Avery is done in Dallas

Originally posted on Thursday December 04, 2008 @ 02:01 AM EST at http://fans.nhl.com/members/JuiceinLA/boards/24921

NHL Network broadcast a Coach Tippett interview tonight. Coach said “no sax before the game.”

No, no, that isn’t what he said. I just love that Brendan Shanahan quote.

When asked, Coach Tippett said, point blank, that he didn’t see how Sean could be welcome back into the locker room. He basically said no matter what the outcome of tomorrow’s hearing, Sean is really no longer welcome in Dallas. He said: “I find it hard to believe that Sean could come back into the dressing room and find the [kind of] continuity” the team has. Coach said that he didn’t want to be associated with the kind of character Avery epitomizes.

As many of us intimated earlier this day, Coach Tippett’s statement conveys to me that Sean Avery has clearly been causing turmoil (beyond ex-girlfriend comments) in the locker room, and Dallas seems to be relieved to have this incident and the League’s reaction to lean on in getting rid of him.

While we may never hear all that went on with Mr. Avery in Dallas, its clear that he wore out his welcome over time. Rather than being the biggest straw on the pile, the insult to Phaneuf and Cuthbert was merely just the one which broke the camels back.

One more day until Avery goes the way of the Emery (dodo) Bird, and we can all get back to real hockey issues.

Post-Post Edit: Response to some Commentors and other Blogs

It is short sighted to think that everything going on this week with Avery is about the content of this one statement.

Its an indisputable fact that Avery was aware that saying something like that, on camera, before a game against Phaneuf would cause chaos and incite the parties being maligned.

Accordingly, it can and should be argued that this was a premeditated and malicious instigation, intended to prompt an on-ice altercation.

Any player who takes highly public actions intending or knowingly acting so as to incite an on ice altercation should be heavily punished. This isn’t the WWF, after all.

It doesn’t matter how bad the particular statement was. Its about the intent, at the very least, proving that Sean knew saying something that inflammatory would have on-ice repercussions.

In that context, anyone who thinks the league should have set back and let it go once more, well your probably the sort of person who never believes your kid is the bully or bad at math, just because the kid tells you its not his fault.