Avery has hearing with NHL commissioner
NEW YORK — Sean Avery surged past camera crews and reporters Thursday, choosing to save his comments this time for NHL commissioner Gary Bettman during a three-hour disciplinary hearing.
The Dallas Stars forward was suspended indefinitely on Tuesday just hours after he told reporters in Calgary that he didn’t understand why fellow NHLers were falling in love with his “sloppy seconds.”
The comment was interpreted as a shot at Flames defenceman Dion Phaneuf, who is dating Canadian actress Elisha Cuthbert, Avery’s ex-girlfriend.
Hockey’s most notorious pest came to league headquarters in midtown Manhattan to give his version of the latest events that landed him in big trouble. Now it’s up to Bettman to determine just how long Avery will be kept off the ice.
“I haven’t made a decision yet,” Bettman said during his weekly radio show on XM Satellite Radio. “I want to take the opportunity to spend a little time thinking about what transpired at the hearing and everything that I was told and that needs to be considered.
“I want to reflect on it, which means either sometime later this afternoon or tomorrow morning we will render a decision and we will make it public.”
Dressed in a grey suit and wearing big, dark designer sunglasses, Avery, the fashion-conscious agitator, didn’t say a word as he made his way from a car to the league office and back.
He was joined at the hearing by his agent Pat Morris, Stars general manager Brett Hull and players’ association player affairs director Glenn Healy.
NHL disciplinarian Colin Campbell was also in attendance, but Bettman is handling Avery’s punishment.
“He was remorseful in what he did. It’s about all you can do,” Hull said. “I hope that we can put this all behind us and we can make sure that the league and the Stars and the NHLPA do everything to make sure that I don’t have to stand here or anyone else has to stand here and talk about stupid things like this anymore and make sure they don’t happen.”
Although this is Avery’s first suspension in his seven-season NHL career, he often has courted controversy with his comments or unorthodox behaviour on the ice.
Stars owner Tom Hicks was quick to support Bettman’s decision to suspend Avery, and Avery’s teammates have not rallied around him. Even after he serves whatever suspension Bettman levies, there is no guarantee he will be welcomed back into the dressing room he joined this season.
“I don’t know,” Hull said. “That is something that is going to have to be addressed within our organization.”
Avery left the New York Rangers after 1 1/2 seasons this summer and signed a US$15.5-million, four-year deal with the Stars. Dallas might seek to cut ties with him as soon as possible.
“He is a good kid, he is a good player and it shows in the salary he commanded in the summer,” Healy said. “I have no doubt that if the Dallas Stars have no interest in Sean’s services, a team will. He showed in this city what he can mean to a hockey club.”
Healy added that the tone in the meeting room was professional and not based in anger.
“We’ve got to get along,” he said. “We’ve got to share the same interests, we’ve got to grow the game, and we’re going to do it together. We’re going to do it the right way. Today’s process is good. The player gets his voice heard.
“He made all his points really clear. He is a good kid that made a mistake. It was the wrong forum, and he used the wrong words.”
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