Avery Update

Just wanted to update the Avery situation for everyone. The league has fined Avery $2,500 for the incident with Darcey Tucker in Toronto (Tucker was also fined $1,000). NHL disciplinarian Colin Campbell said that Avery was fined because the incident in Toronto came less than a week after the pre-game altercation against New Jersey. Fortunately for the Rangers, Avery won’t miss any games. This has resulted in Greg Moore being quickly sent back to Hartford.

Regarding the accusations that Avery made comments about Toronto’s Jason Blake’s cancer; Avery says they are completely false. Via a statement, Avery said:

“I am extremely upset and hurt that false and damaging comments were attributed to me regarding Jason Blake. I made no such comments. I have lost two grandfathers to cancer and have been a consistent contributor to multiple cancer related charities, first and foremost, Hockey Fights Cancer. I am unable to comment further, as the matter is now being addressed by legal counsel.”

Obviously Avery is hurt by the accusations regarding these alleged statements. Steve and I argued on today’s Podcast that trash talk on the ice has its limits and there is a line one should not cross. Our good friend Inferno at www.rangersreview.com had a nice counterpoint to our argument that you all should check out. It’s an interesting debate, one we encourage you to email or call us about because I am sure we will be discussing it more in the future.