"Sloppy Seconds" and the NHL...

NEW YORK (AP) -- Sean Avery was suspended for six games by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman on Friday after the league's most notorious agitator made a crude comment regarding his ex-girlfriends dating other hockey players.

Avery already has served two games of the suspension and will miss an additional four, making him eligible to return Dec. 16 against Phoenix, if Dallas Stars management and his teammates accept him back.

Avery, who has twice led the NHL in penalty minutes and is second this season, also agreed to be evaluated for anger management. The league cited his "pattern of unacceptable and anti-social behavior."

"He looked me in the eye and said, 'I need help,"' Stars general manager Brett Hull said Friday. "It was brought up by him."

This is Avery's first league suspension in his seven seasons. Stars owner Tom Hicks said he would have suspended Avery if the league hadn't.

Bettman deemed Avery's behavior "detrimental to the league or game of hockey" and said in a statement the 28-year-old player has "expressed remorse for his recent comments." Bettman said completion of the anger management evaluation is a condition for Avery's return.

He added that Avery has been warned repeatedly and too often his actions have been "at odds with the manner in which his more than 700 fellow players conduct themselves."

"Playing in the National Hockey League is a privilege, requiring a high standard of personal behavior," Bettman said. "Mr. Avery forfeits that privilege for six games."