Sean Avery

Sean Avery (born April 10, 1980 in Pickering, Ontario, Canada) was a professional hockey player in the National Hockey League. He had formerly played for the New York Rangers, Detroit Red Wings and Los Angeles Kings. Prior to the NHL, Avery played for the Owen Sound Platers and the Kingston Frontenacs of the Ontario Hockey League.

Detroit Red Wings (1999 – 2003)
Avery is a relatively small player (5 feet-9 inches and 185 pounds) and he was not selected in the NHL Entry Draft. In 1999, Avery was signed by the Detroit Red Wings and broke into the NHL, playing 36 games, with the Red Wings during the 2001-02 season. The Red Wings went on to win the Stanley Cup that season though Avery did not partake in the playoffs.

Midway through the 2002-03 season, the Los Angeles Kings traded Mathieu Schneider to the Detroit Red Wings for Avery, Maxim Kuznetsov, a first round selection (Jeff Tambellini) in 2003 and a second round selection in 2004. Sean finished the season with 15 points in 51 games.

Los Angeles Kings (2003 – 2007)
During the 2003-04 NHL season Avery played 76 games for the Kings, scoring nine goals and 19 assists. Avery also led the NHL in penalty minutes with 261.

During the 2004-05 NHL lockout, Avery played in the Finnish SM-liiga for Pelicans Lahti. In 2 games he scored 3 goals, but then left Finland unexpectedly and returned to North America. He then played in the United Hockey League alongside Chris Chelios, Bryan Smolinski, and Derian Hatcher for the Motor City Mechanics. He tallied 26 points in 16 games, 15 goals and 11 assists. Those 15 goals included two hat tricks, allowing Avery to become the first player in Mechanics history to record two hat tricks in one season. He also had 149 penalty minutes. Avery made news during the 2004-05 lockout, when he was quoted as saying that the management of the National Hockey League Players Association lied to its members about the lockout.

During the 2005 preseason, Denis Gauthier of the Phoenix Coyotes bodychecked Kings forward Jeremy Roenick in a preseason game, giving Roenick a concussion. Avery's response was "I think it was typical of most French guys in our league with a visor on, running around and playing tough and not back anything up," giving way to much controversy with the French-Canadian public. Avery also made news during the regular season when Georges Laraque of the Edmonton Oilers, a Black Canadian, claimed that Avery called him a "monkey" during an October 11, 2005 contest between the two teams. The incident was never proven and Avery adamantly denies it ever occurred. Avery was fined $1,000 by the NHL on November 15, 2005 for intentionally diving during a game, then was fined $1,000 more a day later after publicly ripping into the NHL's director of hockey operations Colin Campbell.

On April 7, 2006 tempers flared as Avery and Anaheim Mighty Ducks broadcaster and former Montreal Canadiens goaltender Brian Hayward had a heated discussion in the Kings dressing room. This was the result of Hayward's commentary on the April 4, 2006 Kings vs Ducks game, where he accused Avery of avoiding a fight with the Ducks' forward (and large enforcer, about 50 pounds heavier than Avery) Todd Fedoruk. Avery began the argument by uttering that Hayward was an "embarrassment", a "(terrible) announcer", and was a "(terrible) player". Hayward responded by saying "How would you know? When I played, you were in your third year of eighth grade."

Near the end of the 2005-06 NHL season, the Kings decided to suspend Avery, stating that he would not be with the team for the remainder of the year. A source claimed Avery had an argument with assistant coach Mark Hardy after refusing to participate in a practice drill.

On July 24, 2006 the Los Angeles Kings signed Avery to a $1.1 million, one-year contract. Avery was a restricted free agent, so the Kings avoided going into salary arbitration by signing him to a deal.

New York Rangers (2007 – present)
On February 5, 2007 the Kings traded Avery to the New York Rangers along with John Seymour for Jason Ward, Jan Marek and Marc-Andre Cliche.

On March 17, 2007, Avery recorded a career-high four points in a game against the Boston Bruins. He notched one goal and added three assists to help the Rangers beat the Bruins 7-0.

On April 12, 2007, Avery played in his first career playoff game when the Rangers played the Atlanta Thrashers. He recorded his first playoff points with a goal and an assist on April 14, 2007 against the Thrashers.

Because of his style of play, Avery has made many enemies in the NHL. In a 2007 poll of 283 NHL players, 66.4% said that Sean Avery was the most hated player in the league. Many consider him a pest. He is a very physical player, and while some would say that he is too small to be considered an enforcer, he has acted like one on many occasions, to a certain extent. He considers himself a fiercely loyal player, but has drawn criticism for his aggressive style and excessive penalties, however he cut down on penalty minutes by about 65% in 06-07 compared to seasons past.

On August 1, 2007, Avery, as a restricted free agent, earned an arbitration award of $1.9-million for the 2007-08 season, which the Rangers accepted thus keeping him with the team for at least another year.

On November 13, Colin Campbell and the NHL fined Avery, Tucker, the Rangers, and the Maple Leafs for their pre-game actions. Howard Berger of The Fan 590 reported that the reason for the altercation was a remark made by Avery concerning Jason Blake's diagnosis with a rare form of Leukemia, however Avery denied making such comments, and is preparing to file a libel charge against Berger.

Off the ice
Sean Avery played a small role in the movie "The Rocket" (2005), as Bob Dill. His storyline in the movie was only one scene, and it was to show how Maurice Richard became a target, not only due to his ability to play great hockey, but also due to him being francophone.

Avery appeared in a December 2006 episode of MADt] with Los Angeles Kings teammates Tom Kostopoulos and Scott Thornton.

He has been linked romantically to Rachel Hunter but they ended their year-long relationship in June 2005. He dated Elisha Cuthbert until she broke up with him in August 2007.

Sean Avery can be seen in the episode of "Punk'd" when Elisha Cuthbert gets punk'd. He has also been featured on an episode of MTV Cribs. He can also be seen in an episode of TRL.

It is rumored that Sean is the other man in Justin Timberlake's "What Goes Around.../...Comes Around."

Avery has more recently been linked to Mary-Kate Olsen as they have been seen "squiring all over the Big Apple."