Sean Avery, placed on waivers by the Rangers at noon yesterday, told The Post he “guarantee[s]” that a club claiming him “won’t ever be sorry.”
“I have a lot to prove, and I have a lot of game left after not being allowed to play my game for the last four years,” Avery told The Post before returning to New York from Florida, where he was given notice of the move yesterday morning.
“I guarantee that I’ll play my [butt] off and give everything I have for the team that will give me the chance I wasn’t getting [from coach John Tortorella]. That team will be getting a guy who has a lot to prove.
“The GM and coach willing to look past some of the things that are out there about me, I can guarantee they won’t ever be sorry, and neither would my teammates.
“I’m hungry to prove people wrong.”
The winger, who opened the season with the AHL Whale after going through waivers at the end of training camp, recorded three goals with a plus-2 rating in 15 games for the Rangers following his Nov. 1 recall during which he played energetically, effectively and with discipline, taking one penalty that left the Rangers shorthanded.
But Avery was anathema to Tortorella, who simply never wanted him around. Avery averaged a total of 7:00 per game in his 15 games, but just 5:44 over his last six matches, during which he was given a total of 10 third-period shifts.
“We’re getting healthier,” Tortorella said before last night’s game against the Panthers in Florida, referring to forwards Mike Rupp returning the lineup on Dec. 17 after a knee injury and Wojeck Wolski close to returning from a sport hernia. “The team is getting healthier, so it comes down to a numbers game.”
Avery got the least amount of ice time on the team in each of the last eight games in which he dressed, the last of which came in Buffalo on Dec. 10. He had been scratched from nine straight before getting the word by phone yesterday morning from assistant general manager Jim Schoenfeld.
Avery, whose agent, Pat Morris, was given permission by general manager Glen Sather to contact NHL teams during the Dec. 19-27 holiday roster freeze regarding possible interest in a trade for the 31-year-old winger, would come to a new team with a salary cap charge of $1.036 million remaining on the season that marks the end of his contract.
It would seem a no-brainer for the Islanders to claim Avery, who was scoring on a 20-goal pace given any reasonable ice time, and who would increase the battle level and skill level for a team on the outside of playoff position again.
“I have a lot left and a lot to prove,” Avery said. “I can be the type of difference-maker I was in New York when I was there the first time and allowed to play my game. And that’s what I’ll be for any team that’s willing to look beyond the rhetoric and see my value on the ice. I’ll give everything I have to help that team win.”
— Additional reporting by Brett Cyrgalis