Look at that sweet face. Is that really a man you could stay mad at? We mean, really … Gah! Who are we kidding? Ghe sunglasses, the smug scowl? What’s not to love about suspended Dallas puckster Sean Avery? Well, according to Stars coach Dave Tippett, plenty. From ESPN.com:

“From a coach’s standpoint, I try to build a team that has an atmosphere where players care about each other and play with each other and play with continuity, and I find it hard to believe that Sean could come back in that dressing room and we could find that continuity again,” Tippett said.

Tippett was particularly incensed by the fact that he had spent some time Tuesday in Calgary defending Avery in front of the Canadian media, only to turn around and hear Avery say: “I am really happy to be back in Calgary, I love Canada … 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 [redacted]. I don’t know what that’s about. Enjoy the game tonight.”

Avery was referring to his ex-girlfriend, actress Elisha Cuthbert, who is currently dating Flames defenseman Dion Phaneuf.

“It’s frustrating for me to go out and defend the guy,” Tippett said. “It’s disappointing, because in the morning with all the stuff going on in the media, I approached Sean and asked him if he was going to talk to media; he told me, no. He talked to our PR people and he told them, no, he wasn’t going to talk to the media … and to have a calculated response like that … it was a calculated statement for what I feel was personal gain.”

In other words, good-bye, Sean. And it wouldn’t be the first time. Or the second. Or …

[RandBall note: We redacted Avery’s term because man, that’s just wrong. You’ll see it other places, and frankly we’re pretty surprised it’s on mainstream sites like ESPN and CNN/SI].

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