NHL announces John Scott will serve as Pacific Division's captain in All-Star Game
Chalk this one up as a win for the fans. After days of controversy, the NHL announced Tuesday that John Scott will indeed serve as the fan-voted captain of the NHL's Pacific Division All-Star squad in this month's All-Star Game.
John Scott will captain the Pacific Division All-Stars at the 2016 #NHLAllStar game. https://t.co/h8jUP8G9Sl pic.twitter.com/B1UwSS7fVH
— NHL (@NHL) January 19, 2016
John Scott will captain the Pacific Division team at 2016 Honda #NHLAllStar Weekend. https://t.co/jUcmc2RxRn pic.twitter.com/ejVBdCbfqr
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) January 19, 2016
Debate over Scott's captaincy raged for weeks as fans stuffed the ballot boxes for the All-Star Game with votes for Scott, a fringe player at best in the NHL who has 11 points and 542 penalty minutes in 285 career NHL games. To further complicate matters, Scott was traded Friday by the Arizona Coyotes to the Montreal Canadiens, meaning Scott no longer plays in the NHL's Pacific Division. The trade came amid reports claiming the NHL and Coyotes both asked Scott to cede his spot as the Pacific Division's captain, and the trade appeared to solve the issue by forcing Scott out of the Pacific Division.
Fans flooded social media over the weekend with anger toward the NHL over the situation, but even Scott admitted Sunday that he had no idea what the NHL's official plans were for his spot on the All-Star team. The NHL's tweet Tuesday morning officially resolved the matter, and fans on Twitter responded in jubilation.
@NHL YOU FINALLY DID SOMETHING RIGHT
— fusca (@JosephFusca) January 19, 2016
OUR LONG NATIONAL NIGHTMARE IS OVER https://t.co/tW1W7696mX @NHL
— B. Spiegel (@knicks148) January 19, 2016
Sorry. We just used up our one “NHL listens to the fans” for the decade. https://t.co/y1ToBA5OK4
— Down Goes Brown (@DownGoesBrown) January 19, 2016
The All-Star Game is not entirely void of controversy now, however. There are still serious doubts among fans about the new 3-on-3 mini-tournament format adopted for this year's event. But the format appears to be a battle for another day as fans celebrate the inclusion of Scott, who might go down as one of the most improbable All-Stars in history.
