You don’t have to like somebody as a player to understand that they’re a person.
That’s important to remember here.
The NHL couldn’t bring itself to accept that the fans had used the vote to game the system and vote in a guy who, under normal circumstances, shouldn’t be within 1000 miles of the ASG. Reports came out that they, and the team he played for, The Coyotes, asked him to bow out. He declined, as is his right. He was excited. He was happy. He was going to be an All Star.
So they traded him.
The League could have used this as a selling point. While the truth is that fans did NOT vote Scott in because he’s a favorite, sell it that way. Market the HELL out of that story. Who cares? Use it to your advantage, make some money off it, and let the man enjoy the game with his family. Fans will watch the game, laugh a bit, and move on. Who knows, maybe he’ll play the best game of his life and give everyone a fantastic story to tell. Potentially colluding with a team to orchestrate a trade and render him ineligible creates an unnecessary controversy with a human toll.
Scott’s family was going. His kids wanted him to play. Hell, so did his wife, who is due to give birth to twins that very same weekend. She even got permission to travel to the game. I don’t know how many of you have dealt with being that pregnant, but it’s no easy feat to get permission to travel, even just carrying one baby. Once you hit 36 week you could have the baby ANY TIME. Lots of things can go wrong. It’s a huge undertaking to find a hospital and get pre registered. A lot of planning and thought went into getting the Scott’s to the game and the League ignored all of it. The League was more concerned with its image than the human element. So much so they decided a trade and the quiet shuffling of a player to the AHL was a better alternative to him entertaining everyone for a weekend.
Yes, it was a joke, but the whole game is. The ASG is about fun. It’s not serious, and if it was, no one was complaining when Ovi was wearing crazy hats, or players were getting shit faced on stage during a mock draft. It’s for fun, it’s an exhibition game dressed up as a big marketing opportunity. Nothing more. Being more concerned about an enforcer getting voted in, than say certain other players, sends the wrong message.
You made your bed letting the fans have the vote.
Now you have to lie in it.
