Well, I have kept completely quiet on the whole Sean Avery incident. Mostly because its all been said. From the message boards, to the blogs, and from the newspapers to the podcasts everyone has given their 2 cents. But very few seem to think about it the way I think about it so I might as well share what my thoughts are on the matter.
I loved it, but I am glad the stopped it.
I absolutely cracked up when I saw it, it was a fall off the chair stomach hurting because youre laughing so hard at what you are seeing moment. I noticed it as it was happening, on the 5 on 3, so it was tough for me to even pay attention to the play while Sean was doing his thing. It was one of the greatest things I have ever witnessed on television, and I totally agree with the NYRangerscast’s Steve. It was utter genius by Avery to do it.
But, I think the NHL was right in making it a penalty. Not because it was Avery doing it to Uncle Daddy, not because I feel it is unsportsmanlike or “butch league” or any of the other things people are throwing out there. No, I just happen to think that if you allow the opposing players to out and out blind the goalies the way Avery did, power play percentage will go through the roof. Players will simply wear more padding on the back of their bodies, and youll line up 2 players in front of the goalie whose one job is to block what he can see. You’ll see teams going from 14-18% on the PP to 35-40%. And while it is nice to see more scoring in the game, I think it bastardizes one of the greatest things we have in our sport, the way we handle our penalties to give the other team an advantage for a short period of time, but not making it a given they will score on it. Allowing the Avery rule to go unwritten would be tantamount to throwing all the old records out of the window and making even smart penalties, bad ones. It would probably also impact the physicality you would see in the game because teams would be hesitant to do anything to get themselves into the box, even throwing a huge hit, or having a scrum after the play, and that is something I want no part of.
While I made myself clear that I hate dirty plays, like the hit from behind, or hits to the head, I love the physicality in our game, and doing anything that may effect it would be wrong, and allowing the Avery play to become the norm should, and probably would effect the game on many levels, particularly the power play effectiveness, and will have a trickle down effect on other aspects of the game because of it.
So there ya have it.
