When it comes to our sports heroes, does it matter what they’re doing in their personal lives as long as they’re performing well on the court, field, or rink? There are always rumors regarding contracts and salaries and possible trades, but I prefer to take my sports with as little celebrity-esque gossip as possible.

It seems to me, as a New York sports fan, I can’t get away from the news regarding our greatest players’ personal lives. For starters, there’s the uproar of Yankee Alex Rodriguez’s mega-divorce this summer, not to mention all the news-mania in this steroid-era of major league baseball (I’m looking at you, Roger Clemens!). Then last year when the Giants made the playoffs, every time I opened the Post or the Daily News I’d see something about Eli Manning and his girlfriend-turned-fiancee. And even though football season is long over, I can’t get away from Patriot Tom Brady and Giselle Bündchen. Then in 2007 there was former Giant Michael Strahan’s $15 million divorce, and New Jersey Net Jason Kidd’s allegations during his divorce that his wife abused him. Not long ago I had a friend who used to hang out with former Net Richard Jefferson and, according to her, he was all over all things female, including a crazy pre-Nick Lachey Vanessa Minillo. Is any of this a major shocker? Maybe to some people, but not to me.

We often hear about the big field and court players, but what about the hockey players? Are their personal lives not of note?

Last Friday, August 1, Page Six wrote  that former Ranger pretty boy turned Dallas Star Sean Avery, 28, is dating cougar Kelly Klein, the 51-year-old ex of designer Calvin Klein. I guess Avery’s summer internship with Anna Wintour at Vogue paid off in more ways than one. Avery, the self-proclaimed metrosexual, was probably the only Ranger I ever read about in the gossip columns, but he was also the only one who really put himself out there and seemed to invite and revel in glossy coverage. Will the Rangers stay off Page Six now that Avery’s gone?

Unless a hockey player is dating an actual celebrity—a la Islander Mike Comrie and Hilary Duff (boring!)—it’s rare that they’ll show up on the gossip circuit. Sean Avery’s ex, film and television actress Elisha Cuthbert was touted by gossip blogs as a “puck slut” when she started dating Dion Phaneuf of the Calgary Flames not too long ago. Does dating two NHL palyers really make her a puck slut? Maybe she just likes hockey! She is Canadian after all, and Calgary is her hometown.

When it comes to off-ice hockey gossip, if there isn’t a celebrity involved (minor or otherwise), you’ll probably have to do a little digging. Though the truly curious need only turn to Google and the hundreds of hockey-related message boards on the web. There’s a rather hilarious set of message boards on www.talk-sports.net where (completely crazy) women with far too much time on their hands post about various players’ romantic lives and dating styles. Admittedly, my favorites included posts about what it’s like to be picked up and to date Scott Gomez, and last fall there were a great deal of posts speculating Petr Prucha’s “type” of woman (FYI: an inside source at the Rangers told me several months ago that poor Prucha has a hard time dating in the U.S. because his English isn’t very good). Brendan Shanahan has been (seemingly) happily married to his wife Cathy since 1998 and they have three kids. Boring? Does anyone ever talk about the fact that she’s the ex-wife of Shanny’s former St. Louis Blues’ linemate Craig Janney? Well, it’s been 10 years and I guess that’s old news.

I’m not even going to get into the shady-ness that goes on within the pro sports organizations themselves. (Remember the scandal with the Knicks’ intern in the truck at the strip club? Or that other Knicks “situation” with Isiah Thomas and Anucha Saunders Browne?) I have to say, I’m getting sick of hearing negative things about the pro sports world. Did anybody care when Brandon Dubinsky and a few other new Rangers visited sick kids in the hospital at the beginning of the 2007-2008 season? What about all of the other great charity work that professional athletes do (aside from amateur golf tournaments)? There are good things that happen, beyond divorces and cheating spouses and steroids and sex scandals. But I guess no one wants to hear about those.

It’s day 3 of Free Agency and at 4:30 the Rangers made some more announcments: they’ve signed 15-year NHL vet and 5-time All Star left-wing Markus Nasland, 34, as well as Dmitri Kalinin, 27, a defenseman from the Buffalo Sabres. Rangers President and General Manager Glen Sather also dropped another important bit of information: Jaromir Jagr is out.

Okay, first things first: Naslund’s coming to the Blueshirts on a 2-year, $8 million deal after 12 years with the Vancouver Canucks. He was once regarded as one of the best players in the league, but over the last few years has been slowing down. Nevertheless, he’s a solid player with 371 career goals, a great leader and also served as the Canucks’ Captain since 2000-2001. I’ve no doubt he’s going to be valuable leadership-wise in Jagr’s absence.

Naslund said in the conference call that “the Rangers were on top” of his list of the teams he’d wanted to play for, though he’d received offers from other teams with longer terms. He also said “I wanted to be signing with a Cup contender. . . .the Rangers are going in the right direction and I want to be a part of that.” Oh buddy, you and me both! Actually, make that you, me, and most of New York.

We officially said goodbye to defenseman Fedor Tyutin yesterday, leaving a hole in the defensive corps …but not for long. In comes Dmitri Kalinin. He’s another solid defenseman and he’s coming down to the big bad city from Buffalo, where he was the team’s first pick in the 1998 Entry Draft. He looks pretty good on paper, a puck-moving d-man with offensive skills (in 2006-2007 led the Sabres’ defense in goals) and he’s always had a lot of potential, but I’m a little worried: he’s often plagued by injuries, and he’s not the most physical defenseman we could ask for. As with Wade Redden, though, a change of scenery to the bright lights of Broadway will probably do him some good.

As for Jagr, Sather said “I talked to Jaromir today and waited for a call for the last couple of days and nothing happened, so we decided they were going to move on.” The split between Jagr and the organization is said to be amicable. Sather continued, saying: “Jagr was very respectful when I told him … We talked about his time here and he thanked me and I thanked him. It was a very cordial parting. You just can’t wait forever on these things.” Indeed, Glen. 

You can read the transcript of Sather’s conference call on TheFourthPeriod.