NHL

AVERY’S BACK: ALERT PAGE SIX!

Sean Avery returns to the Garden tonight as an anti-hero. Number 16 in the Stars’ lineup understands that. What he does not understand, however, are implications from one-time teammates that the Rangers are better off without him.

“If anyone feels that I was disruptive or had my own agenda, I wish those guys would have the [guts] to say it to my face,” Avery told The Post by phone late last week. “I don’t think I was disruptive or selfish.

“All I did was give everything I had for the team, I don’t think that was a question. If my [former] teammates feel that way about me, that would certainly be very disappointing.

“I played hard for my teammates.”

Steve Valiquette and Brandon Dubinsky have been the two Rangers most outspoken in drawing a contrast between last year and this year. Valiquette has referenced “guys pulling in different directions.” Dubinsky has cited “a lot of personal agendas.”

“I don’t want to single out Sean, but there were conflicts of personalities in the workplace,” Valiquette told The Post on Friday when asked if he had been referring to Avery. “Some friction can be constructive for a team, but there was too much of it last year and it had an adverse impact on our season.

“Sean was great for us on the ice. I’ll leave it at that.”

When Dubinsky was asked following Saturday night’s 5-4 overtime loss in Detroit to whom specifically he’d been referring, the sophomore center declined to name a name.

“I’m not going to tell you,” he said. “I personally enjoyed last year – personally.

“But this year is a lot different.”

Last year, Avery was the People’s Choice. Tonight, he could get booed. He gets it.

“I would hope I get a good response from the crowd because I certainly gave my all for the team and the fans, but the great thing about New York is how loyal the fans are,” said Avery, who signed a four-year, $15.5M free agent contract with Dallas after rejecting Glen Sather’s four-year, $12 million offer.

“So if I’m booed, I guess it wouldn’t upset me, knowing how much they love the Rangers. It’s one of the reasons I loved playing here so much,” he said. “To tell you the truth, I’m trying not to think about it. I’m going to have to watch my emotions.

“I’m definitely going to have to watch myself. I don’t want to do anything to hurt my team.”

Avery has transcended his talent to become one of the NHL’s precious few crossover personalities. The Riddler has nothing on him as a brand name villain.

In a preseason interview with ESPN’s Rachel Nichols, Avery denigrated Jarome Iginla, a great player and pristine role model. He ridiculed the league’s marketing program.

When told last week that a writer who covered the Rangers for a different newspaper had joined the league’s PR Department, Avery said, “I didn’t know the NHL had a PR Department.”

Fully recovered from the life-threatening lacerated spleen he sustained in Game 3 against the Penguins, Avery spent the summer here, famously interning at Vogue. His experiences are going to be turned into a movie; a romantic comedy. He’ll be back next summer.

“After playing in LA and New York, Dallas is definitely an adjustment,” Avery said. “I personally feel it’s taken me some time to get used to it.

“There’s no Page Six.”

larry.brooks@nypost.com