New York Rangers assign Sean Avery to minor league affiliate after clearing waivers -NHL News Update
After putting veteran forward, Sean Avery on waivers, New York Rangers have assigned the 31-year-old to play with their minor league affiliate in the American Hockey League (AHL), Connecticut Whale, as he went unclaimed following a 24 hour deadline on Wednesday,
October 5, 2011.
New York Rangers had placed the player on waivers on Tuesday for a 24 hour deadline to be claimed by any other franchise in the National Hockey League (NHL), but were forced to re-assign the player after lack of interest by them.
According to Avery’s agent, Pat Morris, the player is willing to comply by whatever New York Rangers desire of him along with mentioning that European teams have also expressed their interest to sign Avery on for the next season.
"It's a mutuality", Morris told ESPNNewYork.com's Katie Strang. "Sean's open to playing wherever the Rangers want him to play, whether that's down in Hartford or over in Europe".
For Avery, this is not the first time he has been put on waivers by a team in the NHL. It was in 2008 when New York claimed the player from Dallas Stars, who are still bound to pay part of his contract, which is in its last year at $4 million.
Rangers did not feel that Avery underperformed during training camp and the preseason, rather they regarded the reason being that there are better forwards on the New York roster and keeping him onboard would just be a burden.
"I think we have better players than Sean Avery -- plain and simple", Rangers coach, John Tortorella, said Tuesday about his other forwards on the line-up. "I can dodge it 10 different ways without trying to run Sean over. I thought he had a good camp”.
In his third year with New York last season, Sean Avery put up 24 points (3 goals, 21 assists) in 76 games played along with a monstrous 174 minutes in penalty time.
Next season could mean a return to the minor leagues for Sean Avery or a foreign club, but one good thing about this certainly is that he can focus on improving himself to make a positive comeback.
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