Avery Waived Goodbye

  New York Rangers’ problem child Sean Avery has been waived, it was announced Tuesday.

  Avery’s second stint with the Rangers was known to be failing in his battle with Rangers forward Erik Christensen for the last remaining roster spot on forward, as he was scratched for the European friendly exhibition matches in Bratislava, Slovakia and Zug, Switzerland.

  If the Rangers’ agitator goes unclaimed by noon on Wednesday, he will report to the Rangers AHL affiliate in Hartford, or possibly be loaned to a European club. The likelihood that Avery will get snatched up through the waiver wire is slim.

  Avery heads into the last year of his contract with the Rangers, with an annual cap hit of $1,937,500 million. Avery’s play slumped in 2010-2011 as he played one of his least productive seasons in the NHL. Avery accounted for just three goals and 24 points in 76 games while picking up 174 penalty minutes.

"There are players that are here are better than Sean Avery," head coach John Tortorella said. "Maybe not in the role or a couple instances Sean could help us in, but they're more versatile in a lot of different areas.

"I'm trying to do this the right way because I do not want to keep on shoveling dirt over Sean Avery, but we have better players than Sean Avery right now on the hockey club."

  Avery’s discipline and lack of production is well documented since his rejection from the Dallas Stars. While the Stars are still on the hook for half of his annual salary of nearly $4 million, the intriguing factor is that if in fact Avery is claimed, the Rangers will be on the hook of a quarter of that amount – leaving Avery with a paycheck from three different hockey clubs.

 "I can dodge it 10 different ways without trying to run Sean over. I thought he had a good camp" Torts' said.

"But I think with the makeup of our team, and some of the people we've added, and some of the youth we've added as far as depth put Sean in this spot."

  In nine years at the NHL level, Avery has played a total of 565 games for four different clubs racking up 87 goals and 244 points with a total of 1,512 penalty minutes. It is a wonder if Avery has in fact seen the end of his NHL career, or if another club is willing to take the baggage and put one of the NHL’s biggest pests on their roster.

- Kendall Grubbs