Kings players don't offer a lot of support for Sean Avery
KINGS FYI
The former King and current Dallas player was suspended for making crude remarks. There is a question as to how much the NHL Players Assn. will back him.
The Kings know how abrasive Sean Avery can be -- and that includes within their locker room.
After being so disruptive that he was told to stay home for the final few games of his Kings career, Avery bounced to the New York Rangers and the Dallas Stars. He was suspended indefinitely by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman Tuesday for making rude remarks about other players, as Bettman invoked his power to punish players whose conduct he deems detrimental to the league.
Avery issued an apology, but the suspension has sparked considerable debate. His actions and words were tasteless and stupid -- he summoned TV cameras to tell them in crude terms about players dating his former girlfriends -- but far worse things have been said in the heat of battle.
The incident raised the question of how actively the NHL Players Assn. will support him. NHLPA spokesman Jonathan Weatherdon said via e-mail that union officials attended Avery's hearing with Bettman in New York today, but he didn't elaborate.
"When the PA comments on this matter at the appropriate time we will let you know," Weatherdon said.
Bettman is expected to announce Friday whether he will extend the suspension beyond the two games Avery has missed.
Avery seemed to have no sympathy among the Kings. When Tom Preissing, the team's union representative, was asked if the union will back Avery, a teammate who overheard the question laughed and rhetorically asked why the union would support him.
Preissing said the union hadn't discussed the matter.
"It's a difficult situation because we are players and we're for the players, yet you don't like to see our members act like that," Preissing said. "So it's kind of a touchy situation. It's the good and the bad of representing us all."
His own opinion, he said, was much the same.
"I don't think there's any place in our game for talk like that," he said. "I think I know what he was trying to do. He obviously took it way too far. He should be punished, I think, which he has been."
Casting lines
The Kings' lines at today's practice were scrambled -- again. Because center Brad Richardson's cut foot was too sore for him to skate, winger Alexander Frolov was pressed into service at center, between Patrick O'Sullivan and Wayne Simmonds.
