Surprise fan votes create uncomfortable publicity situation for NHL
The newly-formatted 61st NHL All-Star game took place on Jan. 31, 2016, in Nashville, Tennessee. The changes for this year’s All-Star game include three 20-minute games of three-on-three, replacing the traditional sixty-minute game. If the game is tied after 20 minutes, there will be a three round shoot-out. There are four teams, separated into four different divisions: Atlantic, Metropolitan, Pacific and Central. The Atlantic and Metropolitan stars faced off, while the Pacific and Central duked it out. The two winners then faced off in a final game.
Amidst all these changes to the format, an interesting issue arose, causing some unwanted attention to this year’s festivities. Metropolitan captains Alexander Ovechkin, Johnathan Toews, Carey Price and Sydney Crosby were all absent from Sunday’s event. Without these stars, the fan voting has been creative in filling out the 40 players that will represent their specific teams. The captain of the Pacific division in particular, John Scott, has brought up a tricky issue for the NHL. The fans voted for the captains, and [pullquote align=”left” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]…unwanted attention to this year’s festivities.[/pullquote]
their selection of Scott has drawn criticism, initially as to whether or not his playing ability is on the level of Toews or Crosby.
As a professional hockey player, Scott clearly has the skillset to play high-level hockey. The controversy surrounding Scott is because of his role as “enforcer,” a typically violent player, whose role is less related to finesse and more related to keeping the other team out of the way. While the NHL officials may not have appointed Scott to the All-Star team at all, the fans voted him in, and removing Scott would have undermined the fans’ faith in the voting process.
The NHL, according to Scott, did not want him to play in the All-Star game and even told him to appeal to fans and ask them not to vote for him. Scott wrote an article for the Players’ Tribune titled “A Guy Like Me,” and revealed, “When they asked me to make a statement—nudging the fan vote in another direction and denouncing the John Scott ‘movement’—I did it without hesitation. I told the fans, ‘Listen. I don’t deserve this. Vote for my teammates.’ And I was telling the truth.” For Scott to be told to change the mind of the fans who are supporting him is embarrassing on the part of the league.
In response to the fan voting, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said, “Obviously the fans decided it was important to vote for him and we respect that. Whether or not we need to make adjustments into the future and ensure that truly All-Star players are there is something we’ll worry about after we go to Nashville.”
Bettman’s response, meant to be people-pleasing, really calls into question whether Scott has a place in the league. The fact that Scott was traded following this controversy, and then demoted to the AHL, makes it seem like the League does not want Scott in the spotlight—or in the NHL at all.
This criticism and evaluation of what makes a player an “All-Star” is unfair to put on someone like Scott, who did not ask for this publicity and who has suffered the consequences to his career.