Who Was The Rangers' Sean Avery Before Sean Avery?

When it comes to rating "All-Time Ranger Characters," I put Sean Avery up at the very top.

"He could play," says The Old Scout, "that's for sure. But he also had a unique personality; smart, tough and creative enough for the New York fans to love him. But not so much out of town fans, especially in New Jersey."

True enough. But there actually was a Sean Avery before Sean Avery.

His name is Jimmy Bartlett and I covered him during his stints as a Blueshirt, starting with a dozen-game cup ofcoffee in 1955-56.

Bartlett returned in 1958-59 and played 70 games and went 11-9-20 with 118 penalty minutes. His NHL career ended a year later with about ten years worth of laughs.

"Like Avery," adds The Old Scout, "Jimmy was a lot of fun but his coach, Phil Watson, wasn't as fond of him as Bartlett's fans were."

Easily the most interesting aspect of my info here is that Jimmy Bartlett's son Steve has put together a 15-volume documentary about his dad.

"That must have taken hundreds of hours of research," says Florida hockey reporter Alan Greenberg. "But it's a fascinating account of the NHL during Jimmy's time and also goes into a lot of detail about the AHL since Bartlett played a lot of years in Providence; also Springfield."

Steve profiles quite a few players who were AHL stars but never made it to The Show. Also, he goes deeper, profiling individuals such as Watson, Milt Schmidt and Willie O'Ree, his close friend.

Greenberg: "Each episode runs over an hour so you can imagine how much detail is there. Episode Seven is particularly interesting to someone like Michael Rappaport of Rangers p.r. since it covers Bartlett's time with the Rangers."

The Maven was a pal of Bartlett. Myself, friend Ira Gitler and Jimmy had a hockey workout one afternoon at the then new Roosevelt Field rink while Jimmy was out with an injury.

It was loads of fun and at the end, Jimmy warned us: "DON'T LET WATSON KNOW OR HE'LL SEND ME DOWN TO PROVIDENCE."

Sean Avery would have loved Bartlett. John Tortorella? Not so much!