Dallas Stars announce that Sean Avery will not rejoin team, ever

by Mark Stepneski of Andrew's Stars Page

DALLAS — The Dallas Stars made official Sunday what everyone seemed to know was inevitable: Sean Avery's days as a Dallas Star are finished.

“Sean needs to focus on his own well-being while the Stars hockey team must focus on playing hockey and competing for a playoff spot,” Stars co-GM Brett Hull said in an announcement released Sunday morning. “Everyone understands that Sean will not return to the Dallas Stars. We all need to move forward.”

Avery, whose six-game suspension for inappropriate comments ended Saturday night, is currently in an NHLPA program for anger management.

The Stars said they had no plans to try to void Avery's contract under conduct clause included in the Standard Player’s Contract.

"We understand Sean had problems, people are human, we don’t want to ruin Sean or his career. We want him to get better. We needed to part ways with Sean and it’s amicable that way," Hull said in a conference call Sunday morning. "The Stars need to move on and start winning on a more consistent basis, and he needs to take care of himself so that when he is done he can continue playing hockey.

"He hasn’t done anything heinous enough where his career should end. We just wanted to make sure everyone was taken care of and that he would still have the opportunity to play when all was said and done."

Hull said what happens with Avery in the future - whether the teams tries to trade him or assign him to the minors or any other options available - can't be explored until Avery finishes his treatment program.

"He has to get out of the treatment that he is doing. We have no idea how long that is going to take. Whatever they’re doing, they'll figure out if that’s enough or if he needs more," Hull said. "During that time, Les and I and the organization will be looking into those options and what ever they are. There's no sense talking about it until he gets better. First of all, we can't do anything and second of all until people know he’s taking care of the problems, I imagine it’s too high of a risk."

Hull said he wasn't sure what kind of market there might be for Avery once he finishes the treatment program and the Stars start making some calls around the league.

"It's hard enough to make a deal with two healthy players in the league now," Hull said. "Once he is done with the treatment phones will be picked up and we'll find out what value he has."

As for Avery's problem in Dallas, Hull said it could be attributed in some ways to Avery not wanting to follow team rules.

"You could look at it that way," said Hull. "I honestly believe that the issues Sean had really kind of festered when he came to Dallas and things didn't work out for him as he had planned, as we had planned. They were kind of brought on by himself. It's a two-way street. You have to be accepted, but you have to do everything you can to be accepted as well. It was just a bad situation."

He said there were a lot of efforts to talk with Avery about the situation and work towards a solution, but that those efforts didn't produce the desired results.

"There were a lot of people doing a lot of talking, a lot in the dressing room, from coach Dave Tippett and others," Hull said. "For my part, most of my discussions were on his conduct and how the Dallas Stars want their players to conduct themselves, but at the same time stating that we don’t want you to change as a player. We understand what you are and who you are. That’s one of the reasons we wanted you to play with our team. But the unnecessary stuff, that was embarrassing to his teammates and the organization. It needed to stop, and obviously that didn’t happen."

And Hull added that Avery's play on the ice was not an issue.

"If he didn't do what he did and all the off ice stuff, this wouldn't have happened. He was playing fine on the ice. He worked hard. He never missed a game, he never missed a practice. There was no issue with him on the ice any more than anyone else on our team," Hull said. "It was the off ice stuff that was the problem. We brought him in as a hockey player and obviously he didn't understand that besides being a hockey player there is a code of conduct that not only the NHL has, but that the Dallas Stars have in place and he was unable to follow that."