Retired NHL player Sean Avery said former coach Marc Crawford kicked him when he played for Kings

Kevin Allen | USA TODAY

Former NHL player Sean Avery told the New York Post that Marc Crawford, currently a Chicago Blackhawks assistant coach, kicked him during an NHL game in the 2006-07 season.

At the time, Crawford was the head coach of the Los Angeles Kings and Avery was his player.

“He kicked me after a too-many-men-on-the-ice call I took,” Avery said. “He didn’t have me serve it, we got scored on, and he let me have it.

“You know how I stand at the end of the bench? He came down and gave me a kick (in the behind) that left a mark.”

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The Kings lost that Dec. 23, 2006, game 7-0 to the Nashville Predators.

The Blackhawks announced Monday that Crawford would stay away from the team while they investigated the allegation.

Avery said the kick followed a practice incident that probably put him on the wrong side of Crawford. “This was right after I (messed) up a drill and dumped the puck into the wrong corner, and it landed on Crow’s head and cut him for six (stitches),” Avery told the Post.

The Post reported that Avery found the incident more “bemusing” than upsetting.

The allegation comes in the wake of former Calgary Flames coach resigning after former player Akim Aliu said he used racist language 10 years ago in the minor leagues. One of Peters' former players in Carolina, Michal Jordan, also said Peters had kicked him in the back while he was on the bench and had hit another player.