Anyone remember the comedy duo Laurel & Hardy? Many of you might not as they were making movies way before even this old chicken-herding Rangers fan was alive. For those who do recall the classic comedy duo, you’re likely to remember that Ollie would say to Stan, after the doo-doo had hit that fan, “Well…here’s another fine mess you’ve gotten us into!”
The NHL was sort of in a Laurel & Hardy situation recently. The problem they had on their hands revolved around the 2016 All-Star Game and John Scott, a grinder who played for the Arizona Coyotes at the time fan voting for the ASG was taking place. Mr. Scott has played for eight years in the league and has eleven points to his name. He’s no Sidney Crosby but he does the job that he is hired to do, which is add a physical element when needed. He’s not the only player who plays such a role, although the era of the intimidator is waning as speed and skill are sought after more than grit and fisticuffs in the NHL today.
Read more about Andrew Ladd from the NHL.
What happened is that many fans took it upon themselves to vote on certain players, some who asked not to have people vote for them. Now, I’m not here to call out the people who voted some of these players in. Whether the fans behaved in an immature manner or not, the crux of this situation is that the fans did as asked—they voted and voted until they had voted in John Scott as a captain. Then he was traded to the Montreal Canadians who put him into their AHL franchise. The Canadians had stated they would not be calling him back up which means he was would not have been eligible to play in the All Star Game. There had been some pretty ugly accusations flying around from the fans which I’m not going to repeat here.
Since John Scott’s trade, there was a hue and cry from hockey fans. Some were outraged that Scott was treated so poorly. Others were glad that this man, who many call an enforcer, was not going to be playing in the game. Now, after a massive internet surge of support and previous precedents, it looks as if the league is going to allow Mr. Scott to play. I don’t have a magic eight ball to shake, but I strongly suspect that the NHL is going to be taking a hard, long look at fan voting before next year’s All Star Game rolls around. I doubt they want to have this kind of a fine mess again. So where do you stand on fan voting? Should it be halted and another manner of choosing players for the All Star game put into place? Let me know what you think in the comments below!