CityGuy

The Rangers are likely to let pesky forward Sean Avery slip away via unrestricted free agency, according to the New York Post.
In fact, the Post reported, that Rangers GM Glen Sather has informed the agents for all five of their pending unrestricted free agents that he doesn't intend on signing any of them before July 1.

Beginning that day, Avery, Fs Jaromir Jagr, Martin Straka, Brendan Shanahan and D Michal Rozsival will be free to seek the highest bidder.

The Post said it's believed Avery could be headed back to the Kings now that they have fired coach Marc Crawford and that the Rangers might go after Maple Leafs F Darcy Tucker if Toronto buys out his contract by June 30.

Earlier this spring the Rangers and Avery were apparently $750,000 per year apart in contract negotiations, according to the Daily News of New York.

The paper said Sather hadn't budged from a midseason offer of $2.75M per season while Avery wanted at least $3.5M per year.

Avery made $1.9M this past season in a one-year deal he received after a contentious arbitration hearing between him and the Rangers last summer.