Washington Capitals Coach Bruce Boudreau has a book coming out this week called "Gabby: Confessions of a Hockey Lifer" (co-written by hockey writer Tim Leone), and it captures the quirky career ("Slap Shot!") and Cinderella rise of the jovial skipper.

Japers' Rink excepted several chapters from the book during the summer, and they ranged from the expectedly self-deprecating to the near-tragic, as Boudreau recalled nearly being on one of the planes that went down on 9-11.

One excerpt the publishers didn't allow JP to share involved New York Rangers pest Sean Avery(notes), whom Boudreau coached in Manchester of the AHL. Corey Masisak of The Washington Times shared the Avery-related anecdote today in a story about the book, and it's classic pest:

Boudreau coached Avery for the Monarchs, and the experience ended up being a negative one. But that was tame compared with what Boudreau recalled Avery saying during Game 7 in the first round of the last year's playoffs against the New York Rangers.

"He told me I was the biggest, fattest bleeping pig he had ever seen," Boudreau said in the book. "He told me I was fatter than bleeping Ken Hitchcock. He told me I was going to die because I was such a fat bleep."

Why is it that "fatter than bleeping Ken Hitchcock" seem more cruel than "you're going to die because you're such a fat bleep"?

Boudreau's no Avery fan, but like most critics he's shown a begrudging respect for the Rangers forward's unique skills set. From before last year's playoffs, to Capitals Insider:

"He's a really good hockey player. I've had him, know of him, played with his dad and all of those things. But he knows how important the playoffs are and he's just going to be a really good thorn in our side that can play hockey with the best of them."

From the sound of it, he'd make a rather good personal trainer, too; in that motivational degradation way.

Related: Sean Avery, New York Rangers, Washington Capitals, Goons and Pugilism