John Scott officially voted into NHL All-Star Game
John Scott has been selected to play in the NHL All-Star Game in Nashville on Jan. 31.
The NHL released the names of the four captains for each division as voted on by the fans. This included Scott, an enforcer with the Arizona Coyotes with one assist in 11 games this season.
Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals will captain the Metropolitan Division, Patrick Kane will captain the Central Division and Jaromir Jagr will captain the Atlantic Division. Scott will captain the Pacific Division.
Scott is reportedly a healthy scratch for Saturday's game between the Coyotes and Edmonton Oilers.
The decision to include Scott’s name in the release ends speculation as to whether the NHL would involve the enforcer in All-Star weekend festivities. When fan voting started on Dec. 1, Scott’s candidacy was seen as somewhat of a joke, but since grew into a groundswell by people who wanted to see the hulking enforcer lug the puck up and down the ice in a 3-on-3 tournament involving the NHL’s best players.
The NHL changed the All-Star format to 3-on-3 this year in order to add more excitement to the event.
Scott was placed on waivers in late December, but this did not play a role in involving him in the game. Voting ended Jan. 1.
Some in the hockey world saw Scott’s possible inclusion in All-Star weekend as a detriment to the game itself. At the NHL’s Board of Governors meetings in Pebble Beach in December, Nashville Predators general manager David Poile indicated he did not want Scott at the All-Star Game.
“Well, if he was to make the All-Star Game, that would be, with all due respect, not an appropriate situation,” Poile said. “And with all due respect to John Scott, but when you do something like this and in this digital age, you sit there all day and push a button, that doesn’t make it right.”
Jagr had also jokingly said he didn’t want to be a part of the All-Star Game, tweeting 3-on-3 would “kill me.”
The remaining 40 players will be announced on Jan.6. This group will be picked by the National Hockey League Hockey Operations Department.
The All-Star skills competition, which will also include Scott should he decide to go to the game, is slated for Jan. 30.
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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper
