Sather and Rangers' Risky Gamble for Their Sparkplug Sean Avery

The New York Rangers are gambling that nobody else claims Sean Avery on re-entry waivers. There are 21 teams beneath the Rangers whose waiver claim would trump New York’s.

Giving the rest of the league underneath you a shot at him is a risky gamble.

When the New York Rangers placed Dallas Stars bad boy Sean Avery with their AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack, they also allowed him the to demonstrate he’s fit to return and play at the big league level again.

After losing 10-2 in Dallas and then 3-0 to the New Jersey Devils at home, Rangers general manager Glen Sather believes Avery can help his hockey team. So why let him audition for the rest of the league?

The Rangers are 1-4-2 in their past seven games and their one win came in a shoot-out.

That has them sliding behind the Atlantic Division-leading New Jersey Devils

Avery played 86 games with the Rangers over a season and a half. He left New York as a free agent and signed a four-year, $15.5 million contract with the Stars. Now, with the Rangers in a 1-4-2 slide, picking him up off re-entry waivers has to look like a very attractive deal.

The deal for Avery  comes with a price tag of $1.9 million US, which is under what the Rangers tried to get him for last summer when Avery's agent was shopping his services in the $4-million range.

Many teams may be interested in Avery at half the price that was being asked at the end of his last season with the Rangers, when he proved to be so effective, particularly in the playoffs against the Devils.

Wth the NHL's trade deadline looming, Sather, the Rangers, and the rest of the teams in the NHL interested in Avery have just over two weeks to decide.

The Ranges could ask the Stars to place Avery on recallable waivers right now and have him under contract for the next three years for less money than they were willing to pay him before he went to the Dallas Stars.