Pucks On The 'Net: Mad Men Edition

Hockey's favorite villain Sean Avery is in the news again.

NewsTalk 1010 out of Toronto recently caught up with Avery and found out he is living "the Don Draper life."

The controversial former NHLer Avery discussed his bad-boy image and says he is enjoying retirement from hockey. In fact he claims he no longer owns a pair of skates.

Avery is now working on a a career in advertising, saying watching Mad Men's Don Draper is like "looking into a mirror."

You can hear the full Avery interview here.

Here's some more Pucks On The 'Net -

• Speaking of mad men, it seems Mark Messier is also mad. So mad he has abruptly left the New York Rangers. Messier, who just a couple of weeks ago let it very well be known that he wanted to coach the Rangers, is pursuing "an opportunity to expand the game of hockey in the New York area by developing the Kingsbridge National Ice Center." Messier went out of his way to state that this decision had nothing to do with his recent coaching snub.
• Messier had been serving with the Rangers as a special assistant to Glen Sather. I'm not sure anyone knew what he actually did for the Rangers. Will he even be missed? It's funny how Messier feels he could not devote time to the Rangers while pursuing these opportunities, but apparently was prepared to devote pretty much every moment of the day as head coach.
• Good to see former Montreal stalwart Mike McPhee taking an active role in hockey in the martimes. He is the honorary chair person for the 2014 World U-17 Hockey Challenge.
• Sad to see another tragedy hit Sheldon Kennedy, as the recent flooding in Calgary has seriously damaged his home. 
• Good trade by the Colorado Avalanche on Friday. They brought back another familiar name from the past in Alex Tanguay, fueling speculation that the Avs are also trying to woo Curtis Leschyshyn and Valeri Kamensky back to the Mile High City. Okay, that won't happen but Tanguay still has some game left and will really help out the young forwards in Colorado. Cory Sarich is a veteran depth defenseman at best but will help the thin blue line. The Avs also got rid of a couple of players with "party" reputations in Shane O'Brien and David Jones.
• You've got to wonder what Calgary is thinking in bringing those two in. O'Brien has long had that reputation, but he is a serviceable if at-times erratic NHL defenseman. Hopefully Jones can salvage his career with more ice time in Calgary. He has twice scored 20 goals in NHL seasons, but he has also been hampered by serious shoulder and knee injuries. This past season he had only 3 goals. 
• The Tampa Bay Lightning bought out Vincent Lecavalier. Somehow it just will not seem right to see Vinnie in a different city. I've always liked Lecavalier and I hope he finds his game where he lands. I'm sure there will be plenty of teams lining up to speak to him.
• Meanwhile in Vancouver the Canucks are still saying they will try and trade Roberto Luongo. They do not seem to be willing to face the same and expensive fate that Tampa Bay did - buying out Luongo may be their best play.
• Lost in the hustle and bustle of the first few days of the NHL off-season was the passing of former player agent Don Baizley. Baizley, who battled non-smoker's lung cancer, was one of the most influential men in the business at one time. He was an early pioneer of bringing European stars to North America, including Anders Hedberg, Ulf Nilsson, Jari Kurri and Teemu Selanne. He also represented Joe Sakic, Theo Fleury, Paul Kariya and Peter Forsberg.