UPD: NHL announces Scott WILL captain the Pacific team

[Dion]

But let’s just look at the situation and admit we can probably feel bad for the guy.

Here’s someone who had to fight his way into the league, and does a job that we are seeing does not end happily for a lot of enforcers.

Yet he did his job, stood up for his team mates, and rode it out, because he loves the game of hockey. The only way he had a job was with his fists.

Scott thought his career might be over this year when the Coyotes all of a sudden came calling. Then the All-Star vote movement for John Scott began. A movement that was one part “let’s show how flawed the NHL voting system is”, one part “let’s see if we can leave our footprints as fans on the game” and one part “Hahah wouldn’t it be awesome if we voted in the worst guy in the league to the All-Star game??”

It’s that last part that wouldn’t have been fun for Scott. Knowing people picked him as their top symbol of futility at the NHL level. He in fact discouraged people from voting for him because he knew it wasn’t a great look for him or the league.

This year, though, you had people talking about seeing how John Scott would do. Seeing how he’d handle 3 on 3 vs the best in the world. Sure, there was probably some maliciousness mixed in with those desires (that’s how the internet works), but at the end of the day, it seemed like many people would try and tune in for a new experience at the All-Star game. General interest in the All-Star game was heightened due to Scott’s inclusion.

Now, though? It feels like yet another situation where the NHL just does not want to listen to the fans. For a league that struggles with gaining traction in many markets, it seems like a counter intuitive move to hold an All-Star vote, but then decide people made a mistake. It’s the NHL telling you “you didn’t do what we wanted, so you can’t have that anymore.” It’s your parents asking you what you want for dinner, but when you choose pizza, they shake their head no and give you meatloaf.

Why hold a vote if you only want a certain answer?

That’s not a good look for the league, and now the All-Star game will be mired in controversy and talk of NHL heavy handedness, instead of rolling with the punches and just watching some dudes play hockey.

You know how much goodwill they could have generated if they had just gone with it? If they had gotten in on the joke with the fans once the vote was done, and made the best of it? Let John Scott have his moment? One tweet from the NHL account saying “We don’t know if they make All-Star jerseys in John Scott’s size!” and people would have loved it.

Instead the NHL comes off cold and businesslike once again. Deaf to humor, more worried about a corporate image that doesn’t extend past the boardrooms.

http://blogs.theprovince.com/2016/01...tar-situation/

[killer_carlson]

And the hockey news chimes in with a (surprisingly) supportive piece.

http://www.thehockeynews.com/blog/nh...-scott-fiasco/

In case you don’t remember, the NHL has added a financial component to the All-Star Game this year, awarding the team that wins the 3-on-3 tournament a pot of $1 million to split among 11 players. That comes out to a tidy sum of $90,909.09. If you’re Jonathan Toews and you’re pulling down $10.5 million this season, that might not seem like much. But if you’re Scott and you’re making $575,000 minus 16 percent escrow, and you don’t have a contract beyond this season, that is a very significant sum of money.

Remember, it’s the NHL’s rules everyone is playing by here. John Scott did not ask to be voted into the All-Star Game, in fact when word of his support began to surface he urged fans to vote for teammates Shane Doan, Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Max Domi.

The right thing for the league to do would be to admit its mistake, live with the consequences and make it right in the future. The more it tries to avoid embarrassment, the more it embarrasses itself.

Instead, it’s creating the impression that it can simply correct its mistakes by twisting a few arms and creating a technicality. That’s not leadership. That’s cowardice of the highest order. And it’s just plain wrong. I never thought I’d say this before, but I want John Scott playing in the All-Star Game more than ever now.

[Trailer Fire]

Originally Posted by Poe969

IMO he seems like a bad person. He doesn't deserve to play in the NHL let alone at the all star game.

Ok hold up a second. I have a family friend that is quite close with the Scotts, and they have nothing but nice things to say about John. Does a ####tonne of work within the community wherever he goes. He also works fairly closely with underprivileged children and, IIRC, he even has his own charity to help children. I can't remember to what degree his charity operates, but he apparently takes pride in it.

How about we stop jumping to conclusions about how good or bad a person is regarding his role in a game.

[killer_carlson]

Originally Posted by Trailer Fire

Ok hold up a second. I have a family friend that is quite close with the Scotts, and they have nothing but nice things to say about John. Does a ####tonne of work within the community wherever he goes. He also works fairly closely with underprivileged children and, IIRC, he even has his own charity to help children. I can't remember to what degree his charity operates, but he apparently takes pride in it.

How about we stop jumping to conclusions about how good or bad a person is regarding his role in a game.

I will go further and say that Scott has handled this entire debacle with more class than any of the other participants or media commontators.

[Otto29]

I blame the fans who voted for Scott even when he said people should vote of his teammates. I also partially blame the NHL. There is a very simple fix where you can still let your fans vote and ensure players deserving get to go.

Five players from each team picked by the players on the team. They can say these are the 5 guys we think deserve to go. Lets the fans vote on those players.

I feel for John Scott. The classiest thing the NHL could do now is give the man 90K if the pacific win the pot. This who captains thing is BS anyway

[doctajones428]

I wonder if these Scott defenders would have the same tune if Torres was voted in instead

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by doctajones428

I wonder if these Scott defenders would have the same tune if Torres was voted in instead

Why stop there? Let's ask them what their tune would be if John Wilkes Booth, Blackbeard the Pirate, John Dillinger, and the starting line of the 1976 Philadelphia Flyers were also voted in.

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by Otto29

Five players from each team picked by the players on the team. They can say these are the 5 guys we think deserve to go. Lets the fans vote on those players.

I feel for John Scott.

That is not a bad idea. So many easy ways around it. It could alternatively be something like using a minimum TOI/game qualifier

The NHL should act honorably, lie in the bed it made and fix it next year.

[Tinordi]

Mission accomplished: Get people to care more about the NHL All-Star Game.

I still can't believe how many people think the ASG is worth a modicum of their mental faculties. And yes I'm fully aware of the self-referential value of this post.

[Poe969]

Originally Posted by Trailer Fire

Ok hold up a second. I have a family friend that is quite close with the Scotts, and they have nothing but nice things to say about John. Does a ####tonne of work within the community wherever he goes. He also works fairly closely with underprivileged children and, IIRC, he even has his own charity to help children. I can't remember to what degree his charity operates, but he apparently takes pride in it.

How about we stop jumping to conclusions about how good or bad a person is regarding his role in a game.

The thing is it's not just about his role in a game, it's the things he does that aren't part of the game. It's his disregard for human safety and carelessness towards others. He's been suspended a few times and not for borderline hits or questionable calls. He's dirty and he went out of his way to seriously injure others. Look at the Loui Eriksson hit or the punch to Tim Jackman, the guy goes out of his way to hurt people in dirty ways.

Sure he may have his own charity and do all kinds of volunteer work but he's also repeatedly gone out of his way to break the rules to hurt people and change their lives in a negative way. I just can't understand why people want to not only keep a guy like him in the league but to reward him and act like he's such a great guy.

[jacks36]

My son is a huge Coyotes fan... and we got to meet them when they were here on the 7th... John was one of the nicest guys we got to talk to... even gave my son a stick... When I spoke to him he seemed pretty excited about the all-star game. It's pretty sh*tty how all this went down...

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by jacks36

It's pretty sh*tty how all this went down...

LOL really? A plugger that has no business being in the All Star game is ineligible is in some way sh*tty. IMO what's sh*tty is a group of immature, spiteful fans that feel just because they hate the all star game they are going to try and ruin it for the NHL, the players, and the host city. I admit I may or may not watch the game because it's a crappy product but it serves its purpose to promote the game in the host city, provide for some corporate schmoozing, and it gives the majority of the league a needed rest prior to the playoff drive.

These fans did their best to try and embarrass the NHL but the truth is that the fans that voted for Scott in the first place are the real embarrassment. Get a life people as if you don't like something don't watch it but don't try and wreck it for everyone else as that's just childish and selfish.

[jacks36]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

LOL really? A plugger that has no business being in the All Star game is ineligible is in some way sh*tty. IMO what's sh*tty is a group of immature, spiteful fans that feel just because they hate the all star game they are going to try and ruin it for the NHL, the players, and the host city. I admit I may or may not watch the game because it's a crappy product but it serves its purpose to promote the game in the host city, provide for some corporate schmoozing, and it gives the majority of the league a needed rest prior to the playoff drive.

These fans did their best to try and embarrass the NHL but the truth is that the fans that voted for Scott in the first place are the real embarrassment. Get a life people as if you don't like something don't watch it but don't try and wreck it for everyone else as that's just childish and selfish.

I'm just saying... IMO they NHL should have just left him in the game and changed the voting format for next year.

[Poe969]

I agree that they shouldn't have let it get this far but there was no way around it, by the time it started gaining ground it was too late. They could have said that Johnny beat him and then not selected him but he already had too many votes. I think by them asking him not to go, they did their best to keep it out of the public eye. Like it or not, the NHL makes the rules and they asked him to bow out gracefully and he refused. That was their way of saying "you're not going so just tell everyone you're not going to go...or we'll tell them".

I can see if he wasn't such a problem child to the NHL on the ice but as pointed out, this is one of their chances to not only promote the game but the host city and to get some kind of publicity (positive publicity). I can guarantee that if he was there, there would have been stories about how much of a joke the NHL is for letting a no talent goon who's crossed the line multiple times in an All Star event. It was a lose lose for the league when this all started. On one hand, they're jerks for not letting him go and on the other hand they would have been jerks for rewarding a guy who's missed as many games from suspensions as he has points in the league.

The league was going to look bad either way so they did was was right, they put player safety first and they refused to give a dirty player a reward.

[nfotiu]

These articles suggesting that the NHL is not listening to there fans are kind of missing the point. It is not like there was a groundswell of support for Scott and the majority of fans got behind this. I am assuming this was just a tiny percentage of redditors and message boarders taking advantage of the rather flawed internet voting system.

[Otto-matic]

We all know he'll end up going so the NHL can save face this week. He'll be a late addition when one of the star players bow out.

[jacks36]

John Scott's All-Star shirts are being sold with some of the proceeds going to charity...

http://www.carrawayclothing.com/prod...-captain-scott

[Jacks]

This thread title is misleading. Scott hasn't been ruled ineligible to play, the only thing keeping him out of the game is his inability to hold a spot on an NHL roster. McKenzies comments were made before he even knew the details of the trade and certainly before we heard from Maloney.

Originally Posted by Poe969

a guy who's missed as many games from suspensions as he has points in the league.

He actually has less points than the number of games suspended.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by nfotiu

These articles suggesting that the NHL is not listening to there fans are kind of missing the point. It is not like there was a groundswell of support for Scott and the majority of fans got behind this. I am assuming this was just a tiny percentage of redditors and message boarders taking advantage of the rather flawed internet voting system.

It didn't start that way but I think he has had a groundswell of support recently.

Originally Posted by Jacks

This thread title is misleading. Scott hasn't been ruled ineligible to play, the only thing keeping him out of the game is his inability to hold a spot on an NHL roster. McKenzies comments were made before he even knew the details of the trade and certainly before we heard from Maloney.


He actually has less points than the number of games suspended.

I think not being in the nhl makes him ineligible, no?


Also I just heard Elliott Friedman get all ornery with the morning guys and go on a 5 minute rant about how Scott doesn't deserve to be there, no one wants him there, everyone is just making fun of him and that Maloney didn't want to trade him but Arizona desperately needed the roster spot. Apparently Maloney wouldn't be the bad guy and send Scott down. Good decision that was!!

[Huntingwhale]

Thanks a lot Obama