Sean Avery found his way back into the limelight again yesterday evening after dropping Edmonton Oilers defenseman Ladislav Smid with one punch during a fight during the Rangers/Oilers match up. But with nearly 24 hours to cool off, Oilers players are still chattering about the incident and claiming that Avery flat out “sucker punched” Smid.
“(Laddy) asked him fair and square, one-on-one, man-on-man,” said Oiler forward Colin Fraser. “He says ‘No, we’ll go later’ and Laddy’s half turned and (Avery) decides to jump him. It’s gutless. That’s expected from Avery, it’s no secret.”
The incident took place after Avery gave Fraser a solid check into the boards as Fraser played the puck into the neutral zone in the third period of the game. Smid then came over to challenge Avery who seemed to not be interested at the time. Smid slowly begins skating away with an eye still on Avery when Avery drops the gloves and appears to surprise Smid with a right hand that sends him to the ice. As officials pulled Avery away into the locker room, Oilers defenseman Ryan Whitney skated over to Avery and had a few choice words for him. The situation ignites into a full-on brawl when Oilers defenseman Theo Peckham skates over to give his two cents and tries to grab Avery as he is headed into the tunnel and into the locker rooms. A full recap of the entire incident can be viewed here.
“He keeps taking liberties with other guys and nobody seems to take a cheap shot at him yet,” said Peckham. “It’s well overdue I’d say.”
Rangers head coach John Tortorella declined to comment on the situation, but Ranger forward Erik Christensen definitely had an opinion on the matter, as he told the New York Post.
“It looked to me like (Avery) suckered him; I’m not going to deny it,” Christensen stated in an interview with the Post. “I mean, everyone could see.”
No suspensions were handed down for the brawl, but Rangers forward Brandon Dubinsky was fined for grabbing Fraser while he was on the bench. After everything was sorted out, four players, including Avery, were ejected from the game while 124 penalty minutes were assessed by the officials.
So what’s your take? Did Avery commit a gutless act and sucker punch Smid as he was skating away or should Smid have been more prepared as Avery accepted his offer to drop gloves and dance?
The ballot also includes New York Islanders defenseman Mark Streit, one of two Islanders included on the ballot along with John Tavares. In case you didn’t know, Streit hasn’t even played a game in the NHL this season while he sits on the IR and is listed as “out indefinitely” with a torn left labrun and rotator cuff. While Streit is certainly the most questionable addition to the All-Star ballot, other names have popped up as highly suspect.
There has been some debate on the play as to whether Pominville saw the hit coming and failed to protect himself or whether the hit constitutes a “blind-side hit” under the league’s new policies regarding headshots and blind-side hits. Regardless of intention or any other factor, the league sent a very clear message by suspending Hjalmarsson that plays like this will not be tolerated and that players need to use more discretion during game play.
Joining Franzen on the second line will most likely be center Valtteri Filppula and Todd Bertuzzi. The Wings are hoping that more playing time on one of the team’s top scoring lines will give Filppula the breakout season that they have been waiting for. Like many Wings last year, Filppula was limited to 55 games because of injury, but he could easily post 50 or more points in a healthy season playing with some of the Wings’ top talent.
The first addition came via trade when the Bruins sent defenseman Dennis Wideman to the Florida Panthers in exchange for right wing Nathan Horton and depth forward Gregory Campbell. Horton is a hard-working player with a lot of offensive potential. If he gets time alongside a healthy Marc Savard this season, Horton could crack the 30-goal plateau for the second time in his young career.
