UPD: NHL announces Scott WILL captain the Pacific team

[Rhettzky]

Until this thread I had no idea there was such a thing as 'All star game purists'!

[doctajones428]

Originally Posted by GullFoss

if i had bought a ticket to the allstar game, it would have only been to watch John Scott. So, I'd be legitimately pissed off that the league had ruined the experience by voiding his eligibility

And please tell me how many people besides you would shell out +$200 US to see John Scott play in the All Star game?

[sa226]

I dunno, if it was just a plucky good ol boy who was a nobody
(Rory Fitzpatrick) Then I could maybe see some of the belly aching both ways.

But its John freakin Scott. Its the ultimate troll job to vote him in. He is only really notable for trying to end other players' careers. He represents the ugly part of Hockey. Oh and he's quite terrible at playing it too. The NHL has pie on their face no doubt, but when it comes down to it, regardless of your feelings for the ASG, it's better that John Scott isn't there.

[SHOGUN]

I'm assuming Johnny will captain the Pacific division?

[doctajones428]

Originally Posted by Jason14h

I'm a season ticket holder and it pisses me off to watch a few players! Yet I survive !!

You're not paying to see a few dozen of the best players the league can offer at one time

[badger89]

Originally Posted by MBates

Dear NHL,

While you are busy nullifying unintended consequences of troll vote campaigns, can you please arrange a trade of Rachel Notley and her MLA's for Brad Wall and his and then assign her to a seat on Moose Jaw town council? That'd be super.

Signed,

The Alberta oil and gas industry.

Yeah, the NDP is what's wrong with the oil & gas industry. Nothing to do with world markets.

[GirlySports]

They wont name Gaudreau captain and CP will explode

[Huntingwhale]

Originally Posted by Jacks

As opposed to OEL's family, Doan's family or Domi's family or whatever player (who is an actual star) takes his place?


People who actually care about the game aren't the ones who voted him in. The people who wanted to make a mockery of the AS game are his primary supporters.


What's embarrasing for him is having to answer questions every day about how it's a big joke that he was voted in even though doesn't have the talent to compete. The trolls who voted him in didn't do him any favours.

The NHL has no one to blame but themselves. Why let fans vote 10x per day? Seriously, what good could come from that? It's always been a stupid idea. You only invite stuff like this. That's how the montreal canadiens and Blackhawks got to dominate the opening lineups in the years they got voted in. A guy like Grigersons last year. Fitzpatrick the year before. Now Scott. If you let people vote 10x per day, then you only invite stuff like this. The league has no one to blame but themselves, and they should have honored it this year. Hard to call it trolling, when the league left themselves open to it. I wanted Scott to play, because I think people who make their beds should lie in it. Just like how I think the Kings should have suffered with Richards' contract, and how the Canucks got screwed over by Luongo's. You do stupid things, you should suffer for it.

Let the citizens of this country vote 10x each in a federal election, and watch the communist party come into power. The league allowed this to happen. They should have honored it, then changed the rules next year. That would have been the honorable thing to do. Instead, they look like #######s now. I love hockey, but the NHL has quite a few blemishes against it since the last lockout. The NHL is a joke.

[Hockey]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

They wont name Gaudreau captain and CP will explode

Wouldn't it just be the player who was 2nd in voting behind Scott?

[dino7c]

losers with lots of time on there hands to voted for him again and again get what they get

he was basically voted worst player in the NHL. Yotes found a way to get a real rep

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Huntingwhale

The NHL has no one to blame but themselves. Why let fans vote 10x per day? Seriously, what good could come from that? It's always been a stupid idea. You only invite stuff like this. That's how the montreal canadiens and Blackhawks got to dominate the opening lineups in the years they got voted in. A guy like Grigersons last year. Fitzpatrick the year before. Now Scott. If you let people vote 10x per day, then you only invite stuff like this. The league has no one to blame but themselves, and they should have honored it this year. Hard to call it trolling, when the league left themselves open to it.

Let the citizens of this country vote 10x each in a federal election, and watch the communist party come into power. The league allowed this to happen. They should have honored it, then changed the rules next year. That would have been the honorable thing to do. Instead, they look like #######s now. I love hockey, but the NHL has quite a few blemishes against it since the last lockout. The NHL is a joke.

Advertising money. It was all about page views.

Its stupid. If you want the money and as such let the fans vote as much as they want then you have to honour that vote. Full stop.

You took the clickbait cash, you cant back out on the deal now because the end result was deemed unpalatable.

You cant have your cake and eat it too.

Regardless of anyone's opinion of the All-Star game or John Scott the very basic concept is:

"We let you vote however inevitably we felt your vote was stupid so we ignored it. Thanks for the money and please continue to vote. We value your input. Except when we dont. Which is always. Keep on voting!"

The only thing missing is Gary pulling his pants down at centre ice, mooning the fans while lighting a cigar with a stack of hundred-dollar bills while they sing the anthems.

[dino7c]

and league didn't ruin anything...he is not in the NHL so how can he be an NHL all-star

he has commitments to his AHL team

[t0rrent98]

Don't think I've watch the All Star game in a couple years. Only like watching the Skills competitions anyway for both Hockey and Basketball.

If he's not entitled to be in the NHL all star game than he should be entitled to be in the AHL all star game. It's a shame he's getting screwed over because of this BS. If I was him I'd demand some bonus money or at least participate in the AHL's all star game.

[Yappin Tappin]

One thing I think hasn't really been discussed (or if it has I apologise) is that this was more on the Coyotes than the nhl.

While I'm sure the nhl is happy with Scott not being able to play anymore, as Bob Mckenzie pointed out, it was Arizona who insisted Scott be added to the trade.

Furthermore, Arizona also asked Scott not to participate in the all star game according to Mckenzie.

So I believe the ownership and management were very upset at the idea of Scott representing their team instead of someone who they would be proud to represent their organisation at the game, and thus orchestrated this trade.

Edit: I'm not saying the nhl didn't have any influence on this, just that blaming only the nhl but not the Coyotes isn't fair. But I understand as an organisation why you wouldn't want John Scott representing your franchise.

[Calgary4LIfe]

Say what you will about John Scott the player. John Scott the human being and his family and friends didn't deserve this happening today, and I find it quite sad.

[Phanuthier]

Originally Posted by Calgary4LIfe

Say what you will about John Scott the player. John Scott the human being and his family and friends didn't deserve this happening today, and I find it quite sad.

Maybe there is some way he can find the names of the people who were pulling this hoax and find a way to sue them. That would be the icing in the cake.

[heep223]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

Heres a scenario. Someone watches the ASG cause they want to see Scott. But then see Gaudreau and Ovechkin rip it up and like them too. They would have never have seen Gaudreau if not for the Scott story

Its doenst matter how the eyes got there. New fans are new fans for various reason.

In the tennis thread we educate new fans. I dont understand turning away fans cause its not the type of fan we want.

John Scott does kind of fit with your theory that the game is too fast. Get more players like him and it'll slow right down!

[savemedrzaius]

John Scott is a national treasure. He died for our hockey sins. May his soul rest in peace. He will be missed.

[longsuffering]

Originally Posted by Calgary4LIfe

I think this thing smells.

Sure, John Scott is not a talented NHL player. He is a fringe player that fans decided would be hilarious to vote in. However, that was the process that the NHL uses in order to select players for the NHL All-Star game.

To try and dissuade Scott from attending the game is so hypocritical in my opinion, when there are legitimate NHL stars that don't want to go but that the NHL forces to attend.

I just feel sorry for Scott. It would have been a memorable experience for him - and probably a memorable experience for the fans (good or bad). He got voted in - it doesn't matter if it was 'real fans' or 'trolls who don't watch the NHL'. He was voted in through the NHL's process - the same process they enforce players to attend.

If the NHL wants to pick and choose which players should or shouldn't attend, then they should have just not had a fan vote and conducted a different process.

It makes this whole thing an even bigger farce than it normally is. Sure, lots of people are happy that a no-talent scrub goon is no longer attending, but that isn't the point in my eye. The point is the NHL is being so transparently hypocritical and has embarrassed themselves in how they handled this situation.

Ironically, if the NHL actually embraced Scott's selection and laughed along with the joke, they could have used whole fiasco to market the All Star game itself, as well as the league.

No one, including John Scott, claims he deserves to be there based on talent, but he was voted in, legally, under the voting rules the NHL established.

So why not take advantage of this unexpected turn of events to use John Scott's experience to give the fans a players view of the All Star experience?

John Scott is Everyman. He may as well a rec hockey league player. He may as well be one of us. He's not an NHL All Star. He's an outsider.

I think it would have been awesome to view the whole All Star experience through his eyes NHL 24/7 style. Behind the Scenes. Inside Access.

So poorly handled by the NHL and possibly a missed opportunity to boot.

[Daradon]

I'm split on this.

I actually had some renewed interest in the ASG this year because of the switch to the 3 on 3 format. I was looking forward to seeing Johnny and cheering for the Pacific. There isn't much hitting in 3 on 3 anyway, so it could end up being a competitive match.

Having Scott on the Pacific was going to kill our chances and worse, if he ends up sharing a lot of time with Johnny, we probably wouldn't get to see a lot of his 3 on 3 magic we all love. I was actually pretty ticked about it. I might have found it funny if he was on one of the other teams, but I really didn't like this.

However I do agree that the NHL asking him to step down is pretty scuzzy. I can see the team doing it, especially if it's a player led initiative, maybe they want a guy like Doan to go, but the NHL asking is unfair to Scott, and hypocritical as it's their rules that got him there. So am happy that it happened, but I don't like the way it happened.

Lastly, I'm not sure if I agree that the NHL is crapping on their fans though. Aren't a lot of these campaigns started on Reddit and often voted on by internet trolls who don't even watch a lot of hockey or the all-star game? I would wager a lot of the voting wasn't done by hardcore fans.

Anyway, the whole thing has become a debacle and the NHL needs to change it. Not sure if they need to get rid of fan voting, but they can make restrictions so plugs and AHLers don't get in. Certain amount of games played, or certain amount of points or something like that. It doesn't have to be high, but just enough so we don't get John Scotts.