Sather: Avery is a "detriment to the team"?

This is what I dislike about Glen Sather. He is a very bitter man and does not like when players reject his contract offers that he deems fair. According to Larry Brooks of the NY Post, Avery was offered a one-year deal at $1.3 million, which is only $200,ooo more than he made last year. Considering how much Avery's presence changed the team's fortunes (17-6-6 with him in the lineup), you would think that Sather wouldn't lowball him that much. Unfortunately, instead of Avery's agent asking for a reasonable reward, he went and asked for a ridiculous $2.6 million when they know that the team is having cap problems. This is probably when things started to go wrong between the two sides. Although it is clear that the reward should be somewhere in the middle of those two amounts, Sather is pulling out all the stops in making sure that the amount is closer to his offer. According to Brooks, Ranger's management called Avery "a reasonably effective player as well as a detriment to the team" in the salary arbitration brief that will be read at the hearing in Toronto. This is what Avery said to the post in response to learning of this.

"It's hard not to take something like that personally and not to be emotional about it," Avery told The Post yesterday. "I know this is part of the business, I know this is part of the process, but it's extremely disappointing to read something like that coming from Slats [GM Glen Sather] and not to be offended by it. They talk about me taking, 'unnecessary penalties,' and make a lot of references about me that I don't want to go into but that I don't think are fair. I certainly don't think I was a detriment to the team."

"At the end of the season, my hope was to sign a long-term deal," said Avery, who is eligible to become an unrestricted free agent next summer. "I would have loved that. . . . But that never became a legitimate possibility. It became obvious pretty quickly that I was going to wind up going to arbitration. That's OK, I understand the situation with the cap and I understand that this is a business, but not only aren't we anywhere close, they've decided to really go after me in this brief. I don't think that's necessary."

The good news is that Avery isn't going off the deep end and asking for a trade like many players would. Avery also reiterated his interest in playing for Rangers.

"The arbitration hasn't changed my opinion at all about wanting to be a Ranger and being excited about this season. I'm really high on the team. I just wish Slats hadn't said these things about me. That's hard to take."

http://www.nypost.com/seven/07302007/sports/rangers/slats_not_fair__rangers_call_avery_detriment_in_brief_rangers_larry_brooks.htm

ZEN says: Folks, arbritration briefings are known to be nasty. The farther the two sides are apart, the worse they are going to get. Sather is facing cap problems and still wants to strengthen his team (bring more players in), so he will say anything to get this reward to be as low as possible. This includes bringing up Avery's awful past with other teams. Although Avery said he was still interested in coming back, I just hope he really feels that way down the road and ultimately signs a long term offer. These situations can easily make a player feel unwanted.