One of this year's NHL All-Stars doesn't even play in the NHL - and it's a stranger story than you can imagine
Responding to enormous fan pressure, the league announced Tuesday that journeyman hockey player John Scott will get to keep his fan-voted spot on the all-star roster, even though he was demoted to a minor league team last week.
Scott was unexpectedly named the winner of the All-Star Game's fan vote earlier this month, thanks to a well-organized Internet campaign publicized on sites such as Puck Daddy and Reddit's hockey forum.
"I am looking forward to enjoying a fun and unique experience at All-Star Weekend in Nashville with my family," Scott said in a statement released by the NHL. "While being voted to the All-Star Game by the fans was not something I expected to happen, I am excited to participate in the All-Star events with my fellow players."
Scott, who most recently played for the Arizona Coyotes, is a journeyman enforcer known more for his fistfights than his goal-scoring prowess. The 33-year-old has played for six teams in eight NHL seasons, scoring just 5 goals and logging 542 penalty minutes along the way.
For fans who participated in the campaign, the thought of the 6-foot-8 bruiser squaring off against the likes of Alex Ovechkin and Patrick Kane was too much to resist. The fact that Scott was waived by the Coyotes in December, making him team-less for the third time this season, didn't change that.
The NHL didn't seem to appreciate the humor, however. As the Scott campaign gained steam, the league broke tradition and began concealing the All-Star vote totals. By mid-December, the NHL removed links to the All-Star ballot - and all references to the game itself - from its website. And when Scott ultimately won the fan vote, the NHL buried the accomplishment in the 25th paragraph of a press release.
Last week, Scott was dealt in a three-team trade to the Montreal Canadiens, who promptly demoted him to the St. John's IceCaps of the American Hockey League. TSN's Bob McKenzie soon reported that the NHL had pressured Scott into sitting out the All-Star Game: