There is an attorney I know who grew up an avid Devils fan during the organization’s Era of Excellence and remains steadfast in his support of his team. Which is to say — needless to say — he found Sean Avery a detestable character without redeeming qualities.
And yet, almost against his will, this educated individual was also captivated by Avery’s autobiographical tome with the somewhat cheesy title, “Ice Capades: A Memoir of Fast Living and Tough Hockey” after he was talked into reading it.
That’s about the best endorsement possible for this book that, I’m here to tell you, is as entertaining as it is honest and makes for the perfect holiday gift under the tree or next to the menorah. It is all Avery all the time. The look into the life he lived on and off the ice in Detroit, Los Angeles and New York is uniquely his.
By the way: If there is one larger-than-life character in this tale, he goes by the name of Brendan Shanahan.
Yes, there is the requisite condemnation of John Tortorella, who in effect ran Avery off the Rangers and out of the NHL (though No. 16 was most certainly a co-conspirator in his own demise) but that is almost an afterthought. Of course he talks about his oafish “sloppy seconds” comments in Calgary that landed him in rehab.
And though there is enough hockey in the book, this isn’t a shift-by-shift breakdown of his career. This is an inside-out look into Avery growing up as a Red Wing, discovering celebrity in L.A., about transforming into Page Six Sean in New York, and it contains strikingly self-reflective tales of his romantic relationships with women you know from the Red Carpet in Hollywood and on the cover of fashion magazines.
There is less about his stay on the Rangers than you might imagine. He doesn’t tell the back story of what became the final game of his NHL career — Dec. 11, 2011, in Buffalo after he invited his mom and one of her friends into the locker room following the morning skate, drawing incredulous looks and double-takes from his teammates. Sean being Sean.
It was all but over by then, anyway, Tortorella having buried him on the fourth line and intent on running him off the roster. Avery became a healthy scratch the next little while then was waived out of the league before he essentially waived hockey out of his life with a less-than-honorable stay in Hartford. But hey, nobody is perfect.
Full disclosure: Avery is one of two players over the past 20 years whom I’ve spent some time with away from the rink. Well, I guess this is a partial disclosure, because I am withholding the name of the other party (no longer in the league) in order to protect his innocence.
Regardless, this is a book well worth your time. It’s an easy read, entertaining and perhaps educational. Avery is not trying to change any hearts or minds, and whether you like him more or like him less after getting through it, you’re not going to read another hockey book like it.
It was one thing to run Avery out of New York, another to run Marian Gaborik out of town and yet, that’s just what Tortorella did fewer than four seasons into the Broadway run of the most talented goal-scorer ever to pull on the Blueshirt.
All of the benchings (third period of a tied Game 5 in the 2012 conference finals the Blueshirts would ultimately lose in six to the Devils) for picayune matters took their toll. So did all of the lectures. Being demoted to the fourth line for the first period of a game in Montreal on March 30, 2013, was ultimately the straw that broke the Great Gabby’s back. A few days later, Gaborik would waive his no-trade clause to go to Columbus in the deadline deal that brought back Derick Brassard.
Gaborik was gone. Less than two months later, so was Tortorella — fired after an exit day insurrection by his players to which the Great Gabby responded with the all-time tweet, “Everything happens for a reason.”
On Friday, after Gaborik celebrated his 1,000th NHL game by scoring a goal for the Kings at the Garden, I asked him whether he ever regretted not attempting to wait out Tortorella.
“I didn’t think about that,” Gaborik said. “I was getting ready for the game against Pittsburgh, Glen [Sather] called me and asked me to waive my no-trade. I was shocked. But I did some homework, I knew Vinny Prospal in Columbus, and decided to go. It was business. I didn’t think about waiting him out.”
Of course, as one player on that team once told me, “I don’t know who would have waited out Torts that year.”
Keeping with the theme, is there anyone in New York who did not feel the pain this week when Black-and-Blueshirt pillars Brandon Dubinsky (broken orbital bone in a fight) and Ryan Callahan (right arm going into the boards) left the ice with injuries?
Two guys who have never had less than an honest shift in their respective careers.
Finally, who is the disloyal one: the franchise player who eschews the popular “hometown discount” and expects to be compensated for his true value, or the owner who won’t pay him what the player is worth?