Is Sean Avery the Best Agitator in League History?

[egroen 384]

I also do not think Avery is a good enough player to earn the distinction of "best agitator".

To be truly annoying and consistently throw your opponent off their game, I think you need to also be a great hockey player. A true offensive player or a true defensive stalwart... as that agitates more than anything.

So Avery really can not compare to someone like Claude Lemieux or Tikkanen as they can be argued as just as 'annoying' but the fact they back it up with elite play (offensively and defensively) makes it all the more bothersome and grating. Even someone like Holmstrom is probably a much more effective agitator than Avery is -- he scores a lot more goals, and while he may not have Avery's winning personality, his ass is probably #1 on a lot more goalies' and players' lists of 'Annoying Things'.

Edited January 12, 2010 by egroen

[PotbellyJoe 10]

Avery isn't the greatest ever, because he's not even the greatest currently. Gary Bettman has that hands down. New York Love Avery, find me one town that loves Bettman. He's managed to get under everybody's skin...

[esteef 2,679]

How about Jarkko Ruutu? He's pretty douchebaggish.

esteef

[Pucks 66]

Maltby was a pretty damn good agitator in his day. Plus he did it with a lower level of douchness IMO. Every game he would just say s*** and then skate into guys that would punch him in the face. Free power plays for the best PP in hockey. Agitation at it's finest. I'm not saying Maltby is, was, better at it. I'm just saying there's so many ways to qualify it.

[Inultus 12]

Ciccarelli was pretty great at agitating and he scored too.

[egroen 384]

Ciccarelli was pretty great at agitating and he scored too.

He and Theo Fleury were two guys I was thinking of as well - two feisty little guys with big mouths and could score big goals.

Edited January 12, 2010 by egroen

[GMRwings1983 8,794]

Avery is a better offensive player than you guys give him credit for, although I don't see what that has to do with the discussion.

[hillbillywingsfan 792]

Avery is a better offensive player than you guys give him credit for, although I don't see what that has to do with the discussion.

i agree again...i didn't see that they had to be the best agitating scorer.

[lets go pavel 2]

Undoubtedly Avery is great at pissing off the other team, but I would say the role of an agitator goes a step further ... it has to help your own team in the process. Do Avery's antics do that? I honestly haven't seen enough of him to answer that question, but it does seem like he takes an awful lot of stupid penalties - does he draw as many as he takes? Do his antics really benefit his team more than, say, Homer in his prime parked in front of a goalie, driving them and the D-men crazy, picking up cross-checking penalties?

[taxijim 11]

I am really old school but in the sixties Stan Makita of the Hawks was ahead of his time. I used to love when he would say something in French to the Montreal Canadians(who were at that time 90% French speaking) & drive the whole team insane......I think not only he invented the curved stick but also invented using agitating to get power plays!

[eva unit zero 271]

Esa Tikkanen. Ted Lindsay. Pat Verbeek. Claude Lemieux. Theo Fleury, Dino Ciccarelli. Chris Chelios. Kirk Maltby. Ulf Samuelsson. Dallas Drake. Derian Hatcher. Vladimir Konstantinov.

That's just a few who were/are as good or better than Avery as agitators in their primes.

[egroen 384]

i agree again...i didn't see that they had to be the best agitating scorer.

I didn't mean he had to be great offensively, but I think being a good player either offensively or defensively (like say a Maltby) is a definite huge plus in really getting under an opponent's skin. Avery is a decent player, but not like several already mentioned.

[NGKEIB 32]

I agree - what better way to irritate someone than to get under their skin, draw a penalty or two, on top of consistently making good plays (either offensively or defensively)?

I think that there are times where he really hurts his team (then again, the same could be said of Tik - 1998 anyone?)

For the record, in an interview, Sean Avery said the player in the league he disliked most was Maltby...

[bonan78 1]

Avery's great at his job.

Best of all time, hard to say, especially when (as others have pointed out) guys like Ulf Samuelsson and Esa Tikkanen (sp?) were just as good at getting under the opponents skin, but also played the game at an elite level. Avery, while he has decent skills and could probably have developed into a respectable offensive threat had he not elected to become a walking side show, but there's definitely no one in the game today that is more hated for his antics.

[NGKEIB 32]

"Which player would you love to cross-check into the boards?"

"The guy I owe the most right now is Kirk Maltby from Detroit. He busted in my nose earlier this year. I was going after Chris Chelios, and there was a big pile, and it happened so quick. When people come together, they’re coming from all angles. And it was more of a really, really giant ***** slap. I don’t think Maltby knows how to punch, he just knows how to slap. He got me good. But I know Malts would never square off and fight me. If I dropped my gloves, he’d skate away and I’d get a penalty."

Source: http://jesgolbez.blogspot.com/2006/08/sean...ell-on-ice.html

[Hockeytown0001 7,652]

"Which player would you love to cross-check into the boards?"

"The guy I owe the most right now is Kirk Maltby from Detroit. He busted in my nose earlier this year. I was going after Chris Chelios, and there was a big pile, and it happened so quick. When people come together, they’re coming from all angles. And it was more of a really, really giant ***** slap. I don’t think Maltby knows how to punch, he just knows how to slap. He got me good. But I know Malts would never square off and fight me. If I dropped my gloves, he’d skate away and I’d get a penalty."

Source: http://jesgolbez.blogspot.com/2006/08/sean...ell-on-ice.html