By Arash Madani

SPORTSNET.CA

HARTFORD -- He came trudging off the ice, drenched in sweat, in a city that once had an NHL team and has been left with one from the minors instead. Sean Avery takes off his equipment and greets you with a sarcastic "Where else would you rather be?" in reference to this Connecticut city and one-time hockey hotbed.

But here’s the difference: It appears quite clear now with the New York Rangers giving him another -- perhaps last -- chance that Avery will get to taste the National Hockey League again.

Hartford won’t.

Though the Rangers issued a statement that Avery wouldn’t make any comments to the media, he did anyway Wednesday morning. He spoke cryptically at times to solid radio play-by-play man Brian Munz, a writer from Newsday and myself. He was wistful, reflective and quite polished with his message. No Alex Rodriguez theatrics and hot pink lipstick, but he was rather ready for the questioning and he kept answering many of them the same way.

"I just focus on today."

"I don’t want to speculate on the past."

"I’m happy for the opportunity."

"I want to get my legs back."

"I can’t wait to have a protein shake."

We are here on a February Wednesday in the XL Center, with a green 1986-1987 Adams Division banner still hanging from its rafters, because of Sean Avery. Because of the suspension after uttering those two now infamous words -- "sloppy seconds" -- that fateful December morning in Calgary. Because of the Dallas Stars’ decision that they’d rather pay him more than two-thirds of his US$15.5-million deal than have him around.

We discuss and dissect Avery, not because he’s a 20-goal scorer, but because he carries relevance in the entertainment aspect of sport.

Avery matters today, for the same reason Jesse Palmer mattered five years ago. In a league that’s begging to be mainstream in the U.S., Avery transcends sport and entertainment; ice and fashion; skates and celebrity.

Sure, he’s not "The Bachelor," but your girlfriend knows he once dated Elisha Cuthbert and may have recognized him from the attention he got while interning at Vogue; your adolescent brother probably utters expressions like sloppy seconds; your college roommate can’t read a box score but can identify him from the gossip pages; your fantasy-hockey-playing buddy was lamenting taking him in his draft and the loudmouth in the office maintains his fists and feistiness would help any team.

	Sportsnet's Arash Madani.

Avery’s presence isn’t just as a hockey player, just like John Madden is not solely a commentator. Vogue and video games; ‘fatso’ and ‘boom’; celebrity dating and the Outback Madden Cruiser. Sadly, Avery matters because he’s the closest thing to relevance the National Hockey League has in the country it so desperately is trying to penetrate.

So that brings us here, on a 17-seat Air Canada direct flight with no flight attendant from Toronto, nor overhead compartments for that matter. We are here because Sean Avery is here.

And it is here, pre-shake, where Avery paints a public persona of a man at peace with himself and where he’s been. He mentioned he went through different steps over the past two months, but won’t elaborate what exactly he did. His mindset, he wants you to believe as he breathed heavily in this spacious minor-league dressing room, is no longer of spewing hatred at French Canadians, but an "organic" perspective on approaching life when the first blade steps off the ice.

"I think organic to me it just means something that’s not pushed or rushed. Just happens naturally. It just evolves into a feeling or into an actual thing," he said, perhaps cryptically to a broadcaster who doesn’t quite know what he specifically means. "It’s just one of those terms that I like to use right now. It’s just how I feel, really. The steps came very organic. At each point they came to me and I felt them and that’s really… I can’t explain it. It’s a difficult process to explain to someone unless you’ve gone through it."

Oh.

Well I haven’t and I’m not sure you have, but certainly Glen Sather is hoping whatever it was, it has now been handled. For good.

There is still more than three years of pay left on that ridiculous contract the Stars gave him last summer that both Dallas and the Rangers will now most likely split.

When we may see the 28-year-old, who has already spent his seven NHL seasons in Detroit, L.A., New York, Dallas and what appears to be New York again, remains to be seen. This was only his second workout with the Wolf Pack. The coach here, Ken Gernander, seems impressed with what shape Avery has kept himself in, but he knows more work is required.

"When you train on a treadmill or something like that, everything is controlled. You set your pace and there (are) no unexpected bumps or anything like that," said Gernander, on whom the Winnipeg Jets used a fifth-round pick back in 1987. "He’s got to work on his core and his legs, so when he’s in those battle areas and maybe someone pops him when he’s not 100 per cent braced for it, he can absorb that hit and not put himself at risk for injury."

It is suspected Avery will get his first AHL game action either Friday against a team called the Lake Erie Monsters or Saturday against fellow NHL orphan, the Winnipeg-based Manitoba Moose.

"I’m just trying to get my legs back and think about this workout I’m about to have," said Avery, who spent plenty of time in the gym the past two months but not on the ice skating. "Time away is amazing for everyone. It’s certainly beneficial for anyone, regardless if you’re an athlete or a school teacher -- you need it to clear your mind. There’s things people need to work on in life. All the time, really. Until you realize that, you can’t really fix it from other people telling you to fix it."

Ahh. Hockey player, Vogue intern, philosopher.

What makes this story more intriguing than so many others in sport is that this is not about a vicious attack on the ice, a police blotter, substance abuse or the kind of away-from-game issues that are so prevalent in sports. It is about a man who allowed his temper and theatrics to poison his reputation and thus creating an ongoing distraction, allegedly dripped of selfishness in the room, and reportedly injured a teammate in the past. Now, he insists, he is rehabilitated. Zen-like, really, in how he speaks publicly. Where his head was when "sloppy seconds" came, intentionally, slipping out of his mouth? No matter now. "It is about today," Avery repeatedly said, "One day at a time right now."

When pressed, he gives you a little more, but not much:

"It was important for me as a person and man to go through the steps. I’m feeling better," he offered. "Actions speak louder than words and I am working out one thing at a time."

When he does return -- and you’ve got to believe it will be in the NHL by the trade deadline if he keeps his nose clean -- Avery hints that what you will see on the ice is more of the same. But when you ask him when he thinks he may be ready, there’s a lot of nonsense to decipher through before you get the answer.

"It’s all part of the process. It’s one of those things that are going to come organically," he said. With a straight face. "The tools that I’ve put in place for myself are going to help with that. There’s so many variables that will go into it."

Eventually he got to the heart of the matter.

"I’ve been playing the game of hockey for a long time. My on-ice game has never really been an issue, it’s just other things I’ve been working on. I’m sure there’s still going to be an element of Sean Avery hockey that will be exciting to watch."

Because he matters, we will.