Abritration blues hurts Blueshirts

It's now not exactly new news that Sean Avery was awarded a $1.9M contract in arbitration and the Rangers accepted. Yet, the media still hasn't moved on. From Larry Brooks pre-hearing article in the NY Post (which started the hubbub) to today's piece in the Ottawa Citizen, pundits seem to be coming down hard on Glen Sather for daring to say a bad word about Avery.

Yes, this Avery:


I wonder what the Kings would have said had it had been them in the arbitration room.

It's as if Glen Sather was the first GM in history to present a case for not paying an RFA his asking price. If there's a first, it's the team's brief being leaked to the media before the hearing. Hmmm, wonder how that happened.

Do I wholly agree with the Rangers' assessment of Avery? Probably not. Do I think the team should have candy-coated it? Absolutely not. If Avery didn't want to hear it, he shouldn't have chosen to go the arbitration route.

And why does anyone care if Avery's feelings are hurt? At least Sather didn't call him a monkey.