NHL on Sean Avery Being Sean Avery

There are a lot of words one can use to describe Sean Avery of the NY Rangers.

Let's see...a few that come to mind...

gritty
hard working
instigator
thorn in the side
douchebag
assclown

But even by Avery standards, his performance on Sunday against the Devils was considered by the suits and hats at NHL HQ to be across the line...thus, we now have the Sean Avery Rule. According to an edict handed down from on high (or somewhere near Toronto), (Sir) Colin Campbell, grand poobah of NHL Crimes and Misdemeanors (natch, Senior Executive Vice President and Director of League Operations...yadda yadda yadda), the league has sprung into action to counter this shameful blight on the image of the NHL:

"An unsportsmanlike conduct minor penalty (Rule 75) will be interpreted and applied, effective immediately, to a situation when an offensive player positions himself facing the opposition goaltender and engages in actions such as waving his arms or stick in front of the goaltender's face, for the purpose of improperly interfering with and/or distracting the goaltender as opposed to positioning himself to try to make a play."

Thanks Colin. But while we have you, anything you want to add about violent hits to the head, or excessive boarding that leads to injury? ... Colin? ... Hello?...Ok, I guess we've lost Colin.

While I have often expressed concern over the NHL "making up the rules as they go along", I have to applaud them in this case. Sean Avery definitely deserves to have an unsportsmanlike conduct rule named after him.

Don't get me wrong, the guy is a heck of a player (and has possibly the single greatest head shot on any team's roster), who plays with an edge and is incredibly effective for his team. Since he arrived from the LA Kings in a trade last year, the Rangers are 50-20-6 with Avery in the line-up and 9-13-3 in games that he's missed. It's just too bad that he crosses the line between effective instigator and clownish asshat so often. There are a lot of guys in the league that I love to hate, but would love to have on my team. I would not want Sean Avery on my team (or at least that's my position from my current perch of sactimony!).

I'll let the legendary Don Cherry sum it up for me:

I've known this kid since he was about 16 years old," Cherry told Toronto radio station The FAN 590. "Once a jerk, always a jerk. You can't blame the referee, because . he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Could you believe what you were seeing? I've never seen anything like that and I've been in every league that's ever existed."