Does that include the games he’s already missed?

1) This suspension is as stupid as the comments that apparently caused it! What exactly IS the line that can’t be crossed with regard to player comments about non hockey topics? Wonder why the NHLPA isn’t saying anything about the arbitrariness of it all. He didn’t hurt another PA member. He just made a verbal comment that might have been perceived as vulgar to some. He didn’t use one of George Carlin’s 7 words.
2) Yes, IF Avery had threatened a player or person OR if he said something about the game itself we could maybe understand a fine, but a 6 game suspension? Guys who have caused significant REAL injury to other players have recieved less time!| More idiocy from the NHL. Gary Bettman and Sean Avery deserve each other!.

Too much. Too soon.

There seems to be a generational disconnect here. To hear some hockey insiders and traditional media personalities talk about the incident you’d think Avery shot someone.

The call by some hockey insiders for Avery to be buried in the minors and never allowed back into the league stands in stark contrast to the opinion that he never should have been suspended in the first place.

And it seems (though I have no proof) that the spectrum of punishment tracks to some degree with age – hockey insiders/old boys network calling for the worst followed by mainstream media with bloggers generally at the other end of the spectrum.

This isn’t the only indecent in recent memory where the traditional hockey media has clashed with new media, and skirmishes only seem to be getting more frequent.

Is this the hockey traditionalists’ last stand against what they perceive as a perversion of their grand old game? Based on their reaction I’m guessing they recognize they’re losing their grip.

Strange days indeed.

“The alleged sexual assault took place after Quinn had dined at a Mall of America restaurant with former Penguins teammates Mario Lemieux, Rick Tocchet and Bob Errey on the night before a game against Pittsburgh. Police said the four men went to Hooters after their dinner, where they met four women. The four players and four women then went back to the Penguins players’ hotel, where Quinn was accused of raping the 19-year-old in another player’s hotel room.”

That’s the image I have of NHL players off the ice. A friend of mine hung out with some of the Oilers about five years ago, and they certainly confirmed it. The problem I have with the Avery suspension is that the NHL certainly isn’t doing anything to actually change the “banging strippers two at a time” behavior…

suspend Gary Bettman?

What’s particularly interesting to me is the cultural divide between traditional and newer NHL fans that seems to be emerging that (in my opinion) reflects a similar divide between Avery (and players like him) and the traditional NHL player.

Everyone in the league has been trained for years prior to making it as to what it means to be a hockey player according to the commonly accepted definitions shared by a conservative hockey establishment that does almost all of the teaching and, when your reach a high enough level, values reflected in the commentary of a conservative traditional media.

All about team. No individual displays of any kind. Etc.

Clearly Avery and others like him don’t fit into this mold. You’d have to be an exceptional talent to make it very far while the system you’re in attempts to force you into compliance every step of the way. It’s surprising that Avery has lasted as long as he has and not at all surprising that there are almost no players like him in the league.

Rejected by the establishment and accompanying traditional media, rejected by management, rejected by the majority of his peers who have a different understanding of what it is to be a hockey player.

Now that there are new media outlets available that don’t necessarily share the same view of hockey and hockey players Avery has found somewhat of a following. There seems to be a lot more dissent about this incident than there would have been even five years ago. At the very least there’s a forum available for those who disagree.

It would certainly go a long way to explaining this mess. If I was a betting man I’d say the league won’t be able to stamp this kind of thing out and will eventually be forced to change.