Hull and Hicks burned by Avery mess; Iggy is a career-maker

The Stars wanted Sean Avery's edge on the ice, but it quickly carved up their chemistry. Jim McIsaac/Getty Images

Tom Hicks and his Hot Wicks got together in Dallas on Wednesday to burn heretic Sean Avery at the stake -- or at least to hold the delinquent player's feet to the fire.

If Avery plays another game in Dallas, Al Michaels better replace Ralph Strangis as the Stars' play-by-play man because this resurrection will be Miracle on Ice II.

The Stars piggybacked on the NHL's rapid suspension of the loose-lipped forward and grabbed the chance to rid themselves of someone who had managed to roil the dressing room and rankle a straight-shooter like coach Dave Tippett. Avery wore out his welcome at Usain Bolt speed. Now it will be intriguing to see how Dallas tries to weasel out of the contract or at least minimize the financial hit of the four-year, $15.5 million deal it ladled out this summer.

Avery already has accepted responsibility for his off-color comments, offered an apology through a publicist -- his teammates didn't even want one in person - and told co-general manager Brett Hull that he needed help even before NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman mandated an evaluation for anger management counseling.

Now we'll see how deep the wellspring of accountability is in Dallas. Maybe good riddance to a player signals the end of the error -- and nothing more. Or perhaps two other men will follow the trail of this misadventure far enough to see their own culpability.

The first, of course, is Hull. Avery's free agent signing was his baby. He was a teammate of Avery's in Detroit. They shared a house for a while. Hull thought that the copious energy Avery brings to a team could help a dressing room he thought was growing stale. Avery was a risk -- "Hullie knew exactly what he might be getting himself into," said another of Avery's ex-teammates -- but Hull, a risk-taker, liked the potential upside. Too bad that 10 weeks into a four-year deal, Avery basically turned into Lehman Brothers.

Now all general managers (or co-GMs) are going to want mulligans on occasion. OK, often. Doug Risebrough, now doing a capable job in Minnesota, traded Doug Gilmour for Gary Leeman back when he was in Calgary.

Ottawa's Bryan Murray gave troublesome goalie Ray Emery a free-agent contract after the Senators reached the Cup final in 2007.

Even the best current GM, Detroit's Ken Holland, blundered when he rented Todd Bertuzzi for the 2007 playoffs, a deal that cost him prospect Shawn Matthias.

If a GM never made a mistake, he would be God. Or Sam Pollock. If four of five decisions are correct, and the fifth isn't too costly, that GM will be going to the Hall of Fame. But you will have to rummage around the attic of your memory for a long time to come up with any deal as toxic as the Avery signing. Whether Avery is the cause of or the scapegoat for everything that has gone wrong this season in Dallas, the Stars, Western Conference finalists last season, have blown up.

Hull, Avery's angel, has to answer for that.

Now, will Hicks hold himself accountable for hiring Hull?

Hicks fired Doug Armstrong, the widely respected GM who is now an assistant in St. Louis, in November 2007. The owner replaced him with the oddity of interim co-GMs, Hull and Les Jackson. (The titles became permanent in May.) Jackson had been with the franchise, except for a stint in Atlanta, since 1985. He long had worked as an assistant GM and knew player development. Hull's off-ice résumé was thinner. The NBC analyst gig was nice while it lasted. Hull also had been an advisor to the Stars' hockey department, a job that required input but no heavy lifting.

Even though nobody buys a ticket to watch a co-GM, Hicks was right to want someone with Hull's renown as the public, off-ice face of the team in a softening market.

But Hicks got carried away with the titles, like giving a kid with a learner's permit the key to the Mercedes. Instead of allowing Hull some time to hone management skills that surely would have come with time - Hull's smarts as a player were vastly underrated -- the owner threw him into a job for which he was not properly prepared. The initial headlines were splashy, but a Hull apprenticeship would have better served the long-term interests of the Stars.

Look around the NHL where players of Hull's stature and generation are actually learning the business. Steve Yzerman has been understudying Holland in Detroit and could have a club of his own to run (beyond Team Canada in 2010) in the near-to-medium future. Joe Nieuwendyk is laying the foundation for a solid career in management, now working in Toronto after a stint with Florida. Luc Robitaille is the president of business operations for Los Angeles. Ron Francis, recently an assistant GM, has moved behind the bench as an assistant coach in Carolina.

Hull could have followed the same path, if he wanted to work that hard, but Hicks gave him too much of a say too soon. The results: a Croesus-rich deal for a useful, edgy player who did not attract overwhelming interest as a free agent.

This primarily is Avery's mess, but Hull and Hicks also have some explaining to do.

High Praise for Iggy

Last March, On the Fly was talking to Bobby Holik about Washington's fabulous Alexander Ovechkin, who was closing in on the 60-goal mark at the time. Holik was saying all the appropriate things about the NHL's most exciting player until he suddenly veered off subject, blurting, "That (Jarome) Iginla. Now there's a hockey player."

Holik offered the highest compliment any player can receive, recognition from within the fraternity. When Michael Cammalleri began his career in Los Angeles, the thing he most fervently wanted was for Joe Sakic, his boyhood idol, to learn his name.

"I was hoping that after a game he would ask 'Who's that Calamari kid who played so hard against me?'" Cammalleri said. "We respect the fans' opinions, the coaches' opinions. But when you hear it from the players, from guys you might not even know, that's the ultimate. Now if you asked 700 players about Jarome, pretty close to 700 probably would have positive things to say about him."

Cammalleri now centers a line with Iginla, who might not be blistering at five-on-five this season -- eight of his 14 goals have come on the power play -- but he still has managed 33 points in Calgary's 28 games, including a brilliant angled pass that set up the Flames' goal in their 4-1 loss in Montreal on Tuesday.

More telling than Iginla's numbers are those of the players who surround him, like Cammalleri. Bumped up onto the first line by coach Mike Keenan, Cammalleri is now getting more minutes and better chances. The result: after a dismal 19-goal season last year with Los Angeles, he already has 10.

"If you looked around the world and had to pick a guy you'd most want to play with on a daily basis, there are three," Cammalleri said. "You've got your Sid (Crosby), you've got your Ovechkin and you've got Jarome. They are guys who compete every night, who have top-end skill and who are able to finish."

"(Defenders) are watching Jarome so whoever's playing with him has been getting points," said Calgary's Craig Conroy, whose best years have been spent as Iginla's center. "Last year when (Daymond) Langkow went with him, he took right off. And when (Alex Tanguay) and I played with him earlier, we got a lot of points. You play with a superstar, your ice time goes up. That's a big bonus. Instead of Cammalleri playing 12 or 15 minutes, when he moved up he got 20 because of Jarome. An extra five minutes is a huge difference. Plus, now he's on the first power play. The benefits of playing with Jarome made my career."