Sean Avery has always gotten the Jose Reyes deal with his in-and-out of the lineup stats being such a big subject of debate, but take a look at this year to add on to the conversation.
In the 15 games Avery has played in this year the Rangers have gone 11-3-1, including 5 straight wins before he was regulated to being a healthy scratch these last two games. In those games he has played in the Rangers are averaging 3.3 goals per game, while averaging just 2.4 goals in games he does not play.
Now an argument can definitely be made that Avery's lack of playing time in those games means that he did not have a huge impact in those games and I wouldn't necessarily argue that point. People will say I am crazy to say this, but I think he has a "Tim Tebow like effect" on the game. Even in his limited shifts he brings an extra energy to the ice and gets things going. And while he is not the offensive threat of a Marian Gaborik opposing teams are going to pay attention to him and throw them off their game even in the slightest bit and in sports that is all you need.
He has been playing extremely well this year to boot taking almost no penalties, scoring 3 goals in limited action, and playing as a plus player. Then there is Erik Christensen in his place who seems to go invisible for periods and games at a time. It is a pretty easy decision in my mind to leave Avery in there until at least Mike Rupp is ready for good, but I guess John Tortorella doesn't think it is so clear cut.
0 comments:
Post a Comment