NHL fans vote Coyotes enforcer Scott to all-star game

Arizona Coyotes enforcer John Scott, who has just one point while playing part-time in the NHL this season, has been voted into the all-star game and will captain the Pacific Division team.

The hulking Scott, known more for using his fists than scoring goals, benefitted from a ballot-stuffing campaign by Coyote fans in what some critics say makes a mockery of the NHL's decision to allow fans to vote for players.

Three other team captains were elected by fans -- Chicago Blackhawks top scorer Patrick Kane, Washington Capitals leading goal scorer Alex Ovechkin and 43-year-old Florida Panther forward Jaromir Jagr.

The 2.03 metre (6-foot-8) tough guy Scott has 542 penalty minutes and just 11 points in 285 career games.

He has been suspended three times by the NHL in his career, including twice in a two-month span last season for attacking Tim Jackman of the Anaheim Ducks.

During December hockey fans were able to cast their votes through the Internet for one player from each of the league's four divisions, with the top vote-getter for each division earning a spot on the all-star roster as a division captain.
As part of the new format to add excitement to the game, the all-stars will take part in a three-game tournament, played in a three-on-three format.

The push to get the lumbering 118 kilo (260 pounds) Scott into the three-on-three went viral and the result is that Scott, who scored just one goal in his first five NHL seasons, will line up as a team captain alongside Kane, who leads the league in scoring with 56 points.

"It was one of those things where at first I thought it was a joke and this and that," said Scott.

"But now it happened and I kind of have to go with it and have some fun with it and try to do my best out there," Scott told the Coyotes' radio broadcasters.

"I know some people are a little nervous about me going, maybe not being able to handle the three-on-three and this and that, but I'll be fine."

Kane finished first among all players in the Central Division voting, while Jagr, who will turn 44 in February, topped the Atlantic, the league said in a news release on Saturday. Ovechkin led the Metropolitan.

Kane supports allowing Scott to play.

But several players, including Ottawa's Erik Karlsson and Winnipeg's Dustin Byfuglien, have expressed their displeasure with the new three-on-three format.

Jagr has said he would prefer not to take part as it appears he was also a target of a Reddit- and Twitter-fueled campaign to distort the voting.

Jagr joked that Scott's inclusion makes him even more apprehensive.

"Fans- I was afraid, that 3on3 all-Star game may kill me, now, I am more afraid, fighting John Scott during All-Star, kill me for sure," Jagr said on Twitter.

The remaining 40 players for the January 31 game in Nashville will be determined by the league.
Source: AFP