John Scott was voted into the NHL All-Star game fair and square – by the fans.

Following this, he was asked to reject the invitation, got traded from Arizona to Montreal’s minors – in Newfoundland – and had his All-Star place put under review by the league.

The unconventional three-team trade, which saw Scott get uprooted and moved to the St. John’s Ice Caps of the AHL, was orchestrated by the NHL, per SB Nation, after he refused to bow out of the All-Star game. 

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The league’s hope was that, if Scott was in the AHL then he would be illegible for the NHL All-Star games.

John Scott has revealed how the NHL and the Arizona Coyotes barbarically ended his 285 game NHL career, and uprooted his family – all just to keep the 6’8’’ 33-year-old out of the competition.

Here’s how the mighty John Scott has been dragged through the mud by the NHL; how legends like Don Cherry supported the League; and how the NHL would have come off as the good guys if Scott hadn’t released his memoirs.

How the Scott was betrayed

After the big enforcer found his new All-Star gloves in the dressing room, he and his teammates all checked them out and were having some fun with them.

You’ll never believe what happened next - per John Scott’s “A Guy Like Me” on The Players’ Tribune:

"As this is happening, I see our GM open the door.
He’s not smiling.
“Hey, John, can we talk for a second?”

"We head down the hall a few steps, into the stick room of all places, and he shuts the door.
And then he tells me point blank.
“You just got traded.”

"Nope. No way.
Enforcers don’t get traded midseason when their team is winning. If you know the league, you know that it just doesn’t happen."

Scott then goes into how he had to tell his nine-month-pregnant wife and two young daughters that they suddenly had to move all the way up to Newfoundland.

One of the biggest shockers was Scott’s recollection of the NHL’s attempts to coerce him out of the All-Star game. He says that at first he agreed with them, but then they went too far:

"I became a hockey player that I hoped they [Scott's daughters] could be proud of. I even scored three goals with the Sharks last season. They loved that," Scott wrote.

“Do you think this is something your kids would be proud of?” [The NHL said to Scott, trying to get him to bow out of the All-Star tournament]

"That was it, right there. That was the moment they lost me."

The NHL was looking good before this

Prior to John Scott releasing his post on The Players’ Tribune, hockey fans were happy with the league allowing the NHL veteran to play in the All-Star game despite the seemingly untimely trade away.

Then the scandal was exposed, along with Scott’s memoirs, which reveal just how savage the league has been to try and keep the cult-hero out of their competition – something that has no impact on the actual league and many fans consider to just be a bit of fun.

The, now, AHL enforcer says that he doesn’t think that he deserves to be an All-Star player, but that he is also an NHL player no matter what his set of skills are.

Now, Scott will most likely never play in the NHL again. He and his family need to adjust to a new life in Newfoundland, and the league will most likely face zero whiplash from the whole saga.

The All-Star T-shirts – featuring Scott 28 – have been sold out for days, and although this is great support for John Scott, it further adds to the NHL’s profit made from the terrible situation that they’ve caused:

Misled support for the League’s actions

Following the trade of John Scott to the Canadiens – and then down to the AHL – legendary NHLer and “Coach’s Corner” co-host Don Cherry slammed the fans who put John Scott into the All-Star game, and blamed them for the resulting trade.

You can watch what Cherry had to say via this link. He wasn't particularly complimentary of NHL fans, calling them "jerks."called NHL fans “jerks”

The NHL could have avoided the whole Scott being fan voted in saga if they created a shortlist. They knew the power of the fan vote when Buffalo’s Zemgus Girgensons was elected into the All-Star team last season.

The terrible treatment of John Scott was in no way the fault of the fans – as Don Cherry claimed – the league could have easily let him stay in Arizona and play in the All-Star game, no harm-no foul.

A small victory

The very slight silver lining to this whole ordeal is that John Scott will get to play in the All-Star game and, despite being an enforcer, is actually really liked by his team mates.

Here he is, in Nashville, with his old San Jose buddies, Brent Burns (right) and Joe Pavelski (left):

Here's a great hype video for the Arizona Coyotes, highlighting the cult-hero's time with the San Jose Sharks:

And here's the time that Phil Kessel ran away from John Scott:

As you can see, he's a great enforcer but, as he admits, isn't an elite hockey player. But the main thing is that, despite the scandalous efforts of the NHL, John Scott will play in the All-Star game, and will make his daughters proud.

To read John Scott’s complete tell-all about the events of the last couple of weeks please go to The Players’ Tribune. All hockey fans should read it.