The problem with John Scott

Much to the chagrin of certain people, John Scott was voted to the All Star Game as a captain. This is not news. Today it broke via Bob McKenzie on twitter that John Scott would be traded to Montreal with Stefan Elliot for Tinordi. The result of this trade (and the Canadiens subsequent refusal to recall Scott from their AHL squad) would be that John Scott will likely no longer be eligible for the All Star Game.

Ire has been rightly directed at the league; this sends all kinds of messages, and none of them good. John Scott is being told by the league- and his (former?) team that he is meaningless to them; just a pawn. Fans are being told that their opinion doesn't matter (even if their opinion was wrong, but more on that later). Players abroad are being told that if the league doesn't think they can make enough money off of you, you will not be given the same opportunities as a big-name star.

And, as much bile and fury is being directed (rightly) at the league for this travesty.... they are not solely the culprits here.

This whole mess, it's true, was made possible by the league. Gary Bettman and co. set up the mouse trap, but they did not hit the button on it, at least not at first. No, the initial problem here was caused by us; the fans.

I'll stop here to say again- the NHL's actions are reprehensible. There is no defending them. The NHL is a bunch of stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking nerf herders. Even so; fans are not completely blameless. The NHL constructed the weapon and fired it, but the fans loaded it and should share some of the blame for this preposterous situation as well.

Ultimately, the NHL should be ashamed of itself. But it would perhaps not be the worst thing in the world for fans to make some apology to John Scott for setting the NHL up to do this to him, particularly after he asked them not to. The fans set out to show the NHL how stupid the ASG was. Shockingly, the NHL ignored them and instead of fixing their issues is punishing someone else.