ECHL's Orlando Solar Bears release Sean Avery days after signing

Former NHL player Sean Avery was released Friday by the Orlando Solar Bears of the East Coast Hockey League — just two days after they signed the 41-year-old forward.

Avery last appeared in an NHL game on Dec. 10, 2011, while a member of the New York Rangers. He had been placed Wednesday on the team's reserve list, and the team announced on Friday that he was released from his standard player contract.

Avery played 580 games in the NHL with the Rangers, Detroit Red Wings, Los Angeles Kings and Dallas Stars, scoring 90 goals with 157 assists. The Rangers demoted him to the American Hockey League's Connecticut Whale in the 2011-12 season, when he was a frequent healthy scratch. Avery announced his retirement from the NHL in March 2012 on Bravo's «Watch What Happens Live!» and told host Andy Cohen that he had thrown his skates in the Hudson River.

Since December, Avery had been skating in a weekly hockey game at the Los Angeles Kings' practice rink in L.A.

The Solar Bears, an affiliate of the Tampa Bay Lightning, are in fourth place in the ECHL's South Division with 53 points.

ESPN's Greg Wyshynski contributed to this report.