John Scott Comments on NHL's Handling of All-Star Spot

John Scott, who was traded to the Montreal Canadiens two weeks ago and subsequently sent down to the American Hockey League, is preparing for his first NHL All-Star Game as captain of the Pacific Division. On Thursday, he opened up about how the league tried to persuade him from participating in the event this weekend. 

In a first-person article on The Players' Tribune website (Warning: Link contains profanity), Scott described his journey from being an obscure defenseman to one of the sport's most talked-about athletes as a result of being pressured by the NHL to give up his spot after he appeared in just 11 games and scored one goal for the Arizona Coyotes:

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...I’m not some random person off the street, and I didn’t win a golden ticket to “play hockey with the stars.” I won an internet fan vote, sure. And at some point, without question, it was a joke. It might even finish as a joke. But it didn’t start as one. It started with a very small pool, out of a very small pool, out of the very, very smallest pool of hockey players in the world: NHLers. That was the vote. A fan vote, an internet vote — but a vote from among the 700 or so best hockey players in North American professional sports.

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Prior to getting traded, Scott had told fans not to vote for him to participate in the All-Star Game but, instead, vote for some of his more deserving teammates:

Scott described that particular situation, providing a statement and touching on how it came about in The Players' Tribune piece:

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One of the reasons I’ve made it as long as I have in the league is because I specifically know I’m not an All-Star. So when they asked me to make a statement — nudging the fan vote in another direction and denouncing the John Scott “movement” — I did it without hesitation. I told the fans, “Listen. I don’t deserve this. Vote for my teammates.” And I was telling the truth.

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However, the 33-year-old did say while he hadn't earned his spot as an All-Star, "I also don’t think I deserve to be treated like I’ve been by the league throughout this saga."

Scott admitted he's "going to be nervous as hell" during Sunday's All-Star Game because he's playing against vastly superior talent, yet added, "I busted my ass to be" an NHL player on the fan ballot. 

The turning point for Scott to participate in the All-Star Game, he says, came when "someone from the league" asked him if he thought "this is something your kids would be proud of”:

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When (my daughters) see me on the ice on Sunday, will my girls be proud of me? Who knows. I like to think so. But I know they’ll be there for me — for their big, goofy dad — no matter what. They’ll be there, in the stands, cheering me on — wearing their Scott jerseys, and watching me try my best, having some fun and fulfill a dream I’ve had since I was, well, their age.

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On numbers and talent, Scott probably shouldn't be on the All-Star team this year. Yet, you could look to the NBA and say the same thing for Kobe Bryant, who was the leading vote-getter over superior players like Stephen Curry and LeBron James. 

The Bryant comparison isn't exactly apples-to-apples because he's one of the NBA's greatest players and announced he would be retiring after this season, so fans want to honor him one last time before walking away. 

Yet, if leagues expect fans to take these All-Star matchups as anything more than exhibitions, don't give fans a voice.

These are games that have no real meaning, so a longtime journeyman like Scott getting a chance to play in one of them against superstars like Evgeni Malkin isn't going to hurt the sport. 

Scott will get the memory of a lifetime and something he can share with his family forever. The NHL may not like it, but it's not his fault the system was set up for something like this to happen.