I don’t understand why anyone would want that jackass on their team. Stay classy, sean.

I dare somebody to say that Avery is bad for the league.

If he had said this yesterday, and if hadn’t been suspended, this would have been the biggest game so far this year by far, because everybody and their dog would tune in to watch Phaneuf and Avery scrap.

What a waste of a perfectly good opportunity to get a good hard game going. Avery isn’t stupid, so it was a calculated move to get people riled up one way or another. Would have made the game interesting from the get-go. And if Avery wants to paint a bullseye on his back to get his team going and make the opponents lose some composure, that’s fine with me. He takes the risk and makes good entertainment for the rest of us. Stupid move by the NHL.

Ugh. Put me into the camp of people who find themselves, unwillingly, supporting Avery. This is stupid.

Hicks, though, is unbelievable. Who the hell did he think he was signing?

So he was suspended indefinitely for essentially being a classless jerk, but the league can’t manage to keep players from trying to take each others’ heads off? Nice.

If Phaneuf even cares what he says or thinks, he’s quite capable of “defending his girl’s honor” himself. Or better, ignore Avery’s comments unless and until Cuthbert responds herself. I’m sure she’s capable of that – unless she is a delicate flower of such sensitivity that she would be permanently scarred in her psyche to hear such comments.

Men say idiotic things about their exes all the time. Nothing new, nothing special. Certainly nothing worth suspension. What a stupid thing for the league to waste their time and energy on.

I can think of one very, very good reason the NHL handed out the suspension. Todd Bertuzzi. Remember the talk back in the day, the comments about Moore being a marked man? This is similar in my mind. And the comment is so personal, Phaneuf could loose his head and go too far (it isn’t likely, but it wasn’t likely that Bertuzzi was going to break Moore’s neck either). Instead of allowing that to happen, the NHL might actually be doing something preventative.

I know, this is the NHL, there is no forethought there, and I’m probably just talking out my backside. But it’s something to consider :)

How long do you think the suspension will be? Longer than what a player gets for stomping on another player? Longer than you get for ruining another player’s career? Place your best.

The remark is demeaning, gentlemen. A lot of people find that remark to be sexist.

Yah, people who let their wives wear their pants.

I don’t think “sloppy seconds” is a sexist thing to say.

But if the roughly 45% of people who’ve replied to the poll in favour of the suspension really do find Avery’s remark sexist, I guess the league probably did the right thing in suspending him.

This paragraph from Scott Burnside at ESPN probably points to the real reason for the suspension:

Sources told ESPN.com on Tuesday that, a month ago, when the Stars were involved in an ugly loss in Boston, Avery was involved in an ugly incident with a Bruins fan. According to the source, Avery was being heckled by the fan, and as he exited the ice, he stopped and yelled up a string of obscenities at the fan, including comments directed at the fan’s female companion. The profane exchange was heard by many in attendance, including a police officer, and prompted complaints to the league. A report was filed to the NHL, but Avery avoided suspension.

(link)

Something tells me there’s been more than one report like this to the NHL about Avery, but taking his act in front of the cameras so blatantly is what pushed the league over the edge. He has some handy excuses for his classless behavior in games and in this alleged Boston incident (denying what others said he said on the ice, “it was the heat of the game”, the fan in Boston started it), but this time he pushed it too far by saying it for the cameras at a press conference.

yes, he deserved the suspension, because he uttered what we used to call “fightin’ words” designed to provoke a reaction from the flames. a friend of mine at a recent stars-coyotes game took a poster down to the ice at warmups she had made, “sean avery is a " with averys face in the middle of a pansy. avery saw it, fired a puck at the glass in front of her face, came over and called her a "f-ing b****” and continued to rave at her, causing his teammates much amusement(some of the stars were laughing out loud at the poster). so he has no class, wants to agitate, yells obscenities at fans, and insults women in general and his former girlfriend in particular hoping to cause the flames to lose their heads and pick up extra penalties. 5 game suspension seems about right