FanHouse ElishaCuthbert

The Dallas Stars reportedly placed Sean Avery on re-entry waivers Monday morning, giving the 29 other teams in the NHL an opportunity to pick him up for half price (Dallas will be responsible for half of Avery's contract). It's long been assumed that the New York Rangers will be Avery's eventual landing spot, allowing him to raise his particular brand of hell in the Atlantic Division once again.

It's worth pointing out that after Avery was given his ridiculous suspension for cracking a sex joke, John Tortorella, the current Rangers head coach, had some harsh words for the NHL's premier agitator.

When the Dallas Stars host Phoenix on Tuesday night, forward Sean Avery will be eligible to return from his six-game suspension for making some off-color comments about former girlfriend Elisha Cuthbert, and her current squeeze, Dion Phaneuf of the Calgary Flames. It was quite the story for a while, and the Stars have decided they no longer want anything to do with it, or their big offseason acquisition, as they announced today that Avery will not be returning to the team.

TSN has the story, including comments from Stars co-general manager, Brett Hull:

"Sean needs to focus on his own well-being while the Stars hockey team must focus on playing hockey and competing for a playoff spot," said Stars Co-General Manager Brett Hull. "Everyone understands that Sean will not return to the Dallas Stars. We all need to move forward."

So this was the straw that finally broke the camel's back for Avery -- a sex joke. A stupid one, of course. And one that you might be more likely to hear in a high school cafeteria, but a sex joke nonetheless.

Along with New York Giants legend Harry Carson (and, naturally, Michael Phelps), the New York Rangers' own Brandon Dubinsky and Henrik Lundqvist attended the Sportsman of the Year ceremonies in downtown Manhattan on Tuesday night. FanHouse was in attendance, and we got a chance to talk to both of the players about Sean Avery's recent suspension. Here's what both players had to say about their former teammate's controversial "sloppy seconds" comments regarding Calgary's Dion Phaneuf dating Avery's ex-girlfriend, Elisha Cuthbert.

FanHouse: Do you think Avery's comments warranted a suspension?

Brandon Dubinsky: "Well, I mean, obviously the league protects its interests, and felt it was suspendable, so I respect what the league thinks. I think us hockey players try and fly under the radar a little bit and not get involved in too much outside activity and stuff like that, and try and really focus on our games, and I think we take great pride in the fact that you don't see too many of us in the headlines for getting in trouble away from the rink or anything like that. It's a fine line. I certainly don't think it was a smart thing to say, but I'm not sure."

What a fantastic night of action. Between the wild games in Philadelphia and Montreal, and Sean Avery's most recent shenanigans, there's plenty to talk about, so let's get right to it.

In Philadelphia, Steve Downie made his nearly-triumphant return to the city of brotherly love as a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning, and he put on a display of the best he has to offer, as well as the worst he has to offer. The Flyers ended up pulling out a chaotic 4-3 overtime win.

Early in the opening period, Downie gave Flyers fans a nice reminder as to why they shouldn't be missing his antics, as he picked up a pair of penalties at the 2-minute mark, giving the Flyers an early power play. Jeff Carter took advantage of the opportunity by firing a shot behind Tampa Bay goalie Mike Smith for the game's first goal.

From that point on, Smith and Philadelphia goalie Martin Biron were walls in net, holding down a 1-1 tie until the third period. And that's where things started to pick up.

Here's the video clip that got Sean Avery into all sorts of trouble with the NHL on Tuesday. It only takes a couple of seconds to see that Avery knew exactly what he was doing, summoning the cameras in the visiting locker room in Calgary while he held court on the dating habits of his ex-girlfriend and her new beau, Calgary Flames defenseman Dion Phaneuf.

In the wake of Sean Avery's distasteful comments about Dion Phaneuf dating Avery's ex-girlfriend Elisha Cuthbert early Tuesday, the NHL decided that enough is enough and suspended the Dallas Stars winger indefinitely.


In case you missed it, here's what Avery said to a video crew before Tuesday's Stars-Flames game in Calgary:

"Uh, I'm really happy to be back in Calgary. I love Canada. And I just want to comment on how it's become like a common thing in the NHL for guys to fall in love with my sloppy seconds. I don't know what that's about. Enjoy the game tonight."

So the NHL followed up by suspending Avery. The league explained the ruling with the following press release:

Dallas Stars forward Sean Avery has been suspended indefinitely, pending a hearing with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, in accordance with the provisions of NHL By-Law 17 and Article 6 of the NHL Constitution for conduct "detrimental to the League or game of hockey," the National Hockey League announced today. The suspension was imposed following inappropriate public comments, not pertaining to the game, made by Avery earlier today.

The suspension was probably the only thing standing between Avery and a possibly historic confrontation with Phaneuf later Tuesday evening when the Stars played the Flames in Calgary. (Dallas won 3-1.)

According to the New Jersey Devils blog, Fire and Ice, the hearing has yet to be scheduled. But if I were a betting man, I'd guess that Commissioner Bettman won't be in any rush to get Avery to Manhattan for a hearing. The next question has to be the following: does this suspension mark the breaking point with the league and Avery, or will a league that's been desperate to add some personality -- even one as toxic as Avery has proven to be from time to time -- give him one more break?

Every day from Monday to Saturday, The Ice Sheet will take a look at the biggest stories in the league that happened on the ice and elsewhere the night before.

I'll be honest with you (what good am I otherwise?). I turned off last night's Red Wings/Stars game about a quarter of the way through the second. It wasn't entertaining. I wanted to turn the game off earlier but flipping back and forth between hockey and True TV's Most Shocking High Speed Chases Marathon satisfied me for a while. Eventually watching the bad guys spin out and get yanked out their cars became more entertaining than watching the Stars not show up for a mediocre hockey game. For those of you keeping score at home, that's high speed chases 1, hockey 0.

While I could give you a stunning recap of the car chases, we both know that's not why you're here. You're here because you love hockey -- and that's awesome ... Or ballin' as the kids say. Whatever. Anyway, this game was all Red Wings and most of the thanks can go to their power play unit which was 3-for-7 on the night. All three goals came before the car chases won me over, also known as the seven minute mark of the second period. The Wings were up 2-0 after one, out shooting Dallas 12-4 during the period, and extended the lead to 4-0 before finally opening the floodgates and allowing the Stars to close to 4-1.

Speaking of scoring, Johan Franzen has been doing an awful lot of it during the playoffs so far, 11 goals in all. Last night he added his 12th of the post-season, which also turned out to be the game winner for Detroit. But there's a lot more action than what's on the ice (prepare for the segue, folks). FanHouse's favorite puck bunny, Elisha Cuthbert, has been in the news for her escapades with hockey players. Most recently, some new pictures have surfaced of her and Calgary's Dion Phaneuf on vacation in Hawaii. Isn't this how everyone should spend their off season? Sounds good to me, that's for sure. Where do I sign up?

For the past couple of months now we've been reading rumors of a relationship between Calgary Flames defenseman Dion Phaneuf and actress Elisha Cuthbert. Now it seems as if we've got some serious photographic evidence via that paragon of journalistic integrity, Hollywood Tuna:

So it looks like Elisha Cuthbert gets passed around the NHL more than a hockey puck. Here she is with Dion Phaneuf from the Calgary Flames. Now I'm not 100% sure that's him since his face looks like it's taken more beatings than Lindsay Lohan's ...

Yowch, feel the snark! Hollywood is a rough place.

Though the folks at HT don't seem to be completely sure that it's Phaneuf that they've captured walking beside Cuthbert, the hockey braintrust here at FanHouse is happy to confirm their suspicion -- that's certainly Phaneuf in this blowup.

As other have noted, this would mean that Cuthbert has completed something of an NHL dating hat trick, progressing from Rangers bad boy Sean Avery, through Habs defenseman Mike Komisarek and now to Phaneuf, the highest paid of the three.

As far as I'm concerned, we're very happy that Cuthbert has decided to cut a swath through the NHL. In fact, we're just waiting for the moment she gets hitched to a hockey player and starts dishing to the press much like Willa Ford, aka Mrs. Mike Modano.

HT: The Big Lead.

Every day from Monday to Saturday, The Ice Sheet will take a look at the biggest stories in the league that happened on the ice and elsewhere the night before.

I have to imagine life for a Nashville Predators fan can be correctly described as surreal at times. Coming within an inch of Jim Balsillie's ego from moving to Hamilton, and remaining in the relocation whispers of naysayers even as new ownership takes hold. The "here today, gone 22 games later" of Peter Forsberg. Those third jerseys (yikes). So when the team beats an opponent called the Hurricanes, and fans have to then remain in the arena while deadly tornadoes blow by Nashville, I suppose it's just in keeping with the Predatory weirdness.

But it even gets more surreal: This Nashville team, despite all the adversity, is four points away from the four seed in the Western Conference after its national television Versus victory over Carolina last night. And the three reasons why the Preds were finally able to put one past a red-hot Cam Ward in the 1-0 victory just happen to also be the best line in hockey right now: JP Dumont, Jason Arnott and Alexander Radulov.

(Coming Up Next: Last Night's Losers, The Leafs Hit Rock Bottom, Why The Southeast Division Doesn't Deserve a Playoff Spot, Devils Fans Dating Rangers Fans Are Fan-tastic, Tonight's Must-See Games and Pimping Out Ovechkin's Garage.)

The Wicked Wrister provides the kind of in-depth analysis we love here at The FanHouse: Ranking the Top 10 hottest hockey players' wives and girlfriends. The list includes current significant others (Willa Ford, aka Mrs. Mike Modano), recent hockey honeys (Elisha Cuthbert, thankfully not Mrs. Sean Avery) and blasts from the past (some "Kournikova" lady they keep speaking of). The list, according to the Wrister, with some updated intelligence on the relationships:

• 10. Candace Cameron-Bure (Mrs. Valeri Bure)
• 09. Carol Alt (Dating Alexei Yashin)
• 08. Anna Kournikova (Ex-Pavel Bure and Sergei Fedorov)
• 07. Rachel Hunter (Dating Jarret Stoll)
• 06. Hilary Duff (Dating Mike Comrie)
• 05. Willa Ford (Mrs. Mike Modano)
• 04. Elisha Cuthbert (Ex-Sean Avery ... at least that's what the tabloids claim)
• 03. Gena Lee Nolin (Mrs. Cale Hulse)
• 02. Angelica Bridges (Former Mrs. Sheldon Souray)
• 01. Veronika Varekova (Pictured here, Ex-Petr Nedved)

What, no love for Mrs. Gretzky? Along with providing perhaps the sexiest picture of Hilary Duff mine eyes have ever seen, Wicked Wrister also provides some wickedly good supporting evidence for its selections:

Hilary Duff and Joel Madden broke up in 2006, and Duff later began dating NHL player Mike Comrie of the New York Islanders.The two have not been very public about their relationship, likely to Comrie's embarrassing numbers on the score-sheet. Hoping to keep his rock star(?) girlfriend for a bit longer, Comrie purchased a $100,000 Mercedes for Duff's 20th birthday. We all hope that Comrie can still continue playing hockey at his standard mediocre level long enough to pay for her 21st birthday gift as well.

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