someone stuck their finger in my mouth. I'd probably bite it too. Just sayin.

"It happens a lot. You get hungry. Was it the third?" - Craig MacTavish.

Great Headline.

Toronto Maple Leafs acquire rugged forward Ray from Anaheim Ducks

It's not poorly written. It's not particularly funny. If only they got the details right. This headline is about Brad May going to Toronto.


Speaking of Shift Disturbers.

It's nice to see someone else is smokin the good stuff.

Ron Duguay, a former player with the Rangers told the media yesterday that the Rangers should bring back Sean Avery.

This is despite the fact of course... that nobody that's actually on the team wants him back.

It appears Duguay thinks that all Avery needs is a good ol fashioned talkin to.

"We would take care of him in practice. A guy or two would step up and say, 'Either you're going to change or you're going to get your (butt) kicked,'" said Duguay of players that ran their mouths when he used to play.

Obviously nothing has changed since Duguay last played in 1989.

"As a fan I would love to see him back with the (Rangers)," Duguay said. "If he's a problem in the dressing room - and I don't know that - then that's a decision that the coaches and players have to make."

Ummm, i'm pretty darn sure multiple teams have already made that decision. And really, how can you not know Avery is a problem in the dressing room. Every player that plays with him says he is.

grab your bindle...

According to Ken Campbell's blog, Brett Hull will be sent packing along with Sean Avery.



"Members of the Dallas Stars management team will sit down today to discuss the future of Sean Avery and it likely won't be long before the man who insisted on signing Avery makes a decision on his own future.


Several NHL sources have indicated that within the next couple of weeks the Stars’ co-GM experiment with Brett Hull and Les Jackson will be history. Speculation is Hull will move to another area of the organization and will be out of the decision making process when it comes to hockey matters."

Friday Recap

Douche McGee Update

A few comments from Avery's teammates:

Dallas forward Brad Richards went on record in Dallas yesterday, saying the team "doesn't want to talk about him any more ... hopefully it will be handled and that will be the end of it."

Off the record, one teammate told TSN: "We hope it's the last time we ever see him."

Another Stars player said, "Our locker room is the happiest it has been all year right now." And still another added, "An apology to the team won't work."


He's a cancer to any dressing room he's ever been in. And the Stars are nuts to have signed him in the first place. Let him head to Russia to play with Ray Emery.



Duthie-isms

I told my nine year-old son I was going to interview Bobby Orr on Wednesday. His response, word-for-word: “You mean that guy on the car commercials?” (Heavy sigh.)

I wish they’d make it a mandatory course in Canadian Elemetary School. “Your Thursday timetable, son: Math, Science, English, French, Orr.”

I’ve played weekend beer-league sports for my entire life. (I know what you’re thinking: “His whole life? Aren’t beer leagues inappropriate for nine year-old soccer players?” Hey, we grew up fast in Gloucester.) I’m still pretending to be an ath-ell-ete, playing in a couple of touch football leagues in the Toronto area.


Sundin Saga and #2 collide

One thing is for sure. Brian Burke has no intention on having Mats Sundin back on the leafs. No word from the man himself whether he's going to finally show up on a team and just play orrr retire into the background and play online poker.



Habs remember how to pass?

Last night the Habs won a convincing victory of 6-2. All the goals were nice passing plays. It appears (let's be cautiously optimistic...) that the Habs have taken my advice. Looked down at their sweaters. and remembered to pass to the players wearing similar colours. we'll see.

Canadian History, or lackthereof

And finally, this is for all the geeks out there. Parliament is now prorogued. And after a week of spin from both sides of the coalition, i'm astonished with the ease that some people lied and their lack of Canadian history knowledge. I think a few people need to get sent back to university to take Canadian History 1000.


One of the interesting things i heard was from Don Newman who said some spin doctors targeted Justin Trudeau who said that his father, former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau would have never sat down with the "separatists".


ummm. The elder Trudeau sat down numerous times with Rene Levesque to negotiate.



"and they wouldn't even have the Canadian flag behind them," said Stephen Harper... in the House of Commons.

Looks like a Canadian flag to me.....







And finally in Stephen Harper's address to the nation on Wednesday night he said that never has a government formed in parliament that was not elected by the people.

Oh ya?

Douche McGee at it again.

Sean Avery dropped to a new low today.

After spending the summer degrading beloved NHL power forward Jarome Iginla, Avery decided to move away from NHL players... and go for shots on their girlfriends.

Takes a big man.

"I'm really happy to be back in Calgary, I love Canada. I just wanted to comment on how it's become like a common thing in the NHL for guys to fall in love with my sloppy seconds," said Avery referring to Elisha Cuthbert the current girlfriend of Dion Phaneuf. "I don't know what that's about. But, enjoy the game tonight."

Charming guy.

Sources tell me that next, he's going to kick a baby.

oh yeah. Avery was suspended "indefinitely" until he meets with Gary Bettman in his lair to discuss the matter.

Avery Interview

I posted about this the other day. Here's the full interview!

Dispatch: from the front lines.

I'm writing this crouched underneath a table. I figure the sky will fall fairly soon.

The Toronto Maple Leafs beat Ottawa.

It's only a matter of time. Duck and Cover.




Hangover.

And that's what happens when you don't play for a whole week. The Canadiens haven't played since Monday. It looks like Carbonneau should've just played Tanguay for the whole game. Because he was on fire.

Jaroslav Halak started the game because Carey Price had the flu. But Price ended up in the net in the end.



Holy Hockey Batman.

All teams are in play tonight! I heard that this is the first time that absolutely every team is playing at once in a while. Something about the lockout was mentioned. Or 2005? meh. There's a lot of hockey tonight.

Strombopoopoobus.

"And he went after me when he was on Stopulopulus," said Don Cherry on Coaches Corner tonight.

He was referring to the comments made by Sean Avery when he was a guest on The Hour, hosted by George Stroumboulopoulos. Close Don... real close. (Actually it's a helluva lot closer than i would've expected. But I can't give you any points since you actually work in the same damn building as him.)


Bad Prediction?

Um, so far the Lightening are playing like the women's Italian hockey team. Apparently the team is in disarray. On the Satelitte Hotstove, Al Strachan even said that the players are not on the same page. He also said that the GM came into the locker room at intermission during the Europe trip.

They lost 3-0 tonight.

Duthie-ism.

Thanks to Q-girl from "Of Moose and Men" for sending me this one. I somehow missed this absolute Duthie gem.


"Forget the Glow-Puck. What we need is the Glow Puckbunny. Whenever Elisha Cuthbert is present in an NHL arena, she will automatically illuminate so as to be easily located by television cameras -- and young defencemen."

How to make baseball less stupid.

1. land mines. Not big ones, we don't want people getting hurt. But little ones that make big noises and throw a bit of dirt around. "AND OH MY!!! Brian, it appears that Manny Ramirez has been taken out by a landmine while trying to steal a base!"

2. midgets. midgets are hilarious.

3. fire. anywhere. make the ball on fire, the bases, maybe the seats... the foul lines. something has got to be on fire.

4. Every second inning is actually Soccer-Baseball. Do you remember Soccer-Baseball? Why is it so much more fun than baseball?

5. Play in the rain. pussies.

6. Close calls at the bag are determined by a chugging contest between the runner and the baseman.

7. Foam party in the stands!!!

8. Techno music.

9. Sean Avery?

Vogue Magazine.

Never did I think I would be putting the two words "Vogue Magazine" together on my blog. But it happened, pesky Sean Avery is torturing a whole new industry with his presence when he started his "internship" at the magazine.

Don't believe me? It does kind of sound made up, but it's true, check out the story here for proof.

There were some golden quotes in that story from his publicist Nicole Chabot,

"He is ridiculously obsessed with fashion."

"He loves it more than anything in the world. It's something he has always wanted to do."

Even more than hockey? Please oh please, like it more than hockey.

Meanwhile a quick trip to the Vogue website revealed these riveting headlines,

"All the latest updates from the Cannes red carpet"

"Lagerfeld evokes a Sixties siren for Chanel in Miami"

Man Sean Avery is going to have fun getting coffee for the people who write this stuff.

karma is a bitch.

Pesty pest Sean Avery was "rushed" to hospital last night after the game three loss to the Penguins with a lacerated spleen. Rushed is in quotations because he apparently took a leisurely limo ride to the hospital, converse to early reports that the forward was in grave danger. Anyway, the "unfortunate" news today is that he is done for the playoffs (which, really, will probably consist of just one more game for the Rangers). Well Sean, no offense, but you're a jerk and this is probably the Hockey Gods telling you something.


Price will sit tonight.

Apparently Guy Carbonneau made his decision last night however he only told the other coaches, GM Bob Gainey and the two goaltenders. It was released at around 5 p.m. EST that Price would sit out for the game. Much was made of the point that Price is very young.

"He's 20 years old, we can't forget that," Carbonneau said. "We're trying to ask this kid to be a saviour for our club. But again, we had a 5-on-3 for two minutes. We had five of our best players on the ice. Maybe we should blame them also.

"I'm 20-years-old," Price told the media. "And i am finding out the hard way that the playoffs aren't easy."

My concern is, can you really really really blame the goaltender in this situation. Sure he's been a bit shaky on some plays and seems a bit "off". But what about the Montreal forwards? They had a ton of chances last game and failed to put it in the net.


Crosby and Clan took a huge 3-0 lead in their series when they visited MSG for game three last night. They're the only undefeated team in the playoffs right now, and by the way last game went they'll probably stay that way after game four against the Rangers. As Dan O'Toole would say, "the only battle the Penguins are losing is the facial hair one."



Brooms?
Since when do the brooms come out in the second round? All series except the Canadiens-Flyers series are currently sitting at three games to none.

Ouch.

Okay. I must admit. The opening for the game was SO COOL. If you didn't catch game 3 of the Penguins and Senators series, it was the first home game for Ottawa in the playoffs. It opened with a guy dressed up like a Senator (not the Parliamentary kind). And he gave a Gladiator-esque speech. Although in my head I kept thinking he was giving a "Spartan-esque speech" which would also be known as a speech of knowing doom. "Tonight we dine. ON THE GOLF COURSE!!!!"

On top of all of these theatrics, Daniel Alfredson made his return to the lineup. And it seemed — for a short fleeting moment — that the Senators might make a series out of it. And then the Penguins scored. again. again. and again. I am going to be shocked if Ottawa pulls out the win in game four.

In some Habs news, Tomas Plekanec admitted in an interview scrum today that he "played like a little girl" the last two games. Later coach Guy Carbonneau quipped, "well it wasn't like a little girl". Plekanec has one assist in the last two games.

Dave Nonis was fired as Vancouver Canucks General Manger today. I was watching the TSN hockey panel react to this, and I must admit I agree with Bob MacKenzie. Nonis probably should have had another year to prove himself. He is the engineer behind the steal of the century: Todd Bertuzzi and Alex Auld for star goaltender Roberto Luongo (ok maybe it wasn't the trade of the century, but it was huge). And most of the Canucks defense were injured all year. And the Canucks only missed the playoffs by three points.

And of course there was Avery-gate. If you missed the Rangers and Devils play last night, pest Sean Avery stood facing goaltender Martin Brodeur and waved his stick in Brodeur's face, screening the play. I thought it was hilarious, but it obviously had to be nipped going forward. But I think some people took it a bit too seriously.