Scott revels in remarkable season
From NHL all-star hero to riding buses in minors, he’s ready for what’s next
It could all be over a month from now, and John Scott, the underdog enforcer, will likely end up in a basement bathroom. It is small and unfinished, and he plans to tackle it all by himself: “I can figure it out.” He smiled. The bathroom is in northern Michigan, at his home in Traverse City, where he will return to life as a husband and a father and a do-it-yourself handyman after his most remarkable hockey season reaches its conclusion.
And after all the noise, the end will likely be quiet.
Scott is heading into the final few weeks of his run with the St. John’s IceCaps, a team on the fringe of the American Hockey League playoff race. They lost again on Saturday, the fourth loss in five games, in a matinee against the Toronto Marlies at Air Canada Centre.
There is a chance it was the last time Scott plays inside an NHL arena. The IceCaps have seven games remaining on their season schedule, and Scott is near the end of the oneyear contract he signed last summer. At 33, he might not get another.
Scott will likely not be bored, though. On top of the bathroom renovation — “small little bathroom, shower, tub” — he has four children waiting for him, as well as a host of new avenues to pursue after becoming the unquestioned star of the NHL’s all-star weekend.
“I think he’s going to have to work, for sure, obviously,” said his agent, Ben Hankinson. “But I think this opportunity will give him a chance to do something he wants to — whether it’s in hockey or somewhere else.”
Scott bumped heads with the NHL over his participation in the all-star game. He endured a trade from Arizona to Montreal that sent him from the desert to the North Atlantic in one swift and vaguely conspiratorial swoop. And then he scored two goals for his team in the big game and was hoisted onto the shoulders of teammates on live television.
Hankinson said they are still sorting through opportunities to write a book. There are also openings for Scott to dabble his toes in television, he said. The phone is still ringing.
“He’s a big boy, and not just in stature, but how he handles this,” Hankinson said. “He’s just been himself. He’s never, ever tried to act a certain way, or do anything outside how he would normally act.” And then there is the movie. Scott awarded the movie rights to his story last month. Mitch Albom, the longtime sports reporter, is working on a script, and they met when the IceCaps were in Rochester earlier in the week.
“He’s really smart, so he’s asking me stuff I’d never even think of,” Scott
“I think I kind of resonate with the fans, and they like cheering for the underdog maybe. It’s nice, and I appreciate it.” JOHN SCOTT
said. “He’d just ask random questions here and there, and I was just kind of trying to pull answers out and remember stuff.”
He does not yet have a concrete answer for his future on the ice. Scott, who played left defence on Saturday, played sparingly with the Coyotes. He played in a game Dec. 31and did not play again until after he moved to the AHL, 15 days later.
“We want the best for him, and every guy in this locker room is working to try to make the playoffs,” said IceCaps coach Sylvain Lefebvre. “They’re all playing for something – if it’s for a job next year, if it’s for a better spot in the lineup.”
Scott drew a minor penalty in the final three minutes of a 5-3 loss in Toronto. The crowd booed the call, as though Scott were a member of the home team.
“I thought it would die down a few weeks after the (all-star) game and kind of go away,” Scott said. “But, you know, it’s flattering. I think I kind of resonate with the fans, and they like cheering for the underdog maybe. It’s nice, and I appreciate it.”
A decision about next season will likely be made in the summer, he said. It will likely be made from his home, where he will be shortly after the season ends. “It’ll be nice to go back,” he said. “I won’t leave the house, probably, for a week-and-a-half.”