Armchair Pools Blog

Avery chirped and chattered his way into the league with the Detroit Red Wings in 2001. While young and cocky, the Wings had high hopes for him. "We've got to get him to tone down a few things", said teammate Brett Hull. "But he's young, he'll learn." Despite their attempt to get him to "tone down a few things", Sean did not mature in Detroit and was quickly unloaded.

(NHL) Years later, Ken Holland would say this of his reason for trading Avery. "The only thing I would say is obviously we had him as a young player at that time and our concern was his lack of respect for the game, the people in the game and, obviously, he left us.

After leaving Detroit, Avery's career began to take off. He gained a reputation as an agitator and as his popularity grew, so did his ability to produce provocative sound bites. In a painful Sept 2005 interview, Avery attempted to win brownie points with Don Cherry by spouting off disparaging remarks about French players in the NHL. It didn't have the intended affect, given Grapes' recent assesment of Avery's character. "I've known this kid since he was about 16 years old" said Cherry. "Once a jerk, always a jerk".

One month later in a game with Edmonton, Avery reportedly directed racial slurs towards the Oiler's George Laroque.

(CBC) Laraque, who is black, alleged Avery made a racial remark during Edmonton's 3-1 loss. Laraque said that when he went to challenge Avery to a fight after the Kings agitator got tangled up with Oilers finesse player Ales Hemsky, Avery declined to fight and called Laraque "a monkey."

In 2007, Avery was involved in two incidents during the pre-game warmup. Both incidents were started by Avery mouthing off to members of the other team in an attempt to get them off their game. Desperate for new material, Avery allegedly made comments to Toronto's Jason Blake regarding his fight with cancer.

(Citytv.com) A local radio station has reported that an unnamed Rangers players said a pre-game scuffle between Avery and Toronto's Darcy Tucker stemmed from comments directed at Jason Blake's battle against cancer.

Most recently, Avery has been in the news for his "sloppy seconds" comment.

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The comment was intended to take Dion Phaneuf and the Calgary Flames off their game. In actuality, it got Avery kicked off the Dallas Stars, suspended by the NHL and forced into anger management classes.

And it got him a place on my 30 Dirty Players list.