The Dallas Stars said today they still do not want Sean Avery on their hockey team, and his agent said the Rangers are a “logical” landing spot for the troubled winger.
“We’re not changing our stance at all,” co-GM Les Jackson told ESPN.com this afternoon.
The Stars banished the former Rangers wing in December after the NHL suspended him for derogatory comments he made about other players and his ex-girlfriends.
The Web site reports Avery has undergone anger management counseling for two months and is ready to return.
“He wants to play hockey,” his agent, Pat Morris, said. “He wants to come back and help Dallas in the sense of putting them in a position to move him along.”
The Stars said they were waiting to hear from the NHL regarding Avery’s status. Commissioner commissioner Gary Bettman recently told SportingNews.com that there are no conditions for Avery’s return to the NHL.
“I haven’t got any news from the league yet,” Jackson said.
The Post’s Larry Brooks reported today that the Rangers are interested in bringing Avery back to Broadway, with a complicated waiver maneuver the key to the return.
Brooks wrote, “(Rangers GM Glen) Sather will need to reach an agreement with Jackson about the Stars then placing the winger on re-entry waivers at the Rangers’ request. That would be the final stage of the three-step process under which the Blueshirts would re-acquire Avery for one-half of the remainder of the four-year, $15.5 million contract he signed with Dallas in July.”
Avery’s agent told Sportingnews.com that a reunion with the Rangers makes sense.
“I think it’s logical. Is it a certainty? Nothing is a certainty,” Morris said. “[The Rangers] know Sean best, Sean had good times there and they had good benefits of his play there.”
Morris said his client is in good shape, according to ESPN.com.
“He’s been working out really every day since Dec. 4,” Morris said. “He’s looking to take Dallas’ direction as to where to report.”