While most of the rumors thrown around the NHL tend to lack any credence, one that I have been intrigued by is the one that involves Sean Avery taking a trip down the Long Island Expressway and over to Nassau Coliseum if the Rangers don’t cough up the kind of cash he’s looking for. If indeed Avery ended up signing with the Fishsticks this summer, I wouldn’t be very surprised.

Avery craves attention and he also craves a certain kind of lifestyle, the kind of lifestyle he wouldn’t be able to get playing for some small market, Midwestern team with cash to throw around. The Islanders should have a decent amount of dough to offer this summer, and while they’re not likely to be much of a contender next season (though, to their credit, they have proven to be quite the group of overachievers recently), playing on the Island would allow Avery to stay close to Manhattan, plus, on a team bereft of personality, save for Rick DiPietro and Ted Nolan, the media would eat Avery up. That would be good for him, but probably even more of a boon for the Islanders, who would love any attention, even the kind Avery would bring.

Besides, you can be sure that the Isles are already gearing up to toss way too much money at yet another talented underachiever, like Kristian Huselius, not to mention the talk of a return by Mr. Overpaid himself, Alexei Yashin. Why not toss $4 million big ones at Avery while sticking it to the Rangers at the same time?

I’m not saying it’s definitely going to happen, but if it does, it wouldn’t come as a shock.