Sean Avery and the New York Rangers, The Movie: The Sequel

Sean Avery will be placed on re-call waivers at noon today (Monday). If no one else claims Avery by noon tomorrow, the Rangers will take him and No. 16 will be a New Yorker again.

Where and when have we seen this movie about The Comeback Kid?

Sean Avery has cleaned up his act before and returned to the NHL as a new man. At the end of his first year with the L.A. Kings, he was sent home early, or suspended for the last three games of the regular season.

He got counseling from his coach and former teammates on the Detroit Red Wings  team

He returned to the Kings the next season and played a different role for the team. Instead of being the agitator on the third line, he was moved up to the second line, put on the power play, and he fought penalties instead of fighting and getting a lot of penalties.

He was a top six forward afaverging almost twenty minutes of ice time per game, which is a lot. He had 10 points in 20 games and was on track for 20 goal, 40 point season.

Then he was traded to the new York Rangers, where he played different roles  at different times.

He was player of the game for the Rangers when he scored two goals against the Boston Bruins, on a line with Jaromir Jagr.

Before all those good things happened, he told the Hockey News a few years ago, at the end of a game with the Kings he'd go into their dressing room, smash all the Gatorade bottles and yell at his teammates for playing too soft.

He did not make many friends amongst the players on other teams or his own team or with a or referees. But L.A. Kings fans loved him the way Toronto Maple Leafs fans loved Tiger Williams and Tie Dom, the way Philadelphians loved the Broad Street Bullies, and the way different teams loved Claude Lemieux, when he played for them.

At the same time, Avery made friends with another Canadian skater in sunny L.A. -- the actress Elisha Cuthbert. He took her skating and hleped her bursh up on a few moves for a skating movie she was going to be in.

He hung out with her Hollywood crowd, which included Paris Hilton.

The question is, What role will Avery play as he makes his second comeback in the NHL with the Rangers?

The 'Bad Boy' role seems old, but Rangers fans may expect him to fight a lot, again. They chanted "We Want Avery" at the end of their last game against the Colorado Avalanche, withe Darcy tucker, that turned ugly at the end.

The NHL is evolving, apparently, becoming more European and less like the old time North American style promoted in the movies Slapshot and Slapshot II with the Hanson "brothers.

Avery appeared in a recent hockey movie and had to take a big hit on camera. Now there's a movie in the works about Avery's experience as an intern at Vogue magazine.

That was an unusual role for a hockey player—especially this hockey player. If Avery's return to the NHL with the Rangers is a hit may depend on the role he is given.

The NHL sent him to anger management. It's obvious which role the NHL brass does not want to see him in. The Rangers need someone to energize their talent rich team. That's a role Avery played with great success the last time he played on Broadway.