The New York Rangers picked Sean Avery off waivers from the Dallas Stars at high noon today. Just  in time for Casino Night. So, what was Dallas’ problem is now Glen Sather’s. Avery also becomes the problem of Jim Schoenfeld, John Tortorella and the Ranger players. 

As if  their performance against the hapless Avalanche on Saturday night wasn’t enough of a side show both during and after the game, the return Avery surely spells the addition of another ring to the circus that the New York Rangers has become. Why it’s enough to turn this previously ”Vanilla” team into “Rocky Road”.

My only question to Sather is, WIIFU? We have taken a huge problem off Dallas’ hands.  And although they still must pay half of Avery’s salary, surely something more must be coming the other way? So, what’s the deal? Are anymore shoes going to drop between the Rangers and Dallas?

Rumor had it that a plebiscite of the players was taken and Drury told Sather the players were unanimously against bringing back Avery. What does it say that Sather still claimed him despite the disapproval of the players? Was Sather’s decision made before the Dallas game in early February? What did he decide and when did he decide it?

Tortorella expressed his dislike for Avery on the air when he was commentating on the “Sloppy Seconds” situation back in December. Tortorella was brought in by Schoenfeld.  He’s Schoenfeld’s guy. Perhaps Sather sees Avery as his quid pro quo. In Avery, Sather has a thorn that he can bring up or send down at will. No other team in the NHL  will touch Avery.  Is Avery Sather’s scale tipper  in the balance of power?

And you all thought the Circus wasn’t coming to the Garden until March 26…

(AFTERNOON UPDATE: Just want to point out that at practice today, pretty much every Rangers scout and player personnel person was present and accounted for. So, organizationally at least, the Rangers are braced to make moves as they come available. I still think they’re pretty hamstrung, and that nobody is going to take one of their long-term expensive guys (Drury, Gomez, Redden, etc.). The one guy who might have some value as a trade commodity is Roszival, but he’s unlikely to be moved, too. That doesn’t leave a lot of room under the salary cap to make a big splash, unless it’s a rental guy who will be a free agent after the season)
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Rangers captain Chris Drury was happy, at least, that he doesn’t have to answer “hypothetical” questions about Sean Avery anymore, and that he doesn’t have to dance around any possible “tampering” issues now that Avery is officially a Ranger.

DRURY:

“I think it will be great. I think the only two things I need to know, and I think the guys in this room need to know is 1) he wants to be here, he wants to be a Ranger. He loves wearing our jersey, he loves living in New York and secondly, he wants to win a Stanley Cup. What more could you ask for out of a teammate?”

How Avery fits into Tortorella’s system:

“I think he’s going to love it, no question. He’s an in-your-face, up-tempo player. He’s always moving his feet and finishing checks and I think he’s going to thrive in it.”

On Avery as a teammate:

“I like to describe him as a guy who literally played his guts out for us last year. He almost lost his spleen, was in the hospital, was laid up, missed the playoffs. What more could you ask for from a guy? And that (injury) didn’t happen on the last shift of the game. It happened I think in the first period of that game. He’s a competitive, fiery guy and he’s going to help us win a lot of big games down the stretch here.”

“I think he’s going be positive. I don’t want to speak for him, but I’m sure he learned a lot this year, on and off the ice, his experience in Dallas and in Hartford. I think he’s going to want to come in here and help us win games and that’s a good thing.”

On the potentially flammable Tortorella-Avery relationship:

“I think it will be fine. We all know who’s in charge here. It’s not us. It’s not anyone in this room. It’s Torts. As it should be.”
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DUBINSKY (who had some harsh words for Avery on his way out the door):

“He’s going to come in and if he plays the way he can, which we know he will—there’s never been a question—he’s going to help us. So we’re excited for that. We’re excited for him to come and help us win games and help us get into the playoffs.

On Avery in the lockerroom:

“He was good. He certainly had his own style on doing things, but me personally, he never did anything that I wouldn’t want a teammate to do. So, we’re happy to have him back and we’re looking forward to having him help us.”

“We’re not sitting here anticipating anything controversial is going to happen with Sean coming. The only thing we’re anticipating is him coming in and helping us win games, which we desperately need right now.”

Thoughts when Avery left:

“Sean was good to me. He was always good to me. I can’t speak for everyone when I say that and I don’t know if he rubbed guys the wrong way or what-not. But for me, he was good. More than anything, though, whatever happened happened. He’s my teammate again and I always have, and always will embrace every one of my teammates and treat them just like a teammate and a family member. When I heard that he’s part of our team, I’m immediately excited for him to come and looking forward to him bringing his on-ice capabilities and help us win games.”

According to TSN, both Erik Reitz and Aaron Voros were placed on waivers. Neither comes at a terribly big surprise as Voros has underachieved and Reitz was merely a filler. There was a myriad of waiver activity with some surprising players finding themselves on the wire.

Much of this is in anticipation of tomorrow's trade deadline.

In addition, all the local beat writers have practice reaction from John Tortorella and the players on Avery's return. Expect BB+ to have information shortly...

Here’s TSN’s story on the number of players placed on waivers today, a day before the trade deadline. Aaron Voros and Eric Reitz are among them.

There are some notable others on the list, too, including Miro Satan and Gary Roberts. Teams are trying to clear cap space for tomorrow’s deadline.

Seventeen other NHL teams wanted no part of Sean Avery. Yet the Rangers couldn’t get him fast enough. So here we go with Avery II.

Rangers coach John Tortorella, who as a TSN analyst said earlier this season that Avery was a selfish player and embarrassment to the league, sure sounded different today:

“He was an effective player here. I didn’t see all the games, I wasn’t here for it, but I know he was an effective player and can be an effective player, so we’ll go to work and see if he can help the club to win. That’s what this is about, trying to make a team better and we’ll get him in here and see where he can go.”

On the TSN comments:

“I coach this situation just like (with) every other player. I believe in team concept. I believe in a team helping one another and not stepping out, hurting a team concept. To me, that’s the way I’m going to approach this situation. I know there’s going to be a lot of people want(ing) information and turn this into a bigger thing. Sean Avery is a player coming into the New York Rangers organization. We want him to fit in and play under a team concept. If he does that we feel he can be effective.

“He’s a player like any other player we might pick up in the next day or so. My role is to teach him. To me it’s easy because I’m doing the same thing with these guys. Sean’s just five or six days behind, as far as with me.”

Worried about two passionate people banging heads?

“No, no, no, no. Players bang heads all the time. I think players, when there’s conflict or personality … I believe in personality within the hockey club. I think that’s very important. When there’s conflict, I think that’s good, unless it isn’t done under a team concept. When you have conflict, then you must be hitting a problem head-on. You’re not hiding from it. Once you work through that conflict and you do it respectfully, I think you become tighter as a unit. Those types of situations, I think everybody’s afraid of that, and I’m not just talking about with Sean. I’m talking with all players. I had major conflicts with a lot of players in Tampa early. But now we respect one another, we understand why we went through it together.”

“We feel, especially in the division here, we feel we need a little bit more jam on our team, and hopefully he can kick in a couple of goals as we go along the way here. Again, I haven’t coached Sean. I want to see what he’s all about. I’ve seen him play, and when he’s under a team concept and concentrating and playing under a team concept, he’s an effective player. So that’s what we’re looking for.

“I know you guys all want to see how this is all going to go, but he has really tried to help himself. And as I’ve said, Glen (Sather) believes in second chances.”

Does Tortorella believe in second chances, too?

“Oh, sure. I’ve made major mistakes along the way, coaching. I look at Dmitry Afanasenkov, who was on the ice in the last minute of Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals against Calgary, where we shipped him (to the minors) and I didn’t even want him anywhere near the team at the beginning of that year. And there’s been a number of other players along the way. I’ve learned also, that you don’t give up. You can’t give up on people. It still may not work out in certain situations, but I still think (until) players mature, we just don’t have a handle on that. If we knew when players were going to mature mentally, then it wouldn’t be any fun as we go through here because we’d have all the answers.”

Torts said he has no idea where Avery fits into the lineup, and won’t until he sees him practice tomorrow. Nor does he know if he’ll be able to play Thursday on Long Island, or what his conditioning level is.

I asked him if he expects the Rangers to look very different after the trade deadline:

“You’re asking the wrong guy. I coach the team. Glen and I have had talks with Schoeny and we’ve talked about our team as far as maybe adding a little size to it if possible, because of the division we play in. But you could look at all different aspects. I know Glen Sather wants to improve this hockey club and I think at trade deadlines that’s what every general manager wants to do. There’s not one specific thing. If there’s something that pops up and he thinks it will help the club, I’m sure he’s going to explore that. It’s all about trying to improve your hockey team.”

On the whirlwind first week as coach:

“What city am I in?

“I’m settling in here. I’m beginning to understand the players. I feel much better about where they fit in. We’ll bring Sean in and see where he fits in. But this is our team. This is our team. I don’t think there’s going to be any blockbusters going on as far as the New York Rangers, and I don’t want to speak out of turn. But I coach the hockey club, Glen manages the team. He’s been wide open with me. We’ve had great communication. Whatever happens here we’re going to try form it and try to make this the best team we possibly can down the stretch, because we’re fighting for our lives to get into the playoffs and that’s the most important thing.”

(SOME PLAYER REACTIONS TO FOLLOW).

On Feb. 17, 2007, Colton Orr was scratched against the Flyers, who, coincidentally or not, ran roughshod over the Rangers without fear of reprisal all afternoon in their 5-3 victory at the Garden during which Brendan Shanahan sustained a...

The Rangers claimed forward Sean Avery on re-entry waivers from Dallas today. Avery, who played 86 regular-season games and 18 postseason games with the Rangers in the 2006-07 and 2007-08 seasons, rejoins the team for a second tour of duty.