Penguins Vs. Rangers: Sid the Kid Versus Sean the Id

At the NHL trade deadline, Sidney Crosby and Sean Avery traded personalities, apparently. Either their brains were switched or just their personas. Crosby is now ready to fight and Avery has been scoring a point a game for the past seven games.

Crosby used to be known as the number one hockey hero in the league. He was "the face" of the NHL. His critics complained about him complaining to referees and called him a crybaby. He never fought. His team had enforcers to fight for him. He was the league's scoring leader and MVP.

Avery used to be known as the number one hockey villain in the NHL. He was the "king of the agitators", the super pest, voted  the most hated by fellow hockey players. His critics complained because he led the league in penalties for two years, had 53 fights, and his trash talk got him in a lot of trouble. He didn't get many goals, but now he is the league's most improved player.

The last time these two met, they chirped, yapped, and shoved each other all game. The video is still on Youtube. Avery was ready to drop the gloves and Crosby was ready for Jarkko Ruutu or Georges Laraque drop their gloves and fight Avery for him.

Avery demonstrated bravery, or a huge ego, or temporary insanity by shoving Crosby.  You must be crazy if you pick a fight with the face of the NHL when you know Laraque and Ruutu would be coming after you.

Since then, Avery has had to deal with commissioner Gary Bettman, too. Bettman suspended him indefinitely for other issues. Some say Avery was sent to anger management counseling for a whole history of flare-ups.

Around the time of the trade deadline, Avery returned to the league and landed in New York a changed man, apparently. He was called everything from Avery 2.0, and Sean Avery Mild, to Deepak Chopra on skates. One columnist said Avery had his id lobotomized by the NHL/NHLPA's behaviour modification program. 

Avery emerged from the program looking like a poster boy for anger management, with a Gap ad and a Hollywood movie deal, as well as an invitation to rejoin the Rangers after playing himself into game shape with the Hartford Wolf Pack in the AHL.

The Wolf Pack went on a six game winning streak with Avery in the lineup. He got just one goal and one assist, but his most interesting statistic was the small number of penalty minutes and the number of fights he was in which was zero.

It looked like the hockey villain was turning into some kind of hockey hero. When Avery rejoined the Rangers, the team had already won one game under their newly hired coach, John Tortorella. At the same time they added Avery, the Rangers traded for Nik Antropov and Derek Morris.

The Rangers were shopping for a scorer, a blueliner, and spirit, and they picked up Antropov, Morris, Tortorella, and Avery. The team had suffered a long mid-season slump that took them from first in their division to out of the playoffs. Their turnaround took them back up to sixth place with a couple of three game winning streaks.

Avery was expected to ad grit, toughness, and spirit. They hoped he would show the Rangers how to swagger again. But Avery showed them he has changed. They got him at half price, since the Dallas Stars are still paying half his salary, and he turned into a scorer as well as the re-energizer. It was like a two-for-one sale at half price.

The Penguins picked up Bill Guerin and Chris Kunitz at the trade deadline and replaced their coach just before the Rangers. Under Dan Bylsma, Pittsburgh went on a tear. After finishing second in the Stanley Cup playoffs last year, they fought the curse of the Stanley Cup this year. Despite the fact Crosby and Evgeny Malkin were the NHL's leading points-getters, the Penguins were out of the playoff picture until Guerin and Kunitz joined Crosby's line.

Crosby was feuding, famously, with Alex Ovechkin, who took over the role of leading the league in scoring. Fans argued about who was the best player in the NHL: Crosby, Ovechkin, or Malkin. Ovechkin was the first and possibly only player to score 50 goals this year and took over the lead in the race for MVP, despite inciting some controversy with his 50th goal celebration.

Following his 50th goal he did an end zone type celebration where he gyrated around and pretended his stick was too hot to pick up. After his 51st goal, he put his finger to his lips, silenced the Toronto Maple Leaf fans, Don Cherry, and his critics across Canada and the USA.

Crosby changed at the same time as Avery, but he went the other way. In a recent game, Crosby yapped until he was challenged to fight. On the next shift Crosby appeared without his face visor, indicating he was ready to go. Crosby was going to get in a fight.

Crosby is adding an element of toughness to his game at the same time Avery is suddenly getting an offensive mentality. He has scored a goal-a-game for three games, two goals in the game of the week on NBC, and registered seven points in seven games, collecting a first and second star along the way.

The NHL is evolving into a faster game with more room for skilled players, with fewer goons, but still hard-hitting hockey and fighting is a part of it. Staged fights appear to be on their way out, along with enforcers who can't skate very well. Crosby and Avery are evolving into the kind of hockey player the new NHL wants: skilled goal scorers who hit and sometimes fight.

When Pittsburgh defeated New York in the playoffs last year, it was Sidney Crosby and the Penguins versus Jaromir Jagr and the Rangers. This year, Malkin emerged as the NHL points leader and, especially when Crosby was injured, the Penguins leader.

When Pittsburgh hosts New York on Saturday, it will be Malkin and the Penguins versus Avery and the Rangers. The teams are tied in the standings and fighting for playoff positioning. Both would like to win home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs by climbing up into fourth place. In order to get there, both teams have to win a few more games than the Philadelphia Flyers before the end of the regular season and one team has to win one more game than the other.

The game between the Rangers and the Penguins is lining up to be quite a fight. Maybe we will even seen Crosby and Avery stop their yapping and drop their gloves.

It's a time of hope and change across America and around the world, and a great time for hockey fans to watch their teams in the stretch run.