Let’s just call this John Scott scenario what it is: the second-biggest joke of the NHL 2015-16 season.
The first? The All-Star Game in which this “professional” hockey player will “compete”.
And calling the age-old tradition that is the NHL All-Star Game a competition is about as generous as calling Scott an all-star.
Nothing against Scott. I don’t like him as a player, but that’s beside the point. As the game takes steps to become more competitive, the knuckle-draggers who can’t take a regular shift need to step aside. He’s as much a dinosaur as a player as he is in physical stature, all six-foot-eight and roughly two hundred and sixty pounds of him.
In fairness, he can help neither. It’s not his fault that the term ‘marginal’ would be a very forgiving descriptor of his skill level, any more than he can help being the size of a small house. He certainly cannot help the fact that fans of the NHL saw this occasion to rub the league’s nose in it and show the powers-that-be what a farce this archaic hockey ‘tradition’ has become.
What began as a practical joke soon spread like wildfire, and the oft-benched behemoth on blades went from waivers (for the third time this season) to leading the All-Star Game fan vote. Adding insult to injury, Scott has since been named captain of his squad.
All in good fun, right? Sure, we all get that. But the joke has turned into a tragic comedy for a league looking to grow its influence in non-traditional markets, and when three of its most exciting players – Sidney Crosby, Leon Draisaitl and Evgeny Kuznetsov – can’t even get an invite, the integrity train hasn’t just left the station, it’s gone completely off the tracks.
The All-Star Game has become a yawner to watch. No contact, no intensity, just a who’s-who of hockey stars hanging out, signing autographs, taking selfies with fans, and having fun in the skills competitions. A little friendly rivalry to promote the game, if you will. I mean, it’s so lame, not even the players care to report for duty. In fact, they have to be coerced with a 100 000 dollar purse payable to the winners just to make the trip. Truly, the ASG has become the hockey player’s equivalent of jury-duty.
The league wants to promote the game, and it does a phenomenal job with the Winter Classic games. Attending a Winter Classic has become a bucket-list item for just about every puck-head, and the league knocked it out of the park with this initiative, but unless promotion of the All-Star Game entails making all tickets free of charge and targeting merchandise as the key revenue-generator, the days of the NHL All-Star Game might, and likely should, come to a merciful end.
Again, no ill-will intended toward John Scott; he’s as much a victim of this bad joke taken too far as are the paying ticket holders he has the responsibility of somehow entertaining, while the best and brightest in the game take a pass.
Joke’s on you, NHL…nah, scratch that: the joke’s on all of us.
