Just got off the conference call regarding the Sean Avery decision, and here's some of what co-general manager Brett Hull had to say:
On his emotions now that this is all over: "It runs a whole gamut of emotions. I'm disappointed and I would imagine that he’s disappointed. It’s been difficult because not only has it seemed to not work with Sean and his teammates, but even the city. The team wasn’t playing well and on top of it, the issues off the ice compounded things and decisions had to be made, Fortunately for Sean he admitted to some problems. Disappointment? Yeah. Frustration? Yeah. You pick ‘em (the emotions), and they've probably been here over the last few weeks."
On how everyone tried to make it work with Sean: "There were a lot of people doing a lot of talking, a lot in the dressing room, from coach Dave Tippett and others. For my part, most of my discussions were on his conduct and how the Stars want their players to conduct themselves. We were stating that we don’t want you to change as a player. That’s why we wanted you to play with our team. But the unnecessary stuff, that was embarrassing. It needed to stop, and that didn’t happen."
Hull said he has not talked to Avery (only to reps), and that Avery is apparently in a 10-day program of some sort at the moment. As for what the Stars can do next with him: "Whatever they’re doing, they'll figure out if that’s enough or if he needs more. During that time, Les (Jackson) and I and the organization will be looking into those options. There's no sense talking about it until he gets better. Until people know he’s taking care of problems, I imagine it’s too high of a risk (to take him)."
About not challenging the contract: "This was not a witch hunt. We understand Sean had problems, people are human, we don’t want to ruin Sean or his career. We want him to get better. We needed to part ways with him and it’s amicable that way. The Stars need to move on and he needs to take care of himself so he can continue to play. He hasn’t done anything heinous enough where his career should end. We just wanted to make sure everyone was taken care of."
That's the gist of what we had this morning. Hull reiterated that he and the Stars won't stop taking risks, but that this one just "went overboard." So onward we go, kids.
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