Agent Not Worried About Coach Tortorella, Says Sean Avery Will Join Rangers

The Toronto Star reported that Sean Avery's agent, Pat Morris, said, "We don't worry about what John Totorella told different television stations about not liking Sean's antics."

The story by Kevin McGran and Paul Hunter, with help from Star wires, said The New York Rangers seemed likely to take Avery back until coach Tom Renney was fired and John Tortorella replaced him as, in his job as TV analyst, Tortorella was critical of Avery.
Avery's agent, Morris, sounds as if he's hoping the player will be back in the NHL, with the Rangers, according to the Toronto Star story.

Of course, the Star also reported "Avery bolted the Rangers for the Dallas Stars as an unrestricted free agent last summer."

Bolted? After playing his spleen out for the Rangers in the regular season and the play-offs, beating the New Jersey Devils and losing to the Pittsburgh Penguins that went all the way to the Stanley Cup finals, Avery was offered the best deal by the Dallas Stars and he took it.

Rangers GM Glen Sather is still taking the blame for losing Jagr, Shanahan, Straka, and Avery. He signed Chris Drury, Scott Gomez, and Marc Naslund to big, multi-year contracts instead of the Rangers saw as the heart of the team. Avery, like Jagr, was offered a one year deal.

The top paid Rangers players, averaging seven million, have been criticized as underachievers as their team got off to a great start, going 10 and 2, but reversed that recently. They fired coach Renney after losing to the Toronto Maple Leafs but lost to the Leafs again with the new coach and lost again last night to the Florida Panthers. 

David Booth and Nathan Horton scored a minute apart and the Florida Panthers ruined Tortorella's home debut with a 2-1 victory over the Rangers .

Meanwhile, with Avery, the Hartford Wolf Pack is on a four game win streak. He got an assist on a game winning goal in overtime in his fourth AHL game and he got his first penalty. In his last game, he got a goal and was named the game's second star.
 
The Wolf Pack takes on the Manchester Monarchs at home in Hartford tonight. The Rangers play the Colorado Avalanche at Madison Square Gardens on Saturday.

The Avalanche are 28-33-1, with 57 points, after getting shut out by Martin Brodeur in his return to the New Jersey Devils.. The Rangers are 31-24-8, with 70 points.

Will Avery return to the Rangers in time for their game against the Avs? Stay tuned, sports fans!