Despite a trade to the Montreal Canadiens and a demotion to the AHL, John Scott will still captain the Pacific Division at the NHL All-Star Game.
Scott will be in St. John's playing in the AHL for now -- with the exception of going to Nashville next weekend -- but he seems to have a great attitude about the whole situation.
"I'm making a lot of money playing hockey -- why would I stop playing just because someone sent me to St. John's?" Scott told ESPN.com's Pierre LeBrun. "And besides, St. John's is a nice city. What are you going to do? Cry like a baby or work through it?''
"Everything is fine. Stop the 'Free John Scott' stuff. I'm free, I'm fine. I'm playing hockey and I'm still alive."
It's obvious that the enforcer wasn't having your typical All-Star season (or career) with the Arizona Coyotes.
Scott has played in at least 10 games with fewer than five points in all of his eight NHL seasons. There have been only two players in NHL history with more seasons of that kind: Wade Belak (11 seasons) and Stu Grimson (nine seasons).
Before his demotion/trade, Scott was averaging 6:18 of ice time this season. That's the fewest of any player who's appeared in at least 10 games this season.
Since the 2005-06 season, Scott is one of two players with 500 career penalty minutes and fewer than 15 career points. The other is Cam Janssen, who had 14 points and 774 penalty minutes.
So it raises the question: Why did fans vote for Scott to be an All-Star?
@ESPN_NHL John Scott represents all of the hard working, dedicated players we love to cheer on, who would never otherwise get to ASG
— Dolly (@rizzuliwife) January 19, 2016
@ESPN_NHL to give the type of guy who never gets the spotlight a chance to have it
— schoolboy davis (@mikediesel37) January 19, 2016
@ESPN_NHL people always prefer to root for the underdog and who is more of an underdog
— MichaelBtheGameGenie (@MikeBGameGenie) January 19, 2016
@ESPN_NHL Because he seems like a nice guy and it would add something different to a fun weekend.
— Tim Gough (@tpgough) January 19, 2016
@ESPN_NHL To disrupt the status quo at first. It later took on a deeper meaning, putting a dedicated good pro in that league would never.
— Brian Greer (@Tekneek) January 19, 2016
@ESPN_NHL Because I feel the league is slowly trying to eliminate fighting to appease the vocal minority media. #keepfightinginNHL
— William Frederick (@HomeGameDonk) January 19, 2016
@ESPN_NHL Because the Fans were given the option to vote in who they wanted to play.
— Aaron Solomon (@GoodCallSol) January 19, 2016
@ESPN_NHL Because some idiotic social media people thought it would funny to shame the NHL.
— Mark E. (@markgregory73) January 19, 2016
@ESPN_NHL As a fitting complementary joke to the actual ASG.
— Jordan Munson (@jordanmunson) January 19, 2016
@ESPN_NHL as a joke
— Jordan Halberstadt (@HabzNasty) January 19, 2016
@ESPN_NHL no matter the reason I'm glad he's playing
— Cameron (@TheKidYouArent) January 19, 2016
Information for ESPN Stats & Info was used in this report.
