He's Ba-ack!

UPDATE: The Rangers signed Devin DiDiomete, a 20-year-old left winger who played last year for Sarnia of the OHL after three seasons as a teammate of Marc Staal's in Sudbury. The 5'11, 200-pound Stratford, Ontario native, originally drafted in the seventh round by Calgary in 2006, was a point per game player last season. Despite his seemingly diminutive height, DiDiomete is a fighter and agitator who rode shotgun for Steve Stamkos last season, which would explain his sudden spike in scoring. He will likely start with Hartford. For more on DiDiomete, look here and here. For more on Sean Avery, see the Record, Ranger Rants. and Blueshirts Blog.

The Sean Avery Show's Broadway run was shuttered last summer and exiled to Dallas. Today, Avery makes a cameo appearance back at the Garden as the struggling 1-3-1 Stars begin a swing through the New York area. Avery has no goals and two assists in the five games, with a -1 rating and a team-high 27 penalty minutes, 25 of them earned as a result of one altercation. He has played on three different lines so far -- second, third, and fourth. His ice time is down from over sixteen minutes per game as a Ranger to less than thirteen in Dallas.

Since he is not speaking to the media, we can only guess how Avery feels about how his season has gone so far and how he likes Dallas after being in New York the past two seasons. At Blueshirt Bulletin+, we have a copy of a series of questions we E-mailed to Avery last week. As he hasn't responded (as of yet), we thought perhaps our readers can guess at what his answers might be. Click here to see it if you subscribe to Blueshirt Bulletin -- if you need instructions on how to access BB+, write to us at [email protected]. If you do not currently subscribe, E-mail us or click here to learn how to take out a subscription.

The revolving door at forward has Patrick Rissmiller returning to action in place of Lauri Korpikoski on the right side of Chris Drury and Markus Naslund, which is supposed to be the Rangers' first line but has actually been producing as if it's the fourth line. Thanks to Rangers Report and Blue Notes for the news. Rissmiller has dressed once so far after asking Tom Renney for a chance, but he hurt his ankle in the game. After missing one contest, he declared himself fit to play and told friends he was perplexed when he was held out of the next few games, listed as injured -- he hadn't yet understood that Renney will use an injury as an explanation if he can rather than embarrass a player as a healthy scratch.

Previews of tonight's game naturally revolve around the return of Avery. The Post is the only paper to get an interview with him. See also Newsday, Record, Journal News, Daily News, NYR.com, NHL.com, Inside Shots, and the reporters' blogs -- Blue Notes, Rangers Report, and Game On!. Here's a game preview that somehow manages to omit any mention of Avery. For the Dallas point of view on Avery and on their slow start, go here, here, here, and here. NHL.com has more on Nikolai Zherdev here and his line here. See Prospect Park for an update on Evgeny Grachev and other young players. Beyond the Blueshirts has an extensive round-up of news from Russia on Alexei Cherepanov. More here.

Comments

[Jameson]

I'll be the first to say it would be awesome to see Voros and Avery fight and Voros win.

[Jameson]

And also can't understand how Rissmiller gets a shot with Naslund and Drury rather than Sjostrom. I don't think either belong with those two but if anyones going to energize Drury and Naslund back into playing well it's gonna be Sjo or Prucha, not Rissmiller.

[Jameson]

But who knows, I also thought Voros being with Zherdev and Dubinsky was a dumb move, Renney knows his players better than me or anyone else here.

[zengolfguy]

Check out the TSN piece on Avery.

http://watch.tsn.ca/nhl/clip102027#clip102027

I loved the guy when he was here, but I can't help feeling (for the moment, at least) it's worked out better for the Rangers, than it has for Sean. Still having trouble picturing Mr. Fashion in the land where polyesther is still king.

[joeymole]

friggin' avery, wonder if he has a no-trade clause in his contract because dallas will look to dump him mid-season if their season tanks. i figure that sean will be pumped for tonight and will look for a howe hat trick. he'll be flying and trying to prove himself before the msg faithful...again. and it's not voros who he'll fight, i am figuring it to be paul "mad" mara, ha! one stick swing towards hank and avery will face the wrath of "mad" mara!

also, hate to break up some chemisrty but i still think renney ought to try naslund with dubi for a few games, see how that works out (and keep voros on the line.)

LET'S GO RANGERS!!!

[And This One Will Last A Lifetime]

I always felt that if they could work out a deal with Avery then it would be ok as long as they didn't overpay for him. His health and overall effectiveness (i.e. the last two years he was a non-factor in the 2nd round exits, even before the spleen incident) were a big factor in determining what he was going to be worth to us.

Aside from his ability to agitate he brought equal parts satisfaction and frustration with his actual play.

He showed he could be a 15-20 goal scorer, but he had a relatively low hockey IQ. For his great/grate play in the NJ series I vividly remember a game I went to last year against the Flyers where he tried to thread a cross-ice pass at the blueline in OT that resulted in the game losing goal.

I think of Callahan as the undersized pestering type player that's always in your face while on the ice, but won't be as derisive in doing so.

[BrooklynHockeyGuy]

It will be interesting to see if Avery tries to distract Lundqvist tonight and how far he'll take it.

[i]

Is Prucha injured too?

[Matty]

The problem with how far Avery takes certain things is more in what he says on the ice not so much what he does(as the League has curtailed him when he attempts to cross lines that way) so will he try to personally goad Henrik? Because any personal attack that Henrik can find offensive wouldn't it be offensive to hiw twin brother Joel who's Avery's teammate now? Also supposedly the Stars don't like it when Avery crosses that line on the ice, it will be interesting although I think he will be more ampted to play Villian in NJ but you never know with him

[Paul R _ _ _ _ _ D]

I think with hank having been a teammate of avery he kinda knows what to expect and he will just tune him out

[Matty]

Paul R,

He does and he seems pretty mellow and not to allow the antics of the opposition to get to him.

As far as Avery and the crowd reaction I believe that he should be cheered when he has his first shift but I would hope that people understand the difference between what Avery meant to the Rangers to what some of the most important Rangers of all time have meant to the Rangers. As long as the fans cheer longer and louder for our current Rangers then is all good with me

[oleosmirf]

i always figured that the problem with Avery was the clash of egos. Jagr, Lundqvist, Avery and Gomez (yea he does too) all have very large egos.

This year its Gomez, Lundqvist, Drury and Mara, who seems to have taken Strudwicks role are the leaders now. It just seems like its a more stress free and less volatile enviornment then last year.

[Jameson]

Ultimately, the problem with Avery was whether the risk of him becoming a real headache in the locker room over the course of 4 years versus the reward of him not was worth it. We decided it wasn't and that we could have grit and excitement from other players without the poor attitude. So far so good.

[Puluche]

If anything is going to happen, I predict that it will be between Avery and Dubinsky.

Avery got wind of Dubinsky's comments, and Dubi, who embodies the qualities of a captain, might try to make a statement that it is his team now.

If we only had more Dubinsky's. I don't recall a 2nd year player showing overall growth and promise the way he has.

They will meet up at some point tonight.

[Angry Roach]

I'm in love with the King's sister, Queen Lundquist. She is as hot as the King is good!

[Matty]

I'm in love with the King's sister, Queen Lundquist. She is as hot as the King is good!

But at least spell her last name right if you want her to love you back ;)

Lundqvist

[Jess]

Oleo

This year its Gomez, Lundqvist, Drury and Mara, who seems to have taken Strudwicks role are the leaders now. It just seems like its a more stress free and less volatile enviornment then last year.

Actually it is Vally not Henrik as a locker room leader and he has been that way for the last 2 years.

I would also exchange Dubi for Mara as Dubi is emerging as the leader of the younger players.

Mara is more cheerleader than team leader but he has always been a stand up guy in the locker room.

[Colorado Mark]

Well, I guess Lundqvist's sister isn't in politics. If you're being interviewed by the home team, you have to say that you hope Joel scores, but the Rangers win. If it's Dallas' broadcast team, then you go with Joel winning it for the Stars in overtime.

Sigh. She was a breath of fresh air, though. Has anyone ever seen a Swede that wasn't stunning?

[Jameson]

Has anyone ever seen a swedish girl that isn't stunning? Think about it.