Overrated?

The latest edition of the NHL players survey has just come in, and it seems that the majority of the players have a grudge going.

The most hated player in the NHL as voted by it's players is Sean Avery by a landslide of 66.4%. He was also voted the most overrated player in the NHL with a much smaller 8.5% vote, just ahead of Bard Richards and Bryan McCabe at 8.0%.

Personally, I believe that Sean Avery is one of the most underrated players in the NHL right now. He is the present-day version of Dave "Tiger" Williams. He is already known for his physical play, but many people overlook his stats. After a few shaky years breaking into the NHL, he turned it up last year getting 18 goals with both the Los Angeles Kings and New York Rangers, a 3 goal improvement on his 15 the year before.

One game against Toronto that I watched, Avery was the most dominant player on the ice. He was getting into the opposing player's heads before the puck even dropped, got in a fight which got the Rangers going, and got 2 goals and an assist!

Just a few days ago, Avery went to salary arbitration with the Rangers and was awarded a 1-year contract worth $1.9 million dollars. Many think this is a lot for Avery, but I believe that the Rangers got lucky. Under $2 million is underpaying a great player like Avery.

Link: http://www.thehockeynews.com/en/news/news.asp?idNews=24100

Leetch Ends 18-Year Career

It was evident to everyone that Bryan Leetch would not return to the game of hockey for the '06-07 season. He offers from New York and Edmonton, but turned all of them down. He officially retired today.

"You can go right down those record books," Leetch said Thursday from Boston. "From Gretz and Mess, you've got Marcel Dionne, Guy Lafleur, Ron Francis, Mike Gartner and just on and on.

"It's been amazing. That's what I kind of really I shake my head at _ how many interesting players I've been able to be friends with and play with."

During his 18-year career, he won the Norris Trophy 2 times and was part of the Stanley Cup winning team in New York in 1994. He collected his 1,000th point in his career while playing for the Bruins in 2005-06.

He has many records that will probably stand for a while and will go down as one of the best defence men to ever play in the NHL.

"Everyone wanted me to keep playing or at least to keep the option of coming back open," said Leetch. "But I knew inside that I wasn't going to play anymore.

"It's just kind of letting everybody else know now."