The John Scott Situation

[cprice12]

Fair enough. As long as you understand-as the NHL clearly does-that this means that the vast majority of people who know of and give two shits about this situation completely disagree with you. Which makes me feel better, as I'm glad most don't side with a corporation with multi-billion-dollar yearly revenue that lays a guilt trip on a guy making pretty much league minimum about his kids.

League minimum last year was $550K so he's doing very well compared to the average Joe out there - I don't feel sorry for him.

His salary is $575k this year.
So yes, it's ok to treat him like shit.
Glad that's cleared up.

[Portland Blues]

All Star Game related - the never ending boos from the crowd for Kane this weekend has been quite enjoyable.

[glen a richter]

ASG MVP

[dmiles2186]

ASG MVP

I love that he stuck it to the NHL. They botched this entirely and he was the only reason the All Star game had any intrigue for me going in.

[gaijin]

You stay classy, NHL.

[dmiles2186]

Are his kids proud?

[Portland Blues]

Are his kids proud?

His wife and the rest of the roster seemed to be.

Appeared the NHL was at a loss all the way to the end. Read that he wasn't on the ballot for MVP but once again fan votes gave him the award.

Also based on the crowd reaction they enjoyed seeing him there. Finally something new to shake off the absolute boredom of the past few years.

[WaukeeBlues]

How this all played out has to be one of the best feel good stories of the year. He gets in the game, scores two goals, both of which looked pretty good, he had a blast, the fans vote him MVP... just awesome. I don't know how you look at the situation and think it WASN'T pretty darn cool.

Good for John Scott, seriously. He'll take this weekend of memories with him the rest of his life and even if the fans started it as a joke it happened and ended with some pretty cool love from the fans towards him.

Great stuff. We need more of this kind of thing in sports.

[Kerfuffle]

Not sure if anyone else noticed but when Scott was announced he was the only guy not named as a player from a teAm - instead they just said "captain from the pacific". I thought they would say "from the Montreal Canadiens"

[Portland Blues]

Not sure if anyone else noticed but when Scott was announced he was the only guy not named as a player from a teAm - instead they just said "captain from the pacific". I thought they would say "from the Montreal Canadiens"

Was odd during the Skills thing on Saturday when every other player was wearing a team jersey and he was wearing a generic NHL jersey.

[glen a richter]

How this all played out has to be one of the best feel good stories of the year. He gets in the game, scores two goals, both of which looked pretty good, he had a blast, the fans vote him MVP... just awesome. I don't know how you look at the situation and think it WASN'T pretty darn cool.

Good for John Scott, seriously. He'll take this weekend of memories with him the rest of his life and even if the fans started it as a joke it happened and ended with some pretty cool love from the fans towards him.

Great stuff. We need more of this kind of thing in sports.

The whole thing, from beginning to end, played out like something from "professional"
wrestling. We certainly don't need things like that in real sports.

[Kerfuffle]

Did anyone here ever doubt that Scott would be the MVP? I thought it was obvious before they started that he would get it as the joke is carried on - and had unfortunately morphed into a David-vs-Goliath for the NHL. It was good the NHL gave up the battle to save face and just end the whole fiasco.

[tjk002]

How this all played out has to be one of the best feel good stories of the year. He gets in the game, scores two goals, both of which looked pretty good, he had a blast, the fans vote him MVP... just awesome. I don't know how you look at the situation and think it WASN'T pretty darn cool.

Good for John Scott, seriously. He'll take this weekend of memories with him the rest of his life and even if the fans started it as a joke it happened and ended with some pretty cool love from the fans towards him.

Great stuff. We need more of this kind of thing in sports.

The whole thing, from beginning to end, played out like something from "professional"
wrestling. We certainly don't need things like that in real sports.

You need to get off your high horse. This is exactly what the NHL needed to get people to care about a game that has zero meaning and has been a joke in the past.

In addition, Gary Bettman looked like a total schmuck on the ice (worth the price of admission by itself) when presenting to Scott. Bettman needs to realize one of the NHL's biggest draws is the fact that its players are perceived as "average joes" and likable compared to other sports. Scott parlayed that perception into a great national feel good story which is a positive for the NHL.

[APOD]

When this whole thing started I thought it was a stupid joke, he had no place to be in the game(still doesn't). He even said it himself he didn't want to be voted in.

I thought it was perfectly fine for the League and Team GM to ask him to bow out..........then he got traded.

Then I read his article and the way they(NHL and Arizona) when about it, and things they said and did(trade), I was completely on his side.

His 2 goals were legit his hardest shot wasn't terrible he took the whole thing in stride. If they wouldn't have won he wouldn't have been MVP and Why shouldn't he be he was a butt end of a joke and HE turned it around with a little help from the dumb asses sitting high in the NHL.

Maybe next year they learned their lesson, the all star game has been a joke for a few years now that the fans were just trying to get the point across.

That said I thought I would hate the 3v3, but it was really entertaining and hopefully leads to better all star games. I understand people not wanting to get hurt and fans not wanting to see star players injured (how many Ducks fans cringed when Gibson made that awkward looking toe save), but the All star game is for the fans it use to be a great thing and I always watched the skills competition but the game lost its flavor when players stopped trying hopefully this starts a new beginning.

[glen a richter]

As one of, if not THE most expensive sport out there, I'd hardly say any NHL'er is an "average Joe". Where that idea came from, I have no idea.

[abc789987]

It seems like I might be in the minority but I've usually paid attention to the ASGs in the past. I've always thought they were fun to watch. But this one was even better. The most I've followed in a long time. I'm happy for John Scott. I hope he gets another chance to play in the NHL with some team. I think he did everything right throughout this whole situation, and the NHL made many mistakes. I hope they learn from their mistakes. This was a feel good story at the end of the day. NHL got more fans out of this.

[cardsfan04]

Did anyone here ever doubt that Scott would be the MVP? I thought it was obvious before they started that he would get it as the joke is carried on - and had unfortunately morphed into a David-vs-Goliath for the NHL. It was good the NHL gave up the battle to save face and just end the whole fiasco.

This is the first I have seen anybody suggest he was a shoe-in for the MVP. Sure, when his team won and he had a good day people were going to vote for him over other people on his team with good days. But, if his team didn't win or he didn't have a good day I don't think he would have been voted MVP. It's easy to say it after the fact, but I didn't see anybody predict this beforehand.

I'm also not going to give the NHL props for giving up a battle they shouldn't have ever started. That's like giving an arsonist props for calling 911.

[Oaklandblue]

Set aside all of the hype and nonsense for a moment and consider this: Has anyone really sat down and tried to figure out, in John Scott's hockey career, if he could be more than an enforcer?

Mind, he has been given the role of a stay-at-home dman playing a handful of minutes a game. Yeah, he has a few hundred games in but at 5 minutes a game on the bottom line as a stay-at-home dman, how many points are you really going to rack up?

From what I saw over the ASG weekend, he isn't a dman, but a big, strong and not-so-slow forward. I feel if his role was reassigned that he would produce as a 3-4 liner. He has the "Enforcer" stigma tag on him, which he played only because it got him the ability to play and that's all that his teams really saw in him and I think it's very unfair to call him out as nothing more than an enforcer when he has played his role the best he can. We tend to gripe about Steve Ott in the same way, but that's more Hitch's fault and his contract than anything else.

I truly believe there is a hockey player there and this is a great moral story we have been exposed to. I just can't believe so many people have complained about this guy because of what he was made to play. I hear no one, not one person complianing about why the teams he played for put him in that role and then shipped him off because he wasn't producing points or wasn't some amazing player. It really shows how hypocritical the league is and how potential is allowed to be wasted.

John Scott isn't the greatest NHL player, but he was and MADE the NHL and played on a number of teams. Find me a player who can even attest to just that out of the many who have tried their damnest but never got "The Call" to the show.

And this was all before he was voted an All-Star. Think about that.

[Kerfuffle]

John Scott isn't the greatest NHL player, but he was and MADE the NHL and played on a number of teams. Find me a player who can even attest to just that out of the many who have tried their damnest but never got "The Call" to the show.

And this was all before he was voted an All-Star. Think about that.

Right now there's a lovefest amongst the fans for John Scott cause he dared to go up against the evil Bettman empire - I get it. But as someone who had Scott on his team and watched every game I can tell you he was absolutely awful. Many times he would have a blowout on a divot and give up an odd man rush or breakaway leading to a goal. When he was out there he was slow and couldn't clear pucks. He had no value to the team whatsoever. He actually didn't fight much with us as most opponents wouldn't take him on as the reigning heavyweight in the league. And the Hawks are a possession and speed team and his makeup just didn't fit. I was ticked when we got him and glad when he was traded. The only way he got to the NHL was by fighting and that's what he has to cling to in order to keep a job. It's why teams trade for him thinking they need a tough guy and then realize it's a wasted roster spot and dump him. I'd take Steve Ott any day over Scott - at least Ott can skate.

[WaukeeBlues]

It seems like I might be in the minority but I've usually paid attention to the ASGs in the past. I've always thought they were fun to watch. But this one was even better. The most I've followed in a long time. I'm happy for John Scott. I hope he gets another chance to play in the NHL with some team. I think he did everything right throughout this whole situation, and the NHL made many mistakes. I hope they learn from their mistakes. This was a feel good story at the end of the day. NHL got more fans out of this.

Exactly right. It almost doesn't matter what you think about John Scott, truly. He was representative of the "little guy," in my mind, and I think that's why this story ultimately ended up being a feel-good one.

And your reaction is not in the minority at all. Across the board more people have said they have enjoyed this All-Star game more than any other because the Scott situation brought some intrigue and it was a feel good story. You wanted to root for him. John freakin' Scott.

I hope the NHL learned a little bit about their fans this last weekend.