Two major announcements were made yesterday, breaking news, if you will, in the NHL.  Dallas Stars’ pest Sean Avery would be suspended indefinitely from the NHL, pending a meeting with Commissioner Gary Bettman, for conduct “detrimental to the League or game of hockey” (www.nhl.com).  Second, TSN reported that Stefan Legein, that nineteen year old Columbus Blue Jacket prospect who quit hockey last summer, is now coming back.

A month ago, in an interview with Scott Howson, I was told, “that’s a hypothetical question [if Stefan Legein wanted to return to hockey]…I think we would want to understand the process of how he got to wanting to play again, and if it was genuine, then it could possibly be something we could talk about.”

Now, a month later, GM Howson repeated his words to the media, by saying, “We have no problem with that so long as he's fully committed. It's got to be all in for Stef. It can't be because he's running out of things to do with his time. It can't be because he's running out of money. It has to be because he wants to be a professional hockey player.''

As TSN says, “It was the Canadian Dream gone wrong,” regarding Legein and his actions.

Two months ago, I started researching Stefan Legein and his decision to quit hockey, and got in touch with four different NHL general managers.  I put it altogether into an article, that was later posted on Bleacher Report and in the Muhlenberg Weekly.

Stefan Legein claims that he misses the game.  After injuring his shoulder at the 2008 World Junior Championships and being out for three months, Stefan decided that he had no desire or passion to return to the game; he was going to quit the game he once loved so much.  Howson continued by saying that same thing that Devils’ GM Lou Lamoriello told me: “If a player doesn't have the passion to play for whatever reason, he can't do this for a living.”

In his press conference, Howson sounded hesitant to allow Stefan Legein back into the Blue Jackets’ organization, but seemed to feel as though he had to do so.  Legein, a second round draft pick and a highly touted prospect in the NHL, is a rough, physical player, who can both score and be a leader in the locker room.  A triple threat.

But is there now going to be a fourth threat, one in which no one wants to trust him for what he’s done?  There is that “life lesson” that once you lose someone’s trust, it is almost impossible to gain it back.

Will Stefan Legein be able to gain back the trust of the Columbus organization?  Or were his actions enough to hurt his chances of ever playing for the Blue Jackets?

 

In other, lighter news, Sean Avery was suspended for his comments regarding Dion Phaneuf and his girlfriend, Avery’ ex-girlfriend, Elisha Cuthbert.  Cuthbert was rumored to have been dating Avery, Mike Komisarek of the Canadiens, and now Calgary defenseman Dion Phaneuf.

Avery was found looking for the press in the locker room before a game in Calgary, asked them to turn their cameras on, and then released the following statement: “I am really happy to be back in Calgary, I love Canada," Avery said on camera this morning in Calgary.  "I just want to comment on how it's become like a common thing in the NHL for guys to fall in love with my sloppy seconds. I don't know what that's about. Enjoy the game tonight.”

Bob McKenzie of TSN claimed that he was suspended solely for the two “vulgar” words, “sloppy seconds,” because of the imagery that it presents.  He suggests that if Avery had used the phrase “my ex-girlfriend,” then the suspension would never have happened.

Some are saying it is the end of the world, others don’t even see fault in his words.  My opinion goes to both sides.  There really was not anything wrong with his statement; it was not at all offensive, but it was a bit inappropriate.  Nothing that anyone should be getting upset over; in fact, I was laughing when I heard this.

But as a professional athlete, and someone that many children look up to, you just are not supposed to say things like that.  That suspension was most likely given because he is a “repeated offender.”  Literally.  The NHL probably wants to make sure that he does not continue these antics, as the only news the NHL has garnered throughout the USA of recent times has been bad news, including this incident.

So in conclusion, Sean Avery is hilarious, but also an extremely unintelligent man.

Oh yeah, and Stefan Legein is confusing.

 

Alan Bass is a Senior Writer for Bleacher Report and the Community Leader for the NHL and Philadelphia Flyers’ section.  He is also the co-host of NHL 2Day, a weekly radio show on Youcastr.com.  You can contact him at ALN424@aol.com.  You can also check out his BR archives here.