Former New York Rangers bad boy Sean Avery back on skates in ECHL
Look who is making a comeback. Former New York Rangers agitator Sean Avery just signed to play minor league hockey.
The infamous NHL bad boy Sean Avery signed with the Orlando Solar Bears of the ECHL, returning to the game after 10 years away.
Avery, 41, last appeared in an NHL game on Dec. 10, 2011, while a member of the New York Rangers. He said in his autobiography Ice Capades, that when he retired he threw his skates into the Hudson River.
The Solar Bears, an affiliate of the Tampa Bay Lightning, announced Wednesday that Avery signed a standard player contract and had been placed on the team’s reserve list.
Sean Avery back on skates
“I’m in Winter Park, Florida and I just dropped off my equipment,” Avery said on his Instagram story on Tuesday. “Skating with the Orlando Solar Bears to see how the old legs feel. Life comes full circle, I’m going to be hungry on pucks…Let’s go.”
Per Solar Bears Team Release:
The Orlando Solar Bears have announced that forward Sean Avery has been signed to an ECHL Standard Player Contract. Avery will begin his tenure with the Solar Bears on the team’s reserve list.
Avery, 41, joins Orlando after last playing professional hockey during the 2011-12 season with the NHL’s New York Rangers and the Connecticut Whale of the American Hockey League.
A veteran of 10 seasons in the NHL with New York, Dallas, Los Angeles and Detroit, Avery brings 580 games of major league experience, collecting 247 points (90g-157a) and 1,533 penalty minutes. He twice led the NHL in penalty minutes during the 2003-04 and 2005-06 campaigns.
Matthew Barnaby wants a piece of him
For those that follow former Rangers, most know that Matthew Barnaby has been challenging Avery to a charity boxing match for a while.
Upon hearing of Avery’s ECHL signing, he sent out a message to any team in the Solar Bears division to sign him. “I will sign with anyone in that division,” he tweeted. “You can play me as much as Torts did.”
Barnaby, 48, last played in the NHL in 2006/07.
-Field Level Media contributed to this report
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