Arizona Coyotes Trade John Scott So He Can't Serve As All-Star Game Captain

Ever since it was announced that Arizona Coyotes left-winger John Scott was voted by the fans to be a captain in the All-Star Game, the NHL has been up in arms about it. They feel like it makes a joke of their league that a guy who’s been waived three times already in 2015-16 would be a captain in the league’s showcase game.

On Friday, it was announced that Scott had been traded to the Montreal Canadiens, along with defenseman Victor Bartley, in a three-team deal that sent defenseman Stefan Elliott to the Nashville Predators and defenseman Jarred Tinordi and minor league forward Stefan Fournier back to the Coyotes. While the Coyotes claim that this trade was made to better their team, TSN’s Bob McKenzie believes the league had something to do with the trade to get Scott out of the All-Star Game.

John Scott was previously asked by both NHL and Arizona Coyotes to bow out of NHL All-Star Game. He refused. Trade likely takes care of that

— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) January 15, 2016

At this point, even if Scott isn’t deemed ineligible by NHL, he would almost certainly bow out of ASG on his own.

— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) January 15, 2016

Scott was voted into the All-Star Game after a social media blitz from fans that no one thought would work. Now that it has, it seems the NHL had to use some underhanded tricks to remove a guy whose wife is about to give birth to twins. However it happened, the NHL owes it to the fans and Scott, to allow the 33-year-old to play in his first All-Star Game.