Off the Isles Scene For Just a Moment

Sean Avery?

Are we honestly uttering this name again, after everything that's gone on with him in the past year? Are we really going to see his face and his jersey back on an NHL team?

Sure, there was honestly a huge overreaction to his "sloppy seconds" comment. The guy's just a misogynist, or at least those comments were misogynistic. Besides, they're just words, and the guy's got a right to speak his mind. But if it were only so simple as that when it came to the enigma and the storm that is Sean Avery, then we wouldn't be having this frustrating conversation.

There isn't a doubt that the guy has game. He's a good player, for what it's worth, and even the irritating edge to him has some value on the ice. But for him to come back into the NHL now? What does that prove?

It is much, much more than whatever he's said about his ex-girlfriend. Don't think for one moment that this wasn't the last item on a long list of black marks against Avery's name. It's about his whole personality- what he's done before this, his air of not being a team player and only concerned with himself, the fact that he even has his own Hollywood publicist (not sports-based, like many other NHLers do). There's a huge gray area in my eyes when it comes to the question of why he is playing hockey when he obviously wants so badly to do internships for Vogue and the like. I'm not trying to judge him there; it's your life, do what you like. But what to do when the off-ice stuff overshadows on-ice achievement? When people know you more for saying ridiculous things in front of the camera than scoring goals?

As of right now, Avery is in the AHL, and playing for Hartford. He was interviewed by the New York Times prior to his debut, which I believe is tonight.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/sports/hockey/13avery.html?_r=3&partner=rss&emc=rss

His personality in print, if you can trust the words you read, is that of a reformer, a chastened schoolboy who's promised to be more respectful to the teacher. And the teachers are definitely going to be coming down on him harder should he slip up again. As far as I'm concerned... it's only a matter of time.