SEAN AVERY Talks NHL Fights, Trash Talk, Christopher Nolan

Summary

---

The Adam Friedland Show

Episode: SEAN AVERY Talks NHL Fights, Trash Talk, Christopher Nolan
Date: March 20, 2026
Guest: Sean Avery (Former NHL player, author, actor)

---

Episode Overview

In this lively, irreverent, and deeply candid episode, Adam Friedland sits down with Sean Avery—a 13-year NHL veteran, infamous agitator, trash-talker, and recent author—to discuss the realities of hockey culture, his controversial career, the art of fighting and chirping in the league, locker room dynamics, post-hockey life, and his burgeoning career as a writer and actor (including working with Christopher Nolan). The conversation weaves between hilarious hockey war stories, personal growth, and unfiltered takes on masculinity, rivalry, and redemption.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The "Agitator" Role and Mental Chess of Hockey

• Avery’s Profile: Adam describes Sean as “basically to wind up kind of the best player on the other team and make him lose his focus and lose his head.”
  • Avery: “Essentially. Yes. Yeah.” (06:24)
• Violence as Strategy:
  • Adam: “Like, you don’t really see someone like you... He’s going to make Sidney Crosby cry.” (06:20)
  • Avery draws a parallel with organized crime: "Think about it as, like, an organized crime family... At some point during a game, the Godfather's gonna look down at the end of the bench at me." (06:59)

2. Trash Talk, Dossiers, and Psychological Warfare

• Researching Opponents:
  • Adam: “Did you have kompromat?”
  • Avery: “Yes. I had a fucking dossier... If you're gonna do that job, then, like, be the best at it and be prepared.” (41:23–42:59)
  • Avery shares how he’d collect deeply personal info—siblings, relationships—to use during games.
• Chirping Examples:
  • Avery on using info: “His sister Sarah works at the Keg in Toronto... She took down possibly the captain of the Montreal Canadiens.” (42:22–42:36)

3. The Culture of Hockey (Nationalities, Locker Room, Drinking)

• Different Stereotypes:
  • Russians: “New money, baby. It's so fun.” (13:18)
  • Finns: “They're dumb monsters... then he gets drunk and, you know everything that he's ever thought.” (14:17)
  • Swedes: “They're good lads. Very similar to us.” (14:32)
• Locker Room Life:
  • On rookie treatment and advice from veterans: “Brendan Shanahan told me... never take a yellow taxi and always have more than $400 in your pocket.” (21:41)
  • Chris Chelios “set precedents” with his wife, coming home after 3am to avoid suspicion. (22:57)

4. Fights, Penalties, & Emotions On and Off Ice

• Why Fight?
  • Avery: “I became... a martial artist. I took up jiu-jitsu... now I don’t want to fight ever because... I want to embrace you and choke... Whereas before, I wanted to... use my fists.” (34:25–35:09)
• Fighting as a Survival Skill:
  • Adam: “Do you think because you were undersized... this was like a marginal advantage you could exploit?”
  • Avery: “Absolutely. It was a survival skill. It was also scarring from being the smallest on my team since I was a kid.” (42:59–43:09)
• Fighting Styles:
  • “I fought to not get hit. To make it, to sell the fight, to not hurt my hand and to make sure that I landed on top of that fucking guy.” (44:11)

5. The "Avery Rule" & Hockey Loopholes

• The Play That Changed the Game:
  • Adam asks about the legendary screening of Martin Brodeur:
  • Avery: “I just went directly in front of him... if I put my hand in front of his face and every time he moves somewhere, my hand moves with it. I've just solved the riddle of 100 years of this game.” (60:22–61:08)
  • The rule was changed immediately afterward, an unprecedented move.
  • Avery: “I did the fucking thing... I woke up the next morning... they just changed the rule, and you're not allowed to do that tonight or ever again.” (64:03)
• Moment of Brilliance:
  • Adam: “Moment of brilliance. And it’s just like, that is to be so cool.” (64:51)
  • Avery: “Yes.” (64:55)

6. Transitioning from Hockey: Writing, Acting, and Vulnerability

• Romance Novel:
  • Avery’s written a “best selling hockey romance novel”, read in a dramatic fashion on air:
    • “This is about a New York Ranger rookie who spends the summer in the Hamptons with two of his former college teammates. They fuck their way through the entire Hamptons.” (26:33)
    • Reads opening scene: “If I could choose to live in this space, I would. It's where I feel comfortable, serviceable on the team. This is my role. I cause chaos for distraction, for intimidation, for the win.” (27:00–29:45)
• Acting & Christopher Nolan:
  • On becoming an actor: “That's the closest thing I've ever felt to fighting at center ice in Madison Square Garden... now I get connected to John Pasadera, who has a history of casting... and he puts me in Tenet... then I did Oppenheimer… now I’m a working actor. I’ll go anywhere.” (85:53–87:38)
  • Nolan’s set: “He's like Shohei. He sees everything happen before it happens. Or also, you know, just trusts the beauty of creativity and hires the best people... and lets them paint inside structure.” (87:53–88:18)

7. Regrets, Growth, and Legacy

• On Not “Shutting Up”:
  • Steve Yzerman once told Sean: “Just shut the fuck up. Just shut the up and play.” (71:18)
  • Avery: “On one hand, I can say I should have listened to him... I would have had a better hockey career. Now, the other side is... I was more an entertainer than a player.” (71:27–71:59)
• Post-Hockey Struggles:
  • Adam: “Like, how do they replace that... it gets dark.”
  • Avery: “It’s dark... You punched a cop, right?” (80:19–81:44)
  • On needing time to decompress: “I was tired of being chased. You know, Gary was up my... There was always something... it was too late at that point.” (79:53–80:13)

8. Masculinity, Relationships, and Ego

• On Capability and Respect in Relationships:
  • Adam: “Do you think a girlfriend will ever really respect you if she doesn't feel like you could have... kill her with your bare hands?”
  • Avery: “No. Yeah, you're right. That's always... in the back of her head.” (90:32–90:39)
• Jiu-Jitsu, Ego, Losing to Women:
  • “You roll with girls... That's the point. It's an ego killer.” (50:29–50:43)

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On trash talk research:

  • “I had a fucking dossier... Everyone wants to provide information and share information.”
    — Sean Avery (41:30–42:48)

• On his unique NHL role:

  • “If you're gonna do that job, be the best at it and be prepared.”
    — Sean Avery (42:59)

• On the “Avery Rule” genesis:

  • “I've just solved the riddle of 100 years of this game, which is trying to break a goalie's eye line.”
    — Sean Avery (61:08)

• On being an agitator:

  • “It was a survival skill. It was also scarring from being the smallest on my team since I was a kid.”
    — Sean Avery (43:09)

• On masculinity and relationships:

  • “That's always in the back of her head... if a guy can't, I have compassion for her because I know she's totally not fulfilled because she doesn't feel safe.”
    — Sean Avery (90:39–90:54)

• On acting and Nolan:

  • “He's the Scotty Bowman of movies.”
    — Sean Avery (88:41–88:44)

---

Segment Timestamps

• Intro and banter: Skip ads, actual content begins (04:29)
• Sean Avery’s NHL profile & role of agitator: 06:10–09:43
• Locker room, nationalities, rookie stories: 10:22–23:59
• Fighting, trash talking, and mental strategies: 29:45–44:23
• Locker room culture, bullying, personal evolution: 44:23–51:59
• The “Avery Rule” (game-changing moment): 56:25–65:19
• Transition to writing and acting: 85:20–88:44
• Masculinity, relationships, and jiu-jitsu: 90:32–91:08

---

The Adam Friedland Show Signature

Expect candid admissions, rowdy locker room humor, and a sharp look at sports, masculinity, and self-invention. Sean Avery is as unfiltered here as he was on the ice, providing not just great stories, but a clear window into the mindset of the ultimate hockey antagonist.

---

Transcript

[Adam Friedland]

Ever stop and think Should I really be asking AI this? Between work stuff, personal questions and random late night thoughts, a lot of us share way more with AI than we probably realize. That hesitation is exactly why DuckDuckGo built Duck AI. You go to Duck AI and you can chat privately with the same AIs you may already be using, like ChatGPT or Claude, and it protects your info from hackers, scammers and data hungry companies. A win win. Plus it's from DuckDuckGo, the company known for protecting your data, not collecting it. Duck AI from DuckDuckGo lets you chat privately with chat, GPT and other popular AIs all in one place. And I suppose that would come in handy for those totally normal medical questions I've been asking ChatGPT recently. Privacy First AI Duck AI is built for data protection, not data collection. It's designed to help stop your information from being stored, tracked or misused. Chat privately with chat, GPT, Claude and other popular AIs all in one place. Well, no signups, no subscriptions, no learning curve. Just visit Duck AI and start chatting. DuckDuckGo has been protecting privacy online since 2008, raising the standard for trust on the Internet. Duck AI lets you use popular AI chat tools privately and it's free. If you want to use AI without giving up your privacy, visit Duck AI AdamFreedland today. That's Duck AI AdamFreedland, a private way to chat with AI from DuckDuckGo, where AI is always optional and private. A thoughtfully built wardrobe comes down to pieces that mix well and last and that's where Quince shines. Premium fabrics considered design and everyday essentials that feel effortless to wear and dependable even as the seasons change. Quince has everyday essentials I love with quality that lasts. More importantly, lightweight cashmere sweaters for instance, short sleeve Mongolian cashmere polos, linen bottoms and shorts, tees in 100% Pima cotton and European jersey linen. These are the versatile pieces that make a wardrobe actually work season to season. Quince works directly with top factories and cuts out the middlemen. You're not paying for brand markup or fancy retail stores, just quality clothing. The cashmere is 100% Mongolian, the same stuff luxury brands use. The Peba cotton is long staple, which means it stays soft and doesn't pill. The European jersey linen is breathable and lightweight. Everything is built to hold up to regular wear and still look good. Their clothing is rated between 4.5 and 5 stars by thousands of people wearing it every day. The only partner with Factories that meet rigorous standards for craftsmanship and ethical production. Those linen shorts I've been talking about have become my go to. They don't wrinkle like cheap linen does and they work with everything. Didn't cost a fortune either. So stop over complicating your wardrobe. You don't need a closet full of options. You need a few pieces that actually work. So right now go to quint.com tafs for free shipping and 365 day returns. That's a full year to build your wardrobe and love it. And you will now available in Canada too. Don't keep settling. For clothes that don't last. Go to Q-U-I-N c e.com tafs for free shipping and 365 day returns. Quints.com tafs do you think you fought more guys or had sex with more girls in your life?

[Sean Avery]

Individual wild question.

[Adam Friedland]

I don't know. Just think about it. Or are you not. Are you, are you not a notch on the bedpost kind of guy? I think just, just.

[Sean Avery]

I mean, I, I. Listen, I. We all had fun.

[Adam Friedland]

We all had fun.

[Sean Avery]

I did a lot of. And a lot of fighting.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah. So cool.

[Sean Avery]

If I could be honest with you. Yes.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah. I wonder what the number is. I wonder what the number is on the spreadsheet.

[Sean Avery]

Oh.

[Adam Friedland]

Hey, all. Welcome back to the Adam Friedland show.

[Sean Avery]

Adam.

[Adam Friedland]

I'm Adam Friedland. My guest this week is former NHL player Sean Avery. Hockey puck is my favorite. Think I like the way they skate up and down the rink. He's here to promote his new book, Summer Skate, which came out in September of 2025. As always, I'm Adam Friedland. Signing off. I love Thomas Eisenman.

[Sean Avery]

No pressure. Friedman.

[Adam Friedland]

Shut the fuck up. It's Freed Land. Okay. Anti Sam Sabaton, welcome to the stage. Coming up Next, Sean Avery, 13 year veteran of the NHL. Actor, model. Oh, fuck sex man.

[Sean Avery]

Jesus.

[Adam Friedland]

We're off to a hot start.

[Sean Avery]

First of all, I'm not, I'm not a model and I've never modeled.

[Adam Friedland]

You're a top model. No, I'm not. I, I modeled once. Yeah, I modeled once. Yeah, For a French brand, the couples.

[Sean Avery]

Oh, I love the couples.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah. I was, I was like in the store on Mercer. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I took a picture in front of it, of course. Yeah, yeah. I don't know why. I think it was some sort of prank.

[Sean Avery]

Oh.

[Adam Friedland]

Oh. I don't know why. Why did they ask me?

[Sean Avery]

They used regular people like the Gap.

[Adam Friedland]

I would say regular. I say, you know Public, intellectual, celebrity. I've been watching too many highlights.

[Sean Avery]

Really?

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah. I'm, like, catching up on NHL from, like, I'd say probably 11th grade, and I'm 38, and now I'm, like, locked in 11th grade. I want to catch our audience up on, like, kind of what your profile was, because it's. It's fascinating to me. And if I was good at fighting and sports and ice skating.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

I would be you.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

Tell me if I'm describing this correctly. Your position was basically to wind up kind of the best player on the other team and make him lose his focus and lose his head.

[Sean Avery]

Essentially. Yes. Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

That's what I found fascinating about it because, like, it's a sport unlike any other sport. There's an aspect of. Of violence which is be woked out of the league right now. And. But there is this aspect of, like, kind of the mental chess game. And in a team sport like that, it's like, you kind of don't see that in other. Like, you see a pitching duel, maybe, but, like, you don't really see someone like you who's like a guy in the depth chart who you bring out and he's like. He's going to make Sidney Crosby cry. Yeah, basically.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah. I think it's funny. I've never really thought about it like this, but, like, think about it as, like, an organized crime family, so. And I'll use Jaromir Jagr as an example. He's the Godfather, Right. And at some point during a game, the Godfather's gonna look down at the end of the bench at me.

[Adam Friedland]

So it's not coming from Torila. It's not coming from the coach?

[Sean Avery]

No, no, no. And really, it always came from me because I was uncontrollable.

[Adam Friedland]

But did you guys pool the fine?

[Sean Avery]

Yeah, sometimes.

[Adam Friedland]

That's so sick.

[Sean Avery]

That's illegal for me to tell you that. That we would say actively in the dressing room, like, okay, somebody go and fucking kill Matt Cook. Yeah. And the boys will put the money on the board.

[Adam Friedland]

He had it coming.

[Sean Avery]

He did, yeah. You know, he married. This is interesting. In junior, when we're younger. Yeah. Like 15 to 20, we play in this. The Canadian Hockey League. Yeah. You move away from home.

[Adam Friedland]

You cooked.

[Sean Avery]

You move away from home. I was good.

[Adam Friedland]

You were good?

[Sean Avery]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

I was watching highlights.

[Sean Avery]

Oh, really? Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Sean Avery]

You move away from home and you live with a local family.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Sean Avery]

Matt Cook married the mom the moment the family that he moved in with. Wait, he stole the mom? Well, yeah. Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

So.

[Sean Avery]

So, all right. Essentially, basically, My role was to shift the momentum. If we were going in and playing a team on the road. And it was a tough building to play in. You usually, collectively guys were like, montreal on a Saturday night is a tough building to play in. And I always knew that. And I would go in and I would basically try and put a fucking giant target on my back by spewing vulgar at everyone that I could, from warm up till the start of the puck drop. Because my idea was the guys are a little. We got to weather the storm in Montreal. The first five minutes, 10 minutes, they come hard. I got to make sure that bring it all on me. Bring it all on me and let everybody be comfortable. And I want Yoggs to have space and whoever else so that. And then at some point during the game, maybe we're going to be in a tight game, maybe we're going to be losing, and we need a little. You know what I mean? And then you send me out there and.

[Adam Friedland]

So sick.

[Sean Avery]

I'm gonna try and change the momentum. I'm gonna hopefully draw a penalty, which is gonna put our team on the power play, or I'm gonna fucking make somebody go crazy and the goalie's gonna leave the net and whatever.

[Adam Friedland]

So your parents were teachers?

[Sean Avery]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

So why are you bad?

[Sean Avery]

So the first time my mom got called by the school and it was in grade one, and I have a five year old who's going into kindergarten next year. So I have an idea of what, like, grade one is now. She got a call from the principal saying, so Sean. We have a deaf kid in Sean's class and he doesn't believe he's deaf, so he's been yelling in his ear all afternoon. That's early for a grade. For grade one. That's early to kind of go in that hard.

[Adam Friedland]

It's kind of a. You had a hypothesis and you did a. It's an experiment. Yeah.

[Sean Avery]

Problem solving.

[Adam Friedland]

And the kid was lying for attention. No, but like, hockey is, like, for us, when we think Canada, that we

[Sean Avery]

think that's your national sport. Yes.

[Adam Friedland]

And. And it is the opposite of what the stereotype is of a Canadian. Right. Of like a nice guy. Right. Like, and. And it is something that Canada could fuck up America at. Right. Until the recent tournament, we almost had your asses.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

The. What is it? The Tri Wizard Tournament or whatever the fuck.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah, yeah. The Three nations or the Four Nations Cup. Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

I feel like that brought hockey back a little bit.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah. I mean, my idea of that was because essentially the Kachuk boys.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Sean Avery]

Whose dad, they call him Big Walt. Keith Tkachuk, great American player, but he played with so many Canadians. Yeah. That I think by default, the boys are almost more Canadian than they are American. But what they're doing is now they're changing the culture of American hockey.

[Adam Friedland]

So, like, what's that. What's the. What's the hang? Right, so you're, like, in the mlb, right? You have, like. You have, like, MAGA farm boys, and. And then you have, like, passionate Latin men, and I guess now you have, like, Japanese guys with gambling debt, but, like, you guys have Russians, you have, like, Scandinavians, and then you have, like. Also you guys have, like, French Canadians

[Sean Avery]

and then Canadians, which are two different things.

[Adam Friedland]

Is it. Are Americans and. And Anglo Canadians. Is that kind of more of a group, or is it, like, in a locker room?

[Sean Avery]

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

[Adam Friedland]

You see someone as American in a locker room?

[Sean Avery]

Yeah. No. Well, no, we see guys as Western leaguers, because Western leaguers, they don't like the hard stuff. They'll just drink, like, 80 beers. And guys from the Ontario League, they like to mix in. They like to get the fireballs and the. So it's sort of like a regional thing where. And American guys mostly went to college. Oh, they.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Sean Avery]

And none of us went to college.

[Adam Friedland]

Did you. The last school you went to was, like, 16. Before that.

[Sean Avery]

I think it might even a little bit earlier. Yeah. Yeah. 16. Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

And then you started playing juniors, and

[Sean Avery]

that's when I started playing juniors. And that's. You know, when you move away from home, you move in with this family. Some guys fall in love. Some guys, I just fucked them up. I just went to work, I shot pucks. I didn't want to go to school. The rink was open. I. I said, what do you mean? This is our arena, and the ice is there, and we. You're not renting it.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Sean Avery]

And I. So I think, like, early on, I was one of the. I was just like, I'm not. I'm gonna go shoot Pucks.

[Adam Friedland]

You wanted to work?

[Sean Avery]

I wanted to work, yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

So what. What are the Russian guys like?

[Sean Avery]

Russian guys are incredible.

[Adam Friedland]

Do you guys hang with them?

[Sean Avery]

New money, baby.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Sean Avery]

It's so fun.

[Adam Friedland]

Louis Vuitton.

[Sean Avery]

It's so fun. Yes. And I played with sort of both generations, because when I got to Detroit, Fedorov, we had Sergey, we had Fedorov, Larionov, we had Datsuk. We had a lot of great Russians. Sergey was first generation and second generation because he played for so long, and he Kind of. He's the epitome of, like, American. A Russian coming to America. He's the original Miami Russian. Okay. He went to Miami. He falls in love with Anna Kournikova. He goes on that run. But that. That. So Russians, we like Eastern Europeans, we like Swedes, because Swedes are the most similar to.

[Adam Friedland]

Canadians don't fuck with each other.

[Sean Avery]

They don't like each other. And the Finns are the worst drinkers ever.

[Adam Friedland]

What's the. What's the stereotype with the Finns? Are they, like, just like monsters?

[Sean Avery]

Yeah, you're like dumb monsters. Look at UC over there. What's he thinking about? And then he gets drunk and, you know everything that he's ever thought.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Sean Avery]

In a matter of an hour.

[Adam Friedland]

And the Swedes are like handsome legends.

[Sean Avery]

They're just like.

[Adam Friedland]

They're good lads.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I think that's why Canadians are drawn to them, because they are very similar to us.

[Adam Friedland]

What about America, dude? We're more like.

[Sean Avery]

You know, I didn't meet a Jew until I came to America.

[Adam Friedland]

Right. I mean, Montreal is very Jewish city.

[Sean Avery]

Right. But I grew up in Toronto, has one part now. All my closest friends are from there.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Sean Avery]

But growing up, I didn't know. But when I got to Detroit. Yeah. Michigan. University of Michigan, Bloomfield Hills. Bloomfield Hills, Okay.

[Adam Friedland]

I know all the Jew cities.

[Sean Avery]

Right. So that's how. Yeah, yeah. So that's kind of. That was my introduction to that. But as far as the Scotty Bowman. Scotty, is he Judaism?

[Adam Friedland]

Jewish?

[Sean Avery]

He could be. I could see him.

[Adam Friedland]

Can we start that rumor?

[Sean Avery]

Yeah, I could see it. Like, he's got that little. He's kind of like, hello, voice? Yes. Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

So you were playing juniors. You cooked, right?

[Sean Avery]

I was good, yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

And your profile. Was your profile similar to what it. Like your game was similar to what it became in NHL, or did you emphasize certain elements to make it into the league because you were undrafted, Correct.

[Sean Avery]

I was undrafted, so part of the reason was because of how I was acting. Because you're a prick playing. Yes.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah, yeah.

[Sean Avery]

And. And I still have a little bit of resentment towards Canadian hockey, who they have their own whole mess that they've been doing some things that they shouldn't have or whatever because they kept me off our national teams because they thought I was a bad teammate.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Sean Avery]

And I was just misunderstood.

[Adam Friedland]

Wouldn't it have felt amazing, like, oh,

[Sean Avery]

Canada, to put that thing on. Would you have cried the crest so

[Adam Friedland]

you get side to the wings right in the middle of a dynasty.

[Sean Avery]

Yep.

[Adam Friedland]

I mean, that was like a fucking. And you're about to go to Detroit right now.

[Sean Avery]

I'm leaving here, going to Detroit for our centennial alumni weekend celebration. I haven't seen some of these guys, probably. I haven't seen Dominic Hasek in 15 years.

[Adam Friedland]

Would you consider him the goat or your old friend Fatso?

[Sean Avery]

You go. Patrick Waugh, Brodeur, and I think Hasek, but then, like, I could say Terry Sawchuk, but, like, I don't. That was. That's olden days, 80 years ago. I. I don't know.

[Adam Friedland]

From what I understand, it's just a completely different game at this point. The skill level is much higher.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah. And, like, it's sick. It's so good.

[Adam Friedland]

They're so good at. They're so good at ball.

[Sean Avery]

It's. It's a very interesting. The evolution of, like, the last four years. Well, it's the McDavid kid.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Sean Avery]

He's nasty. McJesus. He's so good.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah. Well, he's not good at the press like you were.

[Sean Avery]

No, but he's gonna have to be because he's gonna sign with the Rangers in two years.

[Adam Friedland]

Really? He's gonna have to start talking shit like you. Are you gonna, like, kind of bring him in, baby? Bruh style?

[Sean Avery]

You know, I've always thought that that would be the perfect job for me.

[Adam Friedland]

Should we write for.

[Sean Avery]

For McDavid and. Or just everything.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Sean Avery]

Should we be like, everything? What he wears, how he. You know, we got to help the transition.

[Adam Friedland]

You do fashion, I'll do. I'll do bits.

[Sean Avery]

Okay.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah, I'm good.

[Sean Avery]

I got good bits.

[Adam Friedland]

Oh, no, you're better, actually, for a hockey context, you're better when you're in, like, a minor league team for, you know, the best team in the world.

[Sean Avery]

So. Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

How do you work your way up?

[Sean Avery]

So, okay, Detroit, 2002, I think the greatest hockey team ever on paper, probably. And they actually. We actually won the Stanley Cup. I say we hesitantly, because they didn't

[Adam Friedland]

put in your name.

[Sean Avery]

I was. I didn't play in the playoffs, but I was on the team during the year, and I didn't play. I think I. If I had played two more games during the regular season, I would have had my name on the Cup. Whatever.

[Adam Friedland]

This weekend, sneak in and just say, hey, tape. And just write your name.

[Sean Avery]

Well, we rewrite history everywhere else. I know, right?

[Adam Friedland]

Lord Stanley wouldn't care.

[Sean Avery]

No. So, Detroit, 2002. I play one year in the minors in Cincinnati. But I'm lucky enough to play for a coach who's now essentially banned from the NHL. This guy, Mike Babcock was my minor. Was my minor coach, and he's a lunatic. He got kicked off. I love him. He's one of my favorite people of all time. He got fired a couple of years ago before the season started, because he made all the guys on the team come in and he said, open your phone books, your camera. I want to see all the pictures you have in your phone. Leave your phone with me and I'll give it back to you.

[Adam Friedland]

This is Joseph Stalin.

[Sean Avery]

And they fired him. Running the kgb, which. Who would. I mean, of all the sports. Okay, here's what I'm gonna say. The hockey players would have the most up pictures in their phones. Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

What would. Like. Like what the. Like, what?

[Sean Avery]

It would just be so diverse. Yeah. You know, it would be like a hand up a cow's ass. Like, actually working and milking the cows in Saskatchewan. And then it might be somebody having. He might have a hand in his ass. I mean, hockey players are wild. They are the wildest.

[Adam Friedland]

I like the parallel. The parallel reference.

[Sean Avery]

Why would you want to see that?

[Adam Friedland]

So, locker room talk. How many micros have you seen in an NHL locker room?

[Sean Avery]

Oh, God. So, I mean, it just wore off. Like, it's. But I know who the big.

[Adam Friedland]

Have you seen micros in a professional sports league?

[Sean Avery]

Yeah, there's a couple.

[Adam Friedland]

Dude. Good for them.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah. Honestly, what's he gonna do?

[Adam Friedland]

Busted their fucking asses.

[Sean Avery]

Usually give it up for them, actually. Yeah. Slovakians.

[Adam Friedland]

Slovakians. Teeny tiny.

[Sean Avery]

Teeny tiny dude.

[Adam Friedland]

That's what they say. Really?

[Sean Avery]

No. Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah. Really?

[Sean Avery]

Yeah. You would walk into the sauna or the steam room after practice, and my left winger would be shaving my right wingers back.

[Adam Friedland]

Really?

[Sean Avery]

So, you know, that's the love of brotherhood. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. And it just kind of wears off after a certain amount of time.

[Adam Friedland]

Did you get rookie treatment? Like, who. Did you have a vet? Like, how did those guys, like, who are, like, literally on technically the best hockey team.

[Sean Avery]

I learned from the best.

[Adam Friedland]

How do they treat you?

[Sean Avery]

I Learned from the OGs guy, like, Brendan Shanahan told me a couple of things. He said, never take a yellow taxi and always have more than $400 in your pocket. In your pocket.

[Adam Friedland]

Was he a pimp now?

[Sean Avery]

Just ready.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah, he's just ready.

[Sean Avery]

And also the appearance of, like.

[Adam Friedland]

Sounds cool, though.

[Sean Avery]

You don't take a yellow taxi.

[Adam Friedland]

You don't take it.

[Sean Avery]

No.

[Adam Friedland]

Sounds about broke.

[Sean Avery]

And it could sound cool, but we're going the other way. We're Just going, we're going up here. A guy like Chris Chelios, I'll tell this story. What a legend. The first time I ever went out with Chelli and I was staying with him, I think during training camp. And we went out and it was Detroit, you know, there's nothing that much to do. Yeah. Anyways, I think we were pulling onto his street and it was like 2:30, 2:30am and he pulls onto the street and then he just pulls the car over to the side of the road. He used to drive like a 68 Cadillac. Like an old school that sometimes wouldn't start. Yeah. So long. Yeah. So he puts it in park and when you crank those seats back, it's like Delta one. You like Delta?

[Adam Friedland]

Lay flat.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah, lay flat.

[Adam Friedland]

Of course I'm a Delta boy.

[Sean Avery]

And I looked over, I was like, I didn't know what was going on. And he said, listen, life is all about setting precedence, okay? If I go home now before 3am the wife's going to think something's going on. If I come home after 3am Like I always do, there's no questions asked. You don't disrupt the system. So isn't that, isn't that an. Like that's. The level of commitment is off the charts.

[Adam Friedland]

Think that he's getting pussy. I don't understand.

[Sean Avery]

No, no, no, it wasn't about that. It wasn't. No, no, no. It was about.

[Adam Friedland]

I'm sorry.

[Sean Avery]

It was about wives hassle husbands. Like, what the hell are you doing out?

[Adam Friedland]

Right.

[Sean Avery]

And then you come home earlier. You've now set the precedent back. You could do that. Like you should be home earlier if you came home at 2:30 instead of three like you've been doing for.

[Adam Friedland]

And that's what she gets.

[Sean Avery]

Years. So that was sort of. I'm telling that because in all the different situations, different archetypes of guys on that team, they all had their own high level operation that they were running.

[Adam Friedland]

What are goalies like? They're weird.

[Sean Avery]

Crazy. So crazy.

[Adam Friedland]

Like they're like, they're like baseball pitchers are like sociopaths.

[Sean Avery]

Break down the, break down the position. So they wake up in the morning. Yeah, right. Practices at 10:30. By 10:40 they've probably had 700 hockey pucks shot off of them, off of their body for practice every day. Every day. Every game. Twice a day on game days.

[Adam Friedland]

They're like masochists.

[Sean Avery]

They're. Yeah, maybe weird. Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

And are they superstitious too?

[Sean Avery]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

They're like weird. Yeah, they're weirdos.

[Sean Avery]

Left Skate on. Don't touch that. Don't walk through that door. Don't look at that person. I put sour cream on my spaghetti. All kinds of weird shit. Yeah. Sour cream and ketchup, from what I understand.

[Adam Friedland]

You. You bounce around. You were in la.

[Sean Avery]

I didn't bounce around.

[Adam Friedland]

Well, you were. You were the. You were Redway.

[Sean Avery]

I played on three fucking teams.

[Adam Friedland]

Four.

[Sean Avery]

Dallas doesn't count.

[Adam Friedland]

That was a fun one. That was a little detour. That was a little detour.

[Sean Avery]

Little detour. Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

You got to throw out the first pitch at the. At the Rangers game.

[Sean Avery]

At a Rangers game. I saw that. Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

And they all applauded. They're like, this is. This is going to work out.

[Sean Avery]

And by the way.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Sean Avery]

Brett hall, who I'm gonna see this weekend.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Sean Avery]

I mean, the greatest.

[Adam Friedland]

You guys live together, right?

[Sean Avery]

Yeah, but he was the GM in Dallas. That's why I went.

[Adam Friedland]

Did he cancel your contract?

[Sean Avery]

Well, no, he. Well, essentially, yes. But. But his boss did.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

From what I understand, like, you got to New York and there's like, you found a home in the NHL.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

And.

[Sean Avery]

But like the.

[Adam Friedland]

The interesting thing about you is like the way you talk about moving to New York is like. Like fucking Carrie Bradshaw.

[Sean Avery]

Like, I. It was. I was the. Yeah. The sex in the city. You know, I had a Carrie moment. Hold on a second.

[Adam Friedland]

Was a.

[Sean Avery]

Hold on a second. I don't even know if you know this. Has anyone ever walked off set while they were doing.

[Adam Friedland]

What is that a gun? Okay. No, no.

[Sean Avery]

You know that I. That I've written a romance novel that's a best selling hockey romance novel right now. And.

[Adam Friedland]

Really?

[Sean Avery]

Yeah. We're bidding. You know, we're going to option. This thing's so fucking hot. This is about a New York Ranger rookie who spends the summer in the Hamptons with two of his former college teammates. They fuck their way through the entire

[Adam Friedland]

Hamptons and this is hardcore sex in there.

[Sean Avery]

Yes.

[Adam Friedland]

Oh, nice, dude. Can I have this?

[Sean Avery]

Yes. You didn't know that I.

[Adam Friedland]

Do you want to read a little? Do you ever read, like. Read some. Read some of the steamiest.

[Sean Avery]

I'll read you the. No, you know what I'll do?

[Adam Friedland]

You're literally. Carrie.

[Sean Avery]

Yes. You're reading.

[Adam Friedland]

You're writing fucking books. Yeah.

[Sean Avery]

Here's the first chapter of my. Of my. It's three pages.

[Adam Friedland]

Oh, my God. Do you have a pillow? I need to put it on.

[Sean Avery]

Of my romance novel. Durham, New Hampshire, two years ago. It's a snowy night in a town that is all activity and cheer. Even after a loss, the cobblestone streets are blanketed in white and lined with twinkling Christmas trees. I have my red cheeked girlfriend under my arm as we walk down the street, the tails of her scarf flying in the icy wind. We walk past a bar with its door open. An amateur band is playing Take Me Home, country roads. It's 11:30 on a Saturday night and we're headed back to my apartment off campus. She's got my jacket on. We turn onto a street that's quiet. We hear only the sound of our boots on the sleeted pavement, the crunch of salt under our feet. Three big guys with beards walk towards us. Townies. Oh no, they're drunk. One of them looks at her and asks, how does it feel to be with the biggest bitch on campus? Clearly, they watch me take that bad penalty at the end of the game. It costs my team the win. And while I can't erase the past, I can predict the future. I know exactly what's about to happen. Everything goes into slow motion. I. I turn to my girlfriend very calmly and say, don't ask any questions. Just turn around and walk home. Okay? Right now, go. I am clear. I am strategic. This is when I do my best computing in the eye of the storm. If I could choose to live in this space, I would. It's where I feel comfortable, serviceable on the team. This is my role. I cause chaos for distraction, for intimidation, for the win. I've done it since I was a kid. Who did you just call a bitch? I say. Before he can answer. I smack one guy, open hand, slap him across the jaw. He's down. I hit the second guy on the side of his head, on his ear. Before his hands even come out of his pockets. He's down. The third guy is six feet away, coming toward me. I take two hard steps and bury my shoulder into his belly button, wrap my arms around his legs and pick him up off the ground. Slam his head off the curb. Bounce his head right off the concrete. He's out cold, bleeding from the ears. I sit down on the curb. I have blood on my hands, but they aren't shaking. At least there were three. It's easier to sell. I take out my phone, put my hand on one guy's chest to see if he's still breathing. I call the cops. Hi, my name is Carter Hughes. I play hockey for the University of New Hampshire. I just got attacked by three men on the corner of Summer street in Maine. One of the guys is hurt badly. Send an ambulance and the police. I'll stick around until you get here.

[Adam Friedland]

Wow, that's sexy. That's very romantic.

[Sean Avery]

And then the.

[Adam Friedland]

I haven't read a book Since Harry Potter 8. I think I'm gonna go back in on books.

[Sean Avery]

And can I tell you, it's a dual perspective. So your girlfriend, Your girlfriend can read it because they start fucking a lot in the book.

[Adam Friedland]

Oh, she can? Yeah, she can.

[Sean Avery]

Anyways, it's, it's. We have a female protagonist and a male. So the chapters bounce back and forth between Carter and his love interest.

[Adam Friedland]

Oh, I like that narrative device. Yeah, it's like Russia.

[Sean Avery]

Wait, that was fun, right?

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah, I love. I'm like hooked.

[Sean Avery]

Can we put it on the table though?

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah, let's put it on the table.

[Sean Avery]

Well, just.

[Adam Friedland]

Oh yeah, it's fire.

[Sean Avery]

Great.

[Adam Friedland]

So what, what's it like to fight you? So you guys are just wearing. You're wearing ice skates and you know, you know how to fight wearing ice skates? Like.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

What a weird thing. What a weird sport. It's a. It's. It's the only sport where there's like, there's an aspect of fighting. But you're also on ice skates.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah, yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

Did you guys fight? Like were the figure skating guys and the. And the hockey guys, was that like beef growing up and the rig.

[Sean Avery]

You know what's so funny? There's an old wives tale. Elvis Stoicko was a Canadian Olympian figure skater. I think he was the first man to do the Shapeful or the four. No quad.

[Adam Friedland]

A quad, Yeah, a quad. Yeah.

[Sean Avery]

I have been told that he roundhouse kicked Eric Lindros in a bar outside of Toronto in the muskokas in the summer.

[Adam Friedland]

It was a good, good question.

[Sean Avery]

Okay. Yeah. So that to me, I. I don't know. That's so sick. Yeah. Be careful, cuz they're actually like great athletes. Dude, they're.

[Adam Friedland]

They're just wearing sequins. Yeah, that's why it's a distraction. Yeah. They're also John Wick. Yeah.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

Wait, so. So like, what's your, like how many fights in your life have. You think. What's your body count of fights?

[Sean Avery]

Oh, God, man. Dude, I fought so many delivery guys in New York City. Am I, am I adding is.

[Adam Friedland]

Is that you get really mad at them on your inst.

[Sean Avery]

I used to. I used to. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

You're not.

[Sean Avery]

Lots of fights. When I was 12, I played in Nova Scotia for a few years. My dad got transferred. He worked for Sears. Rip Sears.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Sean Avery]

And we had a Tournament on Prince Edward Island. You take the ferry? Anyways, we won the tournament and we played against another team from Nova Scotia. When we took the ferry back from pei, they had to put me up in the captain's quarters of the ferry because the parents on the other team wanted to kill me.

[Adam Friedland]

Parents?

[Sean Avery]

The parents of the players of the other team. We were 12.

[Adam Friedland]

So you were a little fucking.

[Sean Avery]

I was bad.

[Adam Friedland]

You're a bad boy.

[Sean Avery]

Bad.

[Adam Friedland]

Did your mom try to make you be good?

[Sean Avery]

You know, I once saw her at the bay. You know, the. It's our. It's our. The bay. You know, the blankets, the three stripes, the Canadian heritage. The bay. Yeah. She once spent four hours in a bay until they took her return. She just wouldn't leave. Yeah, she just stayed there.

[Adam Friedland]

Oh, so you got your shit from her.

[Sean Avery]

And that was a. Was one of those, like, trauma tree moments, maybe, or for the better. Yeah. And that was when I knew. Yeah. So then you just. You dig in.

[Adam Friedland]

You saw her dealing with customer service.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

Is that what you're saying?

[Sean Avery]

Yeah. She was trying to return something. They. They were refusing to take it, and she said to them, I will never leave. Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

Are you sure you're not Jewish?

[Sean Avery]

I am. I am. You can hire me for bat mitzvahs, Bar mitzvah.

[Adam Friedland]

Do you think you fought more guys or had sex with more girls in your life? Individual.

[Sean Avery]

That's a wild question.

[Adam Friedland]

I don't know. Just think about it. Or are you not. Are you not a notch on the bedpost kind of guy? I think just. Just.

[Sean Avery]

I mean, I. I. Listen, I. We all had fun.

[Adam Friedland]

We all had fun.

[Sean Avery]

I did a lot of. And a lot of fighting.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Sean Avery]

So cool. If I could be honest with you. Yes.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah. I wonder what the number is. I wonder what the number is on the spreadsheet.

[Sean Avery]

Oh, God. Oh, God.

[Adam Friedland]

Like, is it, like, Is it nice to fight?

[Sean Avery]

You know what's so interesting is that

[Adam Friedland]

you, like, like it.

[Sean Avery]

I became. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I'm now a martial artist. I took up jiu jitsu three years ago, four years ago, maybe. And now I don't want to fight ever, because if you get too close to me and something pops off, I. I want to embrace you and choke, and I want to choke the air out of you. Whereas before, I wanted to, like, use my fists. And that was. That was. I was a man trying to find a way to cure his urges.

[Adam Friedland]

You had a guy inside of you.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

And you had the.

[Sean Avery]

And the problem is you get rewarded for it in your game, in Our game.

[Adam Friedland]

So cool.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah. And the crowd goes nuts and you. And then you feel like God when

[Adam Friedland]

they fight each other.

[Sean Avery]

Yes.

[Adam Friedland]

It's so cool. And now they're woking it out of the league.

[Sean Avery]

They're still, they're still fighting.

[Adam Friedland]

We gotta let the boys fight.

[Sean Avery]

It's coming back.

[Adam Friedland]

Is what's more dangerous, like for a player. It's dirty. Hits have to be more dangerous than a, than a mono. E. Mono.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

[Adam Friedland]

You did a move which I. This is why I'm like, we're kind of the same guy. Which is like the massive. The notion is if a man squares up and you have to, you have to accept the challenge. Yeah, but you did the move because you were a wind up guy where you'd be like, what? You know, you'd be in a guy's ear and be like, you fucking pussy, you fucking bitch. And then, and then he'd like lose it. And then you'd be like, what, What I did? What did I do? You know, which is in front of an entire stadium. Just like the security inside of yourself. To be able to be like, to be.

[Sean Avery]

It's.

[Adam Friedland]

It's so Israel of you. Just like, it's so like Benny, I

[Sean Avery]

mean, I call him Benny for you to, for you to like Netanyahu.

[Adam Friedland]

Oh, net. Nanu.

[Sean Avery]

I call him Benny.

[Adam Friedland]

Oh, I call him, I call him a lot of names. Hey guys, Caleb Pitts here. When hair starts to thin, confidence can too. That's why Hims makes it simple to feel like yourself again. Inspiring stuff. I plan on taking hims and looking like this in one year. For more information, here's my boss and friend, Adam Friedland. Take it away a dog. Hims offers convenient access to a range of prescription hair loss treatments with ingredients that work you can, including chews, oral medications, serums and sprays. Dr. Trusted ingredients like finasteride and minoxidil can stop further hair loss and regrow hair in as little as three to six months. You shouldn't have to go out of your way to feel like yourself. Hims brings expert care straight to you with 100% online access to personalized treatment plans that puts your goals first. No hidden fees, no surprise costs, just real personalized care on your schedule. Think of Hims as your digital front door that gets you back to your old self with simple 100% online access to trusted treatments for real and health concerns all in one place. For simple online access to personalized and affordable care for hair loss, weight loss and more, visit hims.com tafs that's hims.com tafs for your free online visit hims.com tafS featured products include compounded drug products when the FDA does not approve, verify for safety, effectiveness or quality. Prescription required. See website for full details, restrictions and important safety information. Individual results may vary based on studies of topical and oral minoxidil and finasteride. Ever stop and think? Should I really be asking AI this? Between work stuff, personal questions and random late night thoughts, a lot of us share way more with AI than we probably realize. That hesitation is exactly why DuckDuckGo built Duck AI. You go to Duck AI and you can chat privately with the same AIs you may already be using, like Chat GPT or Claude. And it protects your info from hackers, scammers and data hungry companies. A win win. Plus it's from Duck Duck Go, the company known for protecting your data, not collecting it. Duck AI from DuckDuckGo lets you chat privately with chat, GPT and other popular AIs all in one place. And I suppose that would come in handy for those totally normal medical questions I've been asking ChatGPT recently. Privacy First AI Duck AI is built for data protection, not data collection. It's designed to help stop your information from being stored, tracked or misused. Chat privately with chat, GPT, Claude and other popular AIs all in one place. Well, no signups, no subscriptions, no learning curve. Just visit Duck AI and start chatting. DuckDuckGo has been protecting privacy online since 2008, raising the standard for trust on the Internet. Duck AI lets you use popular AI chat tools privately and it's free. If you want to use AI without giving up your privacy, visit Duck AI Adam Freedland today. That's Duck AI Adam Friedland a private way to chat with AI from DuckDuckGo where AI is always optional and private. A thoughtfully built wardrobe comes down to pieces that mix well and last and that's where Quint shines. Premium fabrics considered design and everyday essentials that feel effortless to wear and dependable even as the seasons change. Quince has everyday essentials I love with quality that lasts. More importantly, lightweight cashmere sweaters, for instance, short sleeve Mongolian cashmere polos, linen bottoms and shorts. Tees in 100% Pima cotton and European jersey linen. These are the versatile pieces that make a wardrobe actually work season to season. Quince works directly with top factories and cuts out the middleman. You're not paying for brand markup or fancy retail stores, just quality clothing. The cashmere is 100% Mongolian the same stuff luxury brands use. The Peba cotton is long staple which means it stays soft and doesn't pill. The European jersey linen is breathable and lightweight. Everything is built to hold up to regular wear and still look good. Their clothing is rated between 4.5 and 5 stars by thousands of people wearing it every day. The only partner with factories that meet rigorous standards for craftsmanship and ethical production. Those linen shorts I've been talking about have become my go to. They don't wrinkle like cheap linen does and they work with everything. Didn't cost a fortune either. So stop over complicating your wardrobe. You don't need a closet full of options. You need a few pieces that actually work. So right now go to quince.comtafs for free shipping and 365 day returns. That's a full year to build your wardrobe and love it. And you will now available in Canada too. Don't keep settling for clothes that don't last. Go to Q U I n c e.com Tafs for free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com Tafs and this. Let's go back to.

[Sean Avery]

Okay. I said terrible. I said terrible. Shit. I did research.

[Adam Friedland]

You did. That's what I was going to say. Did you have compromise?

[Sean Avery]

Yes. Yes. How did I had a dossier.

[Adam Friedland]

What depths did you go to to like find out?

[Sean Avery]

Anywhere.

[Adam Friedland]

Really.

[Sean Avery]

Anywhere.

[Adam Friedland]

You were like Roy Cohn.

[Sean Avery]

I. I was. I God love RIP Roy.

[Adam Friedland]

One of the most insane American.

[Sean Avery]

What a man.

[Adam Friedland]

American?

[Sean Avery]

Yes, American.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah. Like not like you. What a. Come on, bro. By the way, is not a costume.

[Sean Avery]

By the way. Yeah. This is the hat. I wear it. I only wear it. Yeah, yeah. Because Canada lost their identity. I don't even want to talk about that.

[Adam Friedland]

Let's not even fucking talk.

[Sean Avery]

Anyways, yes, I did my research, okay. So I would line up with so and so. Who you know, I played junior against him. We're the same age. Okay. So we've been playing against each other since we were 12. And his sister Sarah works at the Keg in Toronto.

[Adam Friedland]

Uh huh.

[Sean Avery]

And I know that two Saturdays ago

[Adam Friedland]

she got double teamed.

[Sean Avery]

She didn't get double teamed but you know, she took down possibly the captain of the Montreal Canadiens.

[Adam Friedland]

Okay.

[Sean Avery]

All right.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Sean Avery]

And I know that because I've got feelers out. I got people and everyone wants to provide information and share information.

[Adam Friedland]

So you got like a secret police.

[Sean Avery]

I had a fucking dossier.

[Adam Friedland]

He was Stalin. You did have like a KGB working for you.

[Sean Avery]

What was I Gonna do. I mean, if you're gonna do that job, then, like, be the best at it and be prepared.

[Adam Friedland]

Do you think because you were undersized, you were conceived to be undersized, that this was like a marginal advantage that you could, like, exploit and, like, have a career for 13 years in the like.

[Sean Avery]

Absolutely. It was a survival skill. It was also scarring from being the smallest on my team since I was a kid.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Sean Avery]

You know, cuz standing beside you, you might. People might go, oh, he's pretty. What a big guy.

[Adam Friedland]

Five, ten is good. But we're the same height. Dude, I look same birthday.

[Sean Avery]

I know. Yeah, that's true. But when I was playing, it was a big game and guys were. I mean, I took a video with your anymore. It's. No, it's not. I've heard that it's not as big, but, like, guys were six. The guys were like, you know, huge. 60 pounds, 70 pounds. Like I did. I. Jaromir Jagr, I saw him for the first time 10 years. Yoggs would just. He's such a big man. He would crush me.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Sean Avery]

So how do you fight a guy

[Adam Friedland]

that big, a bigger guy?

[Sean Avery]

Because fighting's a different mechanism because it's all about levers and pushing and pulling. So if you know and understand, like,

[Adam Friedland]

how do you fight in general?

[Sean Avery]

Yeah, I fought to not get hit. I fought to not get hit. To make it, to sell the fight, to not hurt my hand and to make sure that I landed on top of that fucking guy.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Sean Avery]

So that if we were on the road, the building went quiet and now I've just neutralized one of their.

[Adam Friedland]

There's no energy.

[Sean Avery]

There's no energy. And if we're at home, the place goes fucking crazy.

[Adam Friedland]

And you're a legend in the garden.

[Sean Avery]

Pretty good.

[Adam Friedland]

I mean, like, they. Your profile of player, I would imagine that that just amps the fucking stadium up. Like. Yeah, like, to a thousand.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah. Especially in New York. Like, you know, these, you know, New Yorkers, they used to be hard, hardened people.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Sean Avery]

You know, blue collar. Well, it feels like it's coming back. It's about to, I think us kind of guys. I. Yeah, right. Doing shit, working. So in New York, the fans appreciated it. I played in LA and like, they didn't like me in la.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Sean Avery]

The fans. Like, I have more people come up to me in LA that go, I didn't like you. I. You were a king. I didn't like you as the king. You took too many bad penalties. Whatever was different in la. Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

Bullying.

[Sean Avery]

Oh, oh. Oh. Oh, God.

[Adam Friedland]

You made fun of your teammate's lisp.

[Sean Avery]

I guess that's. I've heard that.

[Adam Friedland]

That.

[Sean Avery]

You know, I concede post league. Maybe I did.

[Adam Friedland]

Did you make amends with certain people? Like, were you. Like, I was fucking a dickhead to you?

[Sean Avery]

Definitely. What do you mean? Anytime that I switched teams, I had to.

[Adam Friedland]

But that's political.

[Sean Avery]

You want to talk about awkward?

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Sean Avery]

You know, get traded from the rain to. From LA to New York, and you said despicable things, bad things to some

[Adam Friedland]

of the guys, terrible guys, but they realize. They realize.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah. You got to have an awkward sidebar.

[Adam Friedland]

They're like, he's our guy now.

[Sean Avery]

Well, yeah. Yeah. I feel like you could handle that awkwardness. You go in and it's the only

[Adam Friedland]

way I've been able to survive. And I think, like, the other thing is this is like going back to the original question of you being smartest guy.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

Like, you've been around these guys since you were 8, probably.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

You know their psychology, right?

[Sean Avery]

Yes.

[Adam Friedland]

And like, for me, getting funny. But it was also just. I could confuse bros. Uhhuh. To the point where some of my friends even kind of realized I was making fun of them.

[Sean Avery]

Right.

[Adam Friedland]

But it wouldn't escalate to them seeing red, Right.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

I would. I would do it the opposite. Where they just be like, walking away. They'd be like, what the. Did he say?

[Sean Avery]

Yeah, yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

That was like a. My mechanism. So it's just like two sides.

[Sean Avery]

The mechanics of what we do are the same.

[Adam Friedland]

Who's the dumbest guy?

[Sean Avery]

Like, are they, like Donald Brashear and,

[Adam Friedland]

you know, like, Martin Brashear from the Michael Jackson documentary?

[Sean Avery]

Donald Brashear, he had a Great Dane or some sort of giant dog, and he used to shower with it. At the arena.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah, at the arena.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah. Like, and hockey players, we don't have our showers. Yeah, we don't. Hockey players have this weird culture. We don't have individual stalls.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah. Who cares?

[Sean Avery]

It's one big shower.

[Adam Friedland]

Family dude.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah. And I want. And he was in there showering with his dog. Whatever. I don't like him for sure. Was not cool.

[Adam Friedland]

Who do you still have smoke with? Do you. Is there a guy that. You're like, that guy.

[Sean Avery]

There's a guy named Matthew Barnaby who actually played for the Rangers.

[Adam Friedland]

Oh, shit. I remember that guy.

[Sean Avery]

And Barnaby was. I mean, I love Matthew Barnaby as a player. Matthew Barnaby now on. On. On X. He doesn't even use Instagram, which is like, such a boomer move. He's only an ex guy. Could be a cool move. Maybe. Actually, could be the Move is a great Instagram account, by the way.

[Adam Friedland]

What is could be the move?

[Sean Avery]

It's. Could be the move.

[Adam Friedland]

What is it?

[Sean Avery]

Could be the move is during the World Series because you're a team player. You wear your batting glove to work.

[Adam Friedland]

Oh, shit. For your boys.

[Sean Avery]

For the boys.

[Adam Friedland]

Send it to them.

[Sean Avery]

And then everybody does it.

[Adam Friedland]

And everyone does it.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah. Could be the move.

[Adam Friedland]

Could be the move. I got in. I lost $200 million in gambling for Shohei.

[Sean Avery]

Oh, you're the guy.

[Adam Friedland]

I'm the bagman. No. I'm not the translator. No.

[Sean Avery]

You kind of could look like him.

[Adam Friedland]

I do. I look Japanese.

[Sean Avery]

If we shaved your head. And.

[Adam Friedland]

And that's respect. Our rude. That's respect. Wait, so, like, obviously you had compromise. You knew the things that would trigger them, but, like, you knew that they're also bros. Like, was there an aspect of the fact that you were interning at Vogue? You were, like, kind of a dandy off. Off ice.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

Was there an aspect where you, like. There was an entrenched. Maybe, like, I'm getting chirped by, like, a. Like, what. This guy's like a.

[Sean Avery]

So they.

[Adam Friedland]

I was a fancy boy.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah. I was like. There's a great clip of Wayne Simmons, who was a great player. He was a black hockey player. Not many. There's an incredible clip of him. He's on the Philadelphia bench, and I'm in the penalty box, and he screams. And you can see it. He calls me a faggot. He screams. So I did intern at Vogue, and I did it because I've always been curious, but I also think subconsciously. And now, you know, being able to analyze, like, your life.

[Adam Friedland]

You're fucking with.

[Sean Avery]

I was fucking with you. I was. I was the troll. I was the alt.

[Adam Friedland]

I was genius.

[Sean Avery]

I was so deep in the troll

[Adam Friedland]

game because there is, amongst bros, like, an entrenched homophobia. And you were also early, Trench.

[Sean Avery]

I mean. No, yeah, yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

You were early. You were, like, well ahead of the curve. And you, like, advocated for gay rights, like, in the league.

[Sean Avery]

I was the first professional athlete to really. On the record. Yeah. In my Ranger jersey, which is credit to Jim Dolan. Yeah, yeah. Oh, by the way, can I tell you something? I do Jiu jitsu at Clockwork. Jiu jitsu in soho. You should start doing it. A man that can't grapple.

[Adam Friedland]

You can, like, to late 30s. You learn how to fight.

[Sean Avery]

Absolutely. Right now, I could turn you into a. They could turn you into a fucking machine. Machine? Yeah, an assassin.

[Adam Friedland]

Would I fight, like, girls at first? I mean, like, do you.

[Sean Avery]

You roll with girls.

[Adam Friedland]

Really?

[Sean Avery]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

You ever pop one?

[Sean Avery]

No, no, no. But you roll with girls.

[Adam Friedland]

But what if I lose to a girl, like in the NHL?

[Sean Avery]

That's the point.

[Adam Friedland]

It's embarrassing.

[Sean Avery]

That's the point. It's an ego killer. But what were we talking about?

[Adam Friedland]

You do Jiu Jitsu at clockwork. Jiu jitsu.

[Sean Avery]

No, no, I know, but I was going into it for some reason.

[Adam Friedland]

We both are idiots.

[Sean Avery]

We were talking about Dolan. You know, here's what's funny, and I will say this right now because Dan Carcillo, who played for the Rangers, played for Philly, won a Stanley cup in Chicago. He's now one of the leaders in psilocybin therapy. Yeah, okay. I have ct. There's no question. I have CT because my short term memory is not good.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Sean Avery]

All right. It's getting better because of what I do now for work. And I'm like, I've been working that muscle. My fucking long term memory. I've had numerous people on this New York trip tell me stories. I hadn't seen them in a while, like, wild stories that I had no recollection of.

[Adam Friedland]

I think you're probably just fucked up.

[Sean Avery]

I was moving fast and I was fucked up. But also a little bit of the CTE is starting to goes first.

[Adam Friedland]

No, well.

[Sean Avery]

Well, my shorts. Not. Like, it's not the best.

[Adam Friedland]

My mom had. My mom had.

[Sean Avery]

Look what just happened.

[Adam Friedland]

My mom had brain. Brain cancer. So she experienced like dementia. And like, the cool thing was, like, when she started the short term went, I would talk to her and I'd have her tell stories from before. And so she tells. She would remember things from like, like 1981, like, and that. That was like a way I could like, interesting chill with her.

[Sean Avery]

Like, she's still here.

[Adam Friedland]

No, she. She passed away.

[Sean Avery]

She.

[Adam Friedland]

Dude, she's my twin.

[Sean Avery]

You know, I've been reading a lot of research papers on LSD and Alzheimer's prevention.

[Adam Friedland]

She. Well, yeah, she had brain cancer.

[Sean Avery]

No, I understand.

[Adam Friedland]

But.

[Sean Avery]

But the brain and.

[Adam Friedland]

And so sad. But for you. So, like, I want to talk about Torturella and like that situation because, like, you had.

[Sean Avery]

Did you just say. Yeah. Your mom dying was obviously terribly sad. Right?

[Adam Friedland]

Of course, yeah.

[Sean Avery]

Was it recently?

[Adam Friedland]

No, it was like five years ago.

[Sean Avery]

But you're still in the trenches on it.

[Adam Friedland]

No, it's just like, it's kind of a nice thing. You realize that it. You're it's just. It never gets better, but in a way that's nice, where it just becomes part of you now you just understand life in a deeper way.

[Sean Avery]

Yes.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah. Yes.

[Adam Friedland]

And so it's just like, you could get used to someone not being there.

[Sean Avery]

I got it. I got it.

[Adam Friedland]

That aspect. And it's so. It's just like. Yeah. It's like a defining moment.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

I don't think I ever, like, believed in God or anything, but, like, at the end of my family being together, I was like, oh, this is kind of the point. Like, you're just like, like, you know, sharing.

[Sean Avery]

And it was more of a spiritual thing versus.

[Adam Friedland]

No, it wasn't even spiritual. It was like, you know, like, if you live on earth and you have love and you give love to.

[Sean Avery]

You have to have blood. Blood. You have each other's back.

[Adam Friedland]

Oh, blood.

[Sean Avery]

Like, you go down with the ship.

[Adam Friedland]

I learned to appreciate, like, family a lot more because we had. We have family members that have, like, literally sociopaths, like, stolen money, bad people.

[Sean Avery]

Right.

[Adam Friedland]

And we had close family friends that wanted to, like, be around and helpful. And we. We asked them, like, just like, not to, like, they were like, trying to, like, let us meals to the house. And then like the. Our family that are like just like. Or gypsies, like, those were the ones we wanted there. Right?

[Sean Avery]

Yeah, Right? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

I mean, just like people we've had. We've had falling outs with for 20 years. Like, those are the people. They're still like, at the end of meeting there.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

And in a really cool way, because those are your guys. Yeah, those are your fucking guys.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah, I agree. And I think a little bit of that. I don't know, I'm like, trauma is kind of good now because it's. It's helpful to kind of like. I feel like I never did ketamine. I did a ketamine drip once and it felt like I was in a video game. Like, I was kind of like stepping in jello. That's how I feel now. Like, just sort of more open and like, people have tough times and like, I. I'm okay with. And part of that is becoming a martial artist. I want to feel shit now.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Sean Avery]

But also our job. You can't have highs and lows when you're a professional athlete. Like, you're not paid to. You're paid to be emotional, but also unemotional. And actually more, More. Less emotions is better.

[Adam Friedland]

Were there guys that were robots that you could just. Couldn't. You could fucking Wind up.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

Did it drive you nuts?

[Sean Avery]

Yes.

[Adam Friedland]

There was like, Joe Sack. Joe Saki has like, just. He's like a. Yeah. He's the Terminator.

[Sean Avery]

He can't. You. You know, he's the fucking term. Yeah. You couldn't. You couldn't.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah, yeah.

[Sean Avery]

So, yeah, the. The high level GS. Those are like the samurais. Those were the guys that like just.

[Adam Friedland]

Buddha. Buddhas. They can.

[Sean Avery]

It's like, clear the mechanism and they're just. They're on a different wavelength. Yeah, there's not many of those guys, but.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah, I think in all professional sports, those guys are always just the.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah, yeah. Sh. I love the Japanese players.

[Adam Friedland]

The Kobe. Like, when Matt Barnes is like, faking the inbound and Kobe doesn't flinch. Yeah, it's just like, there.

[Sean Avery]

He wants that. It's.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah, there's something about it where he's just like. It does not. He. It's a human reflex to be like this. And he's just. He's the Terminator.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah, yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

He's like, shed his humanity.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

He's a killing machine.

[Sean Avery]

No, I understand it.

[Adam Friedland]

I want to talk about the.

[Sean Avery]

Well, Avery rule.

[Adam Friedland]

Let's. This is like. This is the most me thing. This is what really got me fired up. Because, like, you figured out. Do you know what a paneka is?

[Sean Avery]

No. Is it a palindrome?

[Adam Friedland]

No. A pinneck is so. In soccer, right there, they've been shooting like, penalty kicks for a hundred years of the sport. And then this guy. I'll show you putting the.

[Sean Avery]

Wait, wait.

[Adam Friedland]

This guy, like, realized. He's like, what if I just.

[Sean Avery]

Is this recently.

[Adam Friedland]

No, this is like in the 80s. He's a Czechoslovakian guy.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

So. So it's just this Czechoslovakia guy. He's like, what if I don't go left or right? What if I just, like, chip it down the middle?

[Sean Avery]

Oh, I remember the.

[Adam Friedland]

Right.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah, of course. Right.

[Adam Friedland]

So, like.

[Sean Avery]

Yes.

[Adam Friedland]

The thing about the Brodeur moment. Right.

[Sean Avery]

Great, great, great correlation too, by the

[Adam Friedland]

way, is that you just did something. You. Was it. What was the thought process. It was it. You say it's not calculated. You say you just. You skated towards.

[Sean Avery]

So.

[Adam Friedland]

So it was like 15 seconds.

[Sean Avery]

It wasn't premeditated. I'll say that.

[Adam Friedland]

So explain for the audience, like, what it was.

[Sean Avery]

So. So Brodeur is a goalie, Marty. One of the greatest goalies of all time.

[Adam Friedland]

Fatso.

[Sean Avery]

Fatso forgot to shake my hand.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Sean Avery]

I'm a forward. We're. Our job is to basically get in front of his Face and cause some sort of obstruction, kill his line of sight. That's really what you want to do as a player. You don't want. You don't want to be one on one with a goalie because he has sight on the puck. You want to shoot through a screen. All the great goal scorers, they shoot through screens, so it's like a seeing eye puck. Okay. My job was to not touch, really, the puck because I'm on the ice with Scott Gomez, legendary Gomer. Gomer. Alaskan born Chris Drury, who's now the general manager of the Rangers, Brendan Shanahan, and Jeremy Jagr, in my opinion, the greatest European player of all time. So my job is to make sure that I can break that sight line so that one of these superstars can get a puck into the net. Okay. When I go to the front of the net. And Martin Brodeur, the goalie, who is a wily veteran, like. Like a g. An og. Okay.

[Adam Friedland]

He was a shithouser, too.

[Sean Avery]

He was a shithouser. He knew how to play the game. And I would go to the front of the net. And in hockey skates, if you poke a guy behind his knees because our blades are rockered, you can use the momentum, and the guy will just go ass over tea kettle. Yeah. So Brodeur would do that.

[Adam Friedland]

Back of the knee.

[Sean Avery]

Yes. Boom, you're gone. And he wanted me to fall into him because then he would sell it and I would take a penalty. So it's this chess game between, you know, two diabolical guys that are trying to help their team win. Yes. Now, the moment that I made the decision, it was a power play. I knew that I had to go to the front of the net. Okay. I had, like, 15 seconds notice. Like, okay, I'm going out there, and I know where I need to go. I jump over the boards. This is Madison Square Garden during the fucking playoffs.

[Adam Friedland]

Like, cathedral of the game.

[Sean Avery]

Right, Right. Pre renovation. So the building even moved a little bit different back there. I take two strides, and I can remember, like, having an inner debate with myself for the next, like, six to eight strides, which is probably two seconds.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Sean Avery]

From the time I jump over the boards to get in front of the net, we're talking like, six seconds total. Maybe like a eureka moment. I said, you know, I love Risky Business. It's one of my favorite movies of all time. Sometimes you got to just say, what the fuck?

[Adam Friedland]

So good.

[Sean Avery]

And I said, yeah, I'm gonna do it. And I just went directly in front of him, and I Have the luxury of seen his eyes that no one else could see. And this guy multiple Stanley Cups. And I just said, if I put my hand in front of his face and every time he moves somewhere, my hand moves with it. I've just solved the riddle of 100 years of this game, which is trying to break a goalie's eye line.

[Adam Friedland]

So effectively, you're gonna turn your back to the game of hockey happening, and you're just gonna be annoying. You're gonna be like.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah, I'd be like this.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah. Like, if you.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah. And he's gonna be like, get the.

[Adam Friedland]

Out of my way.

[Sean Avery]

Right, right. Look how quick that happens.

[Adam Friedland]

You're being annoying.

[Sean Avery]

Right?

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then the dopest part of that sequence was that you fucking dunked.

[Sean Avery]

I scored. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

How did that feel? Is that your favorite goal?

[Sean Avery]

Yeah. Yeah, I think so.

[Adam Friedland]

Do you feel like?

[Sean Avery]

God, I think so.

[Adam Friedland]

That must the way the building fucking rocks.

[Sean Avery]

I think so. So. Yeah. Yeah. Fuck, yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

Is that better than the sex? Sex?

[Sean Avery]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

It has to be.

[Sean Avery]

It's the one thing.

[Adam Friedland]

It's the goals.

[Sean Avery]

I've never chased the dragon, but goals at msg, goals in Nashville or.

[Adam Friedland]

And you also know Andy Cohen.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

You have the best life ever.

[Sean Avery]

People magazine said we were once engaged.

[Adam Friedland]

Really?

[Sean Avery]

Yeah. Me and Andy used to do these Miami trips at the end of the season, so he would go to Ultra, you know, Ultra Music Festival. It used to be cool.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Sean Avery]

Now it's very commercialized. Like, everything. Hopefully your show. Hopefully. You don't sell your soul.

[Adam Friedland]

No, dude. Well, I'm open for the highest bidder.

[Sean Avery]

Right. Me, too.

[Adam Friedland]

Saudi Arabia. Anyone that wants to call me.

[Sean Avery]

What about Benny? Why isn't Benny paying you? The Influencer program. You didn't get it.

[Adam Friedland]

You didn't get it. Just.

[Sean Avery]

You didn't get in on that.

[Adam Friedland]

I said a couple things with that.

[Sean Avery]

Oh, all right.

[Adam Friedland]

I think I've said a couple things.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah, Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

I think I'm on a list somewhere. Yeah.

[Sean Avery]

Got it. So I do the thing, I score. Here's the interesting part of the whole thing. Okay. To change a rule in the NHL, you have to do it at the Board of Governors meeting in the summer. Yes. And the union. The players union is. Is. They're representing. It's a whole thing. Funny, they're talking about goalies.

[Adam Friedland]

I'm sorry.

[Sean Avery]

No, no. So to change a rule in the NHL, you have to do it in the summer at the Board of Governors meeting, which is voted on between the players union and the teams. The owners yeah. Okay. Yeah, we're gonna do a rule change. Everybody's gonna put a ballot in, and I'm sure it's on an iPad now. I did the fucking thing in front of Brodeur. We won the game. I think we won the game. We lost the game. We won the series.

[Adam Friedland]

You won the series.

[Sean Avery]

Okay. Nice. Nice stuff.

[Adam Friedland]

You lost in overtime.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah. Okay. So it was a high stakes game. I went to bed. I woke up the next morning, I had a missed call or a text message. Glenn Sather. And they were giving me a heads up, like, yo, they just changed the rule, and you're not allowed to do that tonight or ever again.

[Adam Friedland]

It's kind of bullshit.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah. Do you think that, like, it's illegal and I want to do a 30 for 30 on it or some sort of, like, little mini doc.

[Adam Friedland]

It'd be amazing.

[Sean Avery]

But I don't want to expose everyone. I just want to know, like, who made that call? Because that's a funny call. If Gary Bettman's like, okay, we're gonna break precedent. We're gonna do something illegal. But he can't do that again.

[Adam Friedland]

Like, all the owners are in their pajamas.

[Sean Avery]

Right.

[Adam Friedland]

And they have to get them on, like a. Not a zoom.

[Sean Avery]

Right. Like, did you see? Are we good? Can I. Can we. Can we do this? We're gonna. We're gonna step out of line here and do something that we've never done

[Adam Friedland]

before, because the bad kid, the bad man, the bad guy. You were naughty.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah, I found a loophole.

[Adam Friedland]

You found.

[Sean Avery]

I mean, it was just like a fucking gray area.

[Adam Friedland]

Moment of brilliance. And it's just like, that is to be so cool.

[Sean Avery]

Yes.

[Adam Friedland]

And I don't even think it should be against the rules.

[Sean Avery]

I can see where they're coming from. Because then it gets a little bit of, like. Well, I would draft the biggest guy I could ever find that I could put in skates. Yeah. And just bigger than Chara. Just make sure his arms could work and say, you gotta figure out how to skate from here to the front of the net. And all you have to do is just use your shack.

[Adam Friedland]

I lived in D.C. during the, like, the Caps Pens years, and I got back into hockey. It was really fun.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

Actually, my friend was sleeping with this girl, and she was also sleeping with ovi.

[Sean Avery]

Oh, yeah?

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah. And she would just get a text. Like, he was.

[Sean Avery]

Like, he wasn't. She would just leave.

[Adam Friedland]

She. Yeah, she was Just leave. She got a text that said, I want fuck you in ass. He's the coolest guy of all time.

[Sean Avery]

Ov. I love you.

[Adam Friedland]

Ever. You ever chill with him?

[Sean Avery]

No, I never had the luxury.

[Adam Friedland]

There's something so, like, just lovable about him. Like Shohei way where they're like. They're kind of. They're kind of like a. Like a big dog or something.

[Sean Avery]

Because you know what, they love the

[Adam Friedland]

game, but like, there was like defenseman on the Pens that was like. He was 9ft tall.

[Sean Avery]

Hal Gill.

[Adam Friedland]

Do you remember that guy against him?

[Sean Avery]

Yeah. I lacerated my spleen and almost died in St. Vincent's because I hit him

[Adam Friedland]

because of that guy.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

What did you try to do?

[Sean Avery]

No, it was. We were in the playoffs. It was the second round. I think it was game three. And a puck got dumped in from the blue line. And I can remember it so vividly. You know, it's weird what sticks with you. And I said to myself, it was like, I'm gonna fucking kill Hal Gill right now.

[Adam Friedland]

But he's like nine feet tall.

[Sean Avery]

I know, but I. I'm. I'm going to like. I'm the guy that's gonna rules. I am going Hal Gill right now. We're at home. I went a hundred miles an hour. I hit him so fucking hard. And I think he just like. He just kind of like leaned into me because he was huge. He was six foot eight. And I remember, like, you know when you get hit or punched and you want to pretend like it didn't hurt. So then I kind of like got to the bench and Cass, our trainer, bounced off him. I bounced off of him. Bounced off of him. I got to the bench, I said to. It was actually Jim Ramsey Rammer. I go, I think I just tore my abdominals. Can we go in and get a Toradol shot? So drugs. Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Sean Avery]

So I. We went in and I got peaked.

[Adam Friedland]

You guys were like, future. You guys were off of the. Off the perks.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

Well, we were the only way you get through. Right?

[Sean Avery]

Well, Toradol's only. You can only use it in the playoffs. That's when we're allowed to technically use it.

[Adam Friedland]

You get better drugs.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah, they. You get the good stuff. Stuff. You get the actual. They put a needle. It's like the perfect. You know, the sports team where you bend over the table and the needle goes in the ass.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Sean Avery]

Anyways, I thought that I tore my abdominals. I got a tore at all shot. It was my second. I finished the game and after the game, I got into a cold tub and I got into the cold tub and all of A sudden I felt like I got stabbed in the shoulder. And shout out, doc Feldman, Andrew Feldman, good Jew. He said, let's go. They put me in a robe. They took me to St. Vincent's I got to St. Vincent's I had hit Hal Gill so hard that I lacerated my spleen, my own spleen. So he didn't hit me. Right. Normally you get hit by a car. You get a lacerated spleen in a car accident. I did it to myself because I was like, I'm gonna kill Hal Gill right now.

[Adam Friedland]

What do you.

[Sean Avery]

And he. And I spent six nights in the ICU of St. Vincent, which is not even here anymore. They tore it down and in the West Village.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah, it's the nice hospital now. Well, the circles.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah, it wasn't. It's where most of the people died of aids. Yes, yes. And I was in the basement and I saw. I said, I'm. I'll go. I'm good with this at this point.

[Adam Friedland]

Really.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

You understand? Yeah.

[Sean Avery]

It was a shooting. They had to cauterize it, but they could only. It was the type of bleed that you could only see it when the scope was in. So I had to keep going in. They had to scope me like four times over the course of five days. It's crazy.

[Adam Friedland]

Dude, I talked to. I'll ask you first and I'll tell you what I've gotten in my research. But how do you think your profile player would translate to 2025 NHL?

[Sean Avery]

Oh, my God. Well, the funny thing is, if I had have started taking Jiu Jitsu while I was playing, I would have won multiple Stanley Cups and I'd probably be the President of the United States.

[Adam Friedland]

Really?

[Sean Avery]

I mean, you know, you were born in Canada, right? That's true.

[Adam Friedland]

Off.

[Sean Avery]

That's right.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Sean Avery]

Okay. Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

Wait, so what. But like, But. But how would you just do help, though?

[Sean Avery]

Because it slowed everything down. And what I wanted, what I did, I sped everything fast. I sped everything up.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Sean Avery]

Everything went from like 0 to 100 immediately. And guys, you know, on my team, and it was warm ups. It was just always. It was constant.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah, that was I soccer. Like some of the best players, they look like they're going like, it's so slow. Yeah, because like, there's like a term for it, like a Spanish pausa, but where the players, like, there's chaos surrounding them and they just look like they're in the eye of the story.

[Sean Avery]

Right.

[Adam Friedland]

And they just. Everything is just so, like, people are just falling over it, like, looks like. But what they're doing. Is their. Their brain is doing math.

[Sean Avery]

Right.

[Adam Friedland]

There's like. They're doing.

[Sean Avery]

They're computing.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah, yeah.

[Sean Avery]

Yes.

[Adam Friedland]

And it's like.

[Sean Avery]

And you know what's so ironic? It's like everything comes around full circle. I'm going to Detroit for the centennial anniversary. Alumni Steve Yzerman was the one guy that sat me down and said, just shut the fuck up. Just shut the up and play.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Sean Avery]

And he doesn't do that. Yeah. With a lot of people. He certainly didn't then as a player.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Sean Avery]

And on one hand, I can say I should have listened to him. I would have had a better hockey career.

[Adam Friedland]

Well, you sustained a career from not shutting the up.

[Sean Avery]

Right.

[Adam Friedland]

But that means that one of the goats believed in your skills.

[Sean Avery]

Yes.

[Adam Friedland]

That's kind of dope.

[Sean Avery]

Of course. And he would say that I probably left a lot on the table as far as playing wise.

[Adam Friedland]

Interesting.

[Sean Avery]

Now, the other side of it is that I think I was like, more an entertainer than a player.

[Adam Friedland]

And that's. I mean, like, we'll get to it because I want to say this, what I've heard first, but, like, that's an interesting thought to be like. Well, this is. I mean, you're an actor now.

[Sean Avery]

I mean, like. No, no, but that's the same thing. It's.

[Adam Friedland]

I'm telling a story exactly what I've got. I talked to like an NHL insider. He said your skillset would apply better to a modern NBA or NHL.

[Sean Avery]

Oh, I'd be a gamer right now because, like, I would dominate because I could skate.

[Adam Friedland]

And also the. It was you being undersized. You're a great skater. And then also, like, the psychological elements of the game have actually, it's kind of a coveted, like a GM will seek out. Like, we're going to play out.

[Sean Avery]

There's not many of these guys left. Yes.

[Adam Friedland]

And from what I understand, like, the Panthers are kind of like Avery type of team.

[Sean Avery]

Sam Bennett, they have multiple Avery esque players. I mean, better than Avery. But like, they have some of my.

[Adam Friedland]

They wear the like the evil empire kind of thing.

[Sean Avery]

They do. Yes.

[Adam Friedland]

They're like, sorry, a little dynasty situation. Yes.

[Sean Avery]

And I love watching them.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Sean Avery]

And I wish. And I'm very critical of the Rangers and I wish we had players in New York City that played a little bit. Like some of those fucking guys in Florida.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah. In the tree of like of your profile in the NHL as agitator, like, who do you see as your OGs?

[Sean Avery]

Oh, God. OGs.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Sean Avery]

A lot of my peers this Guy. Steve Ott, who I played with in Dallas, who's now assistant coach in St. Louis, was a complete animal. He would. He would. He would. He would decimate your entire bloodline if he could, if he had enough time. And he was a savage. You know, Tiger Williams was this guy that. That played back in the day. They. And Eddie. Shaq, it was like, clear the track, Here comes Shaq. There's been some. Kenny Lindsman, the rat.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Sean Avery]

Kenny Lindsman was my dad's favorite player. He played for the Bruins. Yeah, they called him. He was the original rat. Yeah. So I always loved. Yeah, I, you know, Dougie Gilmore to a certain extent, but was a little bit more skilled. He was a Toronto Maple Leaf.

[Adam Friedland]

And did you conceive of what you were doing as, like, playing at the heel, like, in, like, professional?

[Sean Avery]

Absolutely.

[Adam Friedland]

You're like Eddie Guerrero almost.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah. And Ronda Rousey. I think she's gonna come back as a heel.

[Adam Friedland]

Is she?

[Sean Avery]

I think to the ufc. Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

Kind of what you were doing by being a fancy boy was like. You were doing a little bit of gold dust, too, right?

[Sean Avery]

I was inflaming. I was.

[Adam Friedland]

You're, like, acting, like, a little bit. A little bit spicy, right?

[Sean Avery]

Yeah. But I was also the first person that brought. I mean, I brought Andre Leon Talley to a Ranger game.

[Adam Friedland]

Who's that?

[Sean Avery]

He was a giant, gay black fashion man who worked under Anna Wintour for a long time at Vogue. Legendary.

[Adam Friedland]

Trying to distract the guys.

[Sean Avery]

Well, kind of, maybe.

[Adam Friedland]

Am I correct to say that NHL is the only North American sport that has never had an out gay player?

[Sean Avery]

Well, because we're the only sport that, outside of ufc, like, we fight. And I still think there's that.

[Adam Friedland]

That macho.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And. And I've played with gay players.

[Adam Friedland]

Totally.

[Sean Avery]

For sure.

[Adam Friedland]

I. I'm bet. Yeah. Yeah.

[Sean Avery]

That was. I gave you an opportunity to. To. You could have came at me on that one. Well, like, what. How do you know they were gay?

[Adam Friedland]

I don't know.

[Sean Avery]

No, you would ask me that.

[Adam Friedland]

How do you know?

[Sean Avery]

They were implying that I had, like, sexual relations with some of my gay teammates.

[Adam Friedland]

You fucked your guys?

[Sean Avery]

No, see, that's what I'm saying. I was already way ahead of. I was already playing the bit.

[Adam Friedland]

I helped them come out of the closet or, like, was it. Was it.

[Sean Avery]

No, I was trying. Oh, you. Are you doing it? That was good.

[Adam Friedland]

In terms of, like, you playing the heel and, like, you. What? Like, your kind of. And you realizing that your entire 13 years was a type of performance Right.

[Sean Avery]

Yep. Well said.

[Adam Friedland]

Then, like, most of the times you got in trouble. From what I saw.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

Wasn't actually like you were doing a dirty hit on the ice. It wasn't like you were trying to. Like, you could give a guy a spinal injury. It was talking to the press. Right.

[Sean Avery]

I said the sloppy seconds thing, which was.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah. Which is why it's not. It's nothing. In 2025, it's nothing. In the NBA, there's like, six girls that they all have sex with.

[Sean Avery]

No, but it was a crass. And it was.

[Adam Friedland]

That, to me, just seemed like Gary Bedman was, like, just sick view. Right.

[Sean Avery]

Gary wanted to send a message that

[Adam Friedland]

was like, you do. This is the last straw.

[Sean Avery]

Again, well said. Yes, yes.

[Adam Friedland]

But, like. But the problem. What. What I saw was, like, going Back to Conor McDavid. Love him. We love. But, like, you know, I was not. You're gonna give them an interview, right. The rest of the guys are gonna be like, well, you. You gotta ple. You got three periods.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

We are for the puck with the puck drops.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah. Hockey players have been conditioned to be some of the worst sound bites of all time.

[Adam Friedland]

And you're like. You're giving them, like. So the media is like. You're feeding to some extent. You're like.

[Sean Avery]

You're one of my great quotes to the media. And this sort of ties into, like, what I was doing. I was on the back page of the Post when Spitzer went in the. I got pulled into the Spitzer.

[Adam Friedland]

Oh, you got Client nine.

[Sean Avery]

I got pulled in. And the back cover was the Ranger and the Madam, because somebody said that I was in the book.

[Adam Friedland]

Oh, were you?

[Sean Avery]

I walked in. So when I got to the rink that day and the horde of reporters, I said, guys, anytime that I've ever been to a whorehouse, I did. I didn't use my real name.

[Adam Friedland]

And they loved it.

[Sean Avery]

And that was it. And they loved it, and that was. It was done.

[Adam Friedland]

But, like, they're not gonna get that out of these, like, these, like, guys from Saskatchewan.

[Sean Avery]

I agree.

[Adam Friedland]

They're like. They're. And so to some extent, you were giving the NHL headlines. You were actually, like, doing something for

[Sean Avery]

the league on a national level. Yeah. More than some of, like, the stars in the league, for sure.

[Adam Friedland]

I think nowadays it would be conceived in a different way, I think. Right. Because, like, nowadays we understand that, like, that's. That what you're doing is you're effectively doing PR for the league and you're making it more popular.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah. I mean, you know, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are a great example of what. Of, you know, what white nationalism

[Adam Friedland]

of

[Sean Avery]

like, what we want to see from our athletes.

[Adam Friedland]

Perfect. Aryan school.

[Sean Avery]

So when I was doing it, it was like, oh, he. Look at this guy. He's dating. He's like, he's dating fancy. He's dating famous girls. It was sort of weird.

[Adam Friedland]

That's bad.

[Sean Avery]

And the guy before me.

[Adam Friedland]

Hot girls is bad.

[Sean Avery]

Well, it's. It's an old boys club and it's a very traditional. Like.

[Adam Friedland]

Like the shower.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah, like the shower.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah, like the shower. So it's 95% gay. Yeah. You're like one of the only guys that gets. And now you're getting. You got judged for it. You got suspended for getting.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah, essentially. Right.

[Adam Friedland]

You decided. You announced you wanted to be a Shakespearean actor after you retired.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

You. And then like, you. You've pursued creative. Like you've been doing something from eight. So, like, when did you retire?

[Sean Avery]

I was 33 maybe.

[Adam Friedland]

So it's one thing your whole life.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

Right. And like, when I was watching that Devil's Rangers series, that's this war. Yeah, you're fucking war.

[Sean Avery]

I think. I think what happened was I was burnt out.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Sean Avery]

Because I was tired of being chased. You know, Gary was up my. The league. There was always something like, when I think of back to Iserman, saying, just shut the fuck up. It was too late at that point.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Sean Avery]

There had been so much heat and like, it was. It was.

[Adam Friedland]

You had a career waiting for you probably as a result of it.

[Sean Avery]

Like, well, well, I played. I played long enough that I. That I said, if I don't do it now and I stay, you know, then they pull you back in. Now I'm 40 when I'm done, and I know I want to do something else. Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Sean Avery]

I got to do it now while I'm young and energized and like. And thank God that. Yeah, thank God that I. I'd have more money now, I guess.

[Adam Friedland]

You know, you're competing against other dudes your whole life.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

Like. Like, how do they replace that? Right.

[Sean Avery]

Dude.

[Adam Friedland]

It's like doing like, beautiful, gorgeous paintings and like, you know, reading beautiful books.

[Sean Avery]

Well, I don't.

[Adam Friedland]

Well, those guys are like. Are they gambling? Are they like, you know, it gets dark. Yeah. Gets dark.

[Sean Avery]

It's dark.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Sean Avery]

Get started.

[Adam Friedland]

Is there a support network, like, for. For the last.

[Sean Avery]

I think it's getting better for the boys.

[Adam Friedland]

Like, the players association has something.

[Sean Avery]

I think it's getting better. Yeah. You know, we have great medical so, yes, they're in much better situations than the average person, but they're also dealing with like, fuck, it's pretty dark. It's dark because you don't know, like, you don't know anything. You've only done one thing.

[Adam Friedland]

Well, you're trying to kill another guy your whole life, and then you're like, now you're like. At the. What? Like, you're just sitting.

[Sean Avery]

You're just a regular guy.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah, yeah.

[Sean Avery]

It gets dark, and you got to figure out how to time is your enemy when you stop playing.

[Adam Friedland]

You punched a cop, right?

[Sean Avery]

Oh, in. In la. Yeah. Well, no, they.

[Adam Friedland]

Antifa style. They said you defunded the police.

[Sean Avery]

They said that? No, they tried to come in the. This was in Laurel Canyon, too, by the way, which is fabulous. You know, very hippity dippity. Right. Earthy. Yeah. They had a LAPD helicopter on top of the house telling me to surrender. And then I think I was on the back page of the post for that. The piggies. Because I was.

[Adam Friedland]

Whatever. All I'm saying is this.

[Sean Avery]

Is that what you.

[Adam Friedland]

No. You're transitioning into a real life. It must be hard not to punch every cop you see. You're like a Vigo in History of Violence.

[Sean Avery]

Yes. Yeah, I couldn't. Or Fight Club or, you know, I couldn't go to work. I couldn't work in a regular atmosphere. When you come from an atmosphere where you're allowed to fight your co worker as. As a. As a positive step to then go into the public sector and what. What? I mean, I don't know. Work for FanDuel or even at FanDuel. I'm sure there would be issues.

[Adam Friedland]

I would punch.

[Sean Avery]

Right?

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah. So do you feel like you got out of the shit? You're like, you got out of nom.

[Sean Avery]

I got it. And you needed. And you needed some time, and I was. I was always.

[Adam Friedland]

It has to be a transition.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Sean Avery]

Because my job, like I said in the book, I felt like a protector. So taking out my flamethrower, I would say, was. I was being. It was a precautionary step. I didn't look at it as. Like, I was. I was just making sure everything was cool.

[Adam Friedland]

Right. Because, like, the best player on one team, like, Sidney Crosby's gotten in one fight, right?

[Sean Avery]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

Right. So. Because there's a. Because there's a knight like you, and he's like, oh, thank you.

[Sean Avery]

Like, who, like, comes in and handles it. So the transition takes, you know, it takes a while.

[Adam Friedland]

Chivalrous.

[Sean Avery]

It's it takes a while.

[Adam Friedland]

Was it. Was there another guy where the two of you were like, we love fighting each other on another team. Kind of romantic.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Me and Darcy Tucker did.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah. Usually great ones.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah. And I love them.

[Adam Friedland]

And you high five afterwards, you're like, no, no, but.

[Sean Avery]

And you know what's interesting? It's so crazy because Darcy Tucker married one of his teammates. Sisters. That was something that I would approach.

[Adam Friedland]

Oh, so you chirp that.

[Sean Avery]

Yes, yes.

[Adam Friedland]

Well, I would tell the teammate that. That Darcy is dicking her so good to them.

[Sean Avery]

That's what I would. I would. I kept it away from.

[Adam Friedland]

And then Darcy would come in and

[Sean Avery]

say he would defend his brother in law if his brother in law didn't snap. Darcy was coming over the top to defend his honor. So it was a win. Win.

[Adam Friedland]

Family stuff worked best. What worked best?

[Sean Avery]

I mean, sisters, you would get. The wires would get crossed if you get. If the sisters.

[Adam Friedland]

Sister. I'd be like, she's great. And you're great. I would love it.

[Sean Avery]

Right?

[Adam Friedland]

I would love. I would give you my blessing.

[Sean Avery]

Right. But that's the.

[Adam Friedland]

I'm Joe sacking.

[Sean Avery]

That's like Joe's mom. Like you.

[Adam Friedland]

I love that for you.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, that. That was. That was a. Anything. Ex girlfriend.

[Adam Friedland]

Ex girlfriend.

[Sean Avery]

Ex girlfriend.

[Adam Friedland]

Because she's such a.

[Sean Avery]

Who cares? Well, because she's now dating.

[Adam Friedland]

That's what my teammate. But that's what a bro goes, right?

[Sean Avery]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

You had sex before me?

[Sean Avery]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. The fundamentals.

[Adam Friedland]

Let's get. So how the F was you? You're about to be your third Christopher Nolan film.

[Sean Avery]

Okay. When I was done playing, I did Dancing with the Stars. Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Sean Avery]

And one of the producers on Dancing with the Stars husband is a guy by the name of John Papsidera, who I think is a hockey name. Well, no, he's a casting director.

[Adam Friedland]

I know, but it sounds like a hockey name.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah, it does. Like, yeah, Papsidera.

[Adam Friedland]

He used to hit like.

[Sean Avery]

Like a truck.

[Adam Friedland]

Like a truck. So.

[Sean Avery]

Because I did Dancing with the Stars a few years later, my buddy Pete Berg put me in a movie called Patriots Day. I'd never been on a movie set. Yes.

[Adam Friedland]

I saw it in a hotel once

[Sean Avery]

and I took the train up to Boston. And the combination of those two events, because once I did the thing in Boston with Pete, I go, that's the closest thing I've ever felt to. To fighting at center ice in Madison Square Garden. I'm on set, there's 200 people all of a sudden, they go, action. And it's like, you're acting. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So because I did Dancing with the Stars and now did this Berg movie, now I get connected to John Pasadera, who has a history of casting and breaking. Like, he likes interesting dudes. Yeah, yeah. Okay.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Sean Avery]

And he puts me in. Tenet was the first one. And I did six weeks on Tenet, the last final sequence, when all the shits were blowing the shit up. Yes. Inverted.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Sean Avery]

Inverted ordinances and all that.

[Adam Friedland]

I got that movie easy.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah. Yeah. Oh, you did? Really? It took me, like, 14 times with the subtitles on and I was in the movie to figure it out.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah, but you should have asked while you're there.

[Sean Avery]

I. I've. I've.

[Adam Friedland]

You should be like, what the fuck is this?

[Sean Avery]

Then I did Oppenheimer and I auditioned for these roles. Yeah. I do the thing, the sides, the tape. And I don't know what happened at that point, but, like, much like my hockey career, I had a couple of mentors. Like, geez. That guided me that. That, like, liked what was going on. And I guess I just finished doing the Odyssey, and. And so that's my third one. And now I'm a, you know, a working actor. Like, I. I'll go. I'll go anywhere.

[Adam Friedland]

Is he like a general on set? How's he. How's he running that show?

[Sean Avery]

Oh, he's so.

[Adam Friedland]

He's like a. He's like a. He's like Patton or something. That's what I imagined.

[Sean Avery]

He's so good.

[Adam Friedland]

He is.

[Sean Avery]

He's so good.

[Adam Friedland]

How's he. He doesn't lose his cool, I imagine.

[Sean Avery]

No, no. I mean, I don't. He's like. He's, like, firing on a different wavelength. He's like. He's like Shohei, Right. He. He sees everything happen before it happens. Or also, you know, just trusts the beauty of creativity and hires the best people.

[Adam Friedland]

People.

[Sean Avery]

And lets them paint.

[Adam Friedland]

Wow.

[Sean Avery]

Inside structure. Inside, like, reality. Because that's the other thing. He builds reality. I mean.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah. And he also does everything in cameras.

[Sean Avery]

Everything.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Sean Avery]

The whole thing with, like, a imax.

[Adam Friedland]

Like.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah. We were in. We were just all over the world.

[Adam Friedland]

So he's basically like Scotty, right?

[Sean Avery]

He's like.

[Adam Friedland]

He's the Scotty of movies.

[Sean Avery]

He's the Scotty Bowman. Yeah, the Scotty Bowman of movies.

[Adam Friedland]

Really?

[Sean Avery]

He is.

[Adam Friedland]

When you saw.

[Sean Avery]

Wait, because I once sat in a sauna with Scotty Bowman. Really?

[Adam Friedland]

What was. It was what he looked like.

[Sean Avery]

He had a towel just under his.

[Adam Friedland]

I Would imagine.

[Sean Avery]

Right up to this.

[Adam Friedland]

Right, right up.

[Sean Avery]

Right up to the top.

[Adam Friedland]

Okay.

[Sean Avery]

So he looked like he was in fighting shape this weekend. I hope to God I do. I hope to God because, you know, I was a kid and insane when I met him.

[Adam Friedland]

Bad boy. And he.

[Sean Avery]

He sat and he talked to me about he. My dad and my dad being a teacher and what high school. He would always talk about things that had nothing to do with what I think he was trying to get you to understand really in a very beautiful way.

[Adam Friedland]

He, like, guide you.

[Sean Avery]

And I think that that's how I would the comparison. Chris.

[Adam Friedland]

That was a good pull.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

Wow.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

Really?

[Sean Avery]

Yeah. Like in the ether.

[Adam Friedland]

In terms of like, direct. So he was directing you to some Scotty Boba.

[Sean Avery]

Yes.

[Adam Friedland]

That is one of the dopest things I've ever heard.

[Sean Avery]

Yes.

[Adam Friedland]

I love it when sports stuff is expressed that way.

[Sean Avery]

Yes.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah. Like in different. Wow.

[Sean Avery]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

I love sports. Dude. Are we gonna go to games together?

[Sean Avery]

Yes. Can we go? Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

Are we boys?

[Sean Avery]

I think so. Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

Can I just close.

[Sean Avery]

I didn't know how this was gonna go, by the way.

[Adam Friedland]

No, no, no. I'm a. I'm a great. I'm just great to be around.

[Sean Avery]

Good. What camp did you go to? Jews. No, I know which one.

[Adam Friedland]

My Donic.

[Sean Avery]

Where.

[Adam Friedland]

I think it was in southern Germany or Poland. I forget where was my Donnic.

[Sean Avery]

Wow. Not.

[Adam Friedland]

I want to ask you one last question. Do you think a girlfriend will ever like, like, respect you if she doesn't feel like you could have. If you could kill her with your bare hands?

[Sean Avery]

No. Yeah, you're right.

[Adam Friedland]

So it's just shoot that. Really?

[Sean Avery]

That's always.

[Adam Friedland]

Not that you want to do it

[Sean Avery]

always in the back of her head.

[Adam Friedland]

Just that you want to, like.

[Sean Avery]

And you know, when I see that situation and if a guy can't, I have compassion for her because I know she's totally not fulfilled because she doesn't feel safe.

[Adam Friedland]

What do you mean? There's other types of.

[Sean Avery]

Which is why I come back to it. Yeah. And you know what?

[Adam Friedland]

You're going to teach me how to kill.

[Sean Avery]

We're going to grapple.

[Adam Friedland]

No. Right now.

[Sean Avery]

No, don't stand up so everybody can see that.

[Adam Friedland]

5, 10. And he went league too. Everyone. John Avery.

[Sean Avery]

Great.

[Adam Friedland]

Sam. Foreign.

[Sean Avery]

Thanks for watching.

[Adam Friedland]

Like and subscribe. The Bleacher Report app is your destination for sports right now. The NBA is heating up, March Madness

[Sean Avery]

is here, and MLB is almost back.

[Adam Friedland]

Every day there's a new headline, a new highlight, a new moment. You've got to see for yourself. That's why I stay locked in with the Bleacher Report app. For me, it's about staying connected connected to my sports.

[Sean Avery]

I can follow the teams I care about.

[Adam Friedland]

Get real time scores, breaking news and highlights all in one place. Download the Bleacher Report app today so

[Sean Avery]

you never miss a moment.

[Adam Friedland]

Bring incredible sound into every corner of your home with the new Whimsound smart speaker. Get high resolution Audio with a 1.8-inch touchscreen, smart control and modern design in one powerful speaker for just $299. From Quiet Mornings to lively family gatherings, Whimsound makes every moment sound better and feel better, too. Create a home filled with sound you love. Ready to upgrade your sound? Shop now at Amazon and search Whimsound. That's W I I M S O U N D.