It’s almost unfair to write one of these on Scott, because most of our opinions have nothing to do with him as a player. John Scott is what he is, and he wasn’t any different this year. Our objections were raised with the people who signed him and played him, and then tried to justify it. Again, Scott wasn’t any different than what he’s been his entire career, a slow-moving blob that occasionally punched things and then went away once the 2nd period started. To be angry at him for not being anything useful would be missing the point. It’s that he’s here that’s so galling, and he’s probably remaining so, which is even more so.
Contract Status: 1 year left at 525K (I will now hit myself in the head with an empty beer bottle)
Positives: Hmmm….well this will be an effort. Ok, breaking Westgarth’s face was kind of cool, I guess. And when Campbell got hurt he didn’t kill anybody on defense for eight minutes. I think he even hit a post in Tampa Bay that would gave given the Hawks the lead. And he’s a funny guy, so there’s that. Anything else? No, probably not.
Negatives: Again, it’s not so much Scott’s abilities as what employing the lack of them did to the rest of the team. He couldn’t take a regular shift, forcing everyone into more minutes that caused them to fade at the end of games. His fighting prowess didn’t keep Toews and Kane from getting hit, or teams taking liberties. He couldn’t keep up at forward. He has no hands. The only fight I can think of that wasn’t basically scripted is when he pounded Brad Staubitz after he hit Campbell after a whistle. They didn’t serve a purpose. But a lot of this is not on him. Again, he is what he is. Why anyone in charge thought that was worth having, you’d have to ask them.
Defining Moment: For me, it was Banner Raising Night, when Q was somehow under the delusion that Scott could be counted on to be a regular defenseman, even taking penalty kill time. And in the 3rd period (wouldn’t this be a theme), he fell down allowing Valtteri Filppula to be unencumbered on his way to the slot to score the winning goal. Scott was never again trusted with a regular defensive role, which gave us Nick Boynton on a regular basis, and my bartender thanks the Hawks for that.
That’s about it, isn’t it?
Final Grade: C-. Again, I can’t give Scott a failing grade because it’s not his fault he can’t do anything. It’s someone else’s fault that he was asked to. It’s not like he slept on his skills or something like some other players. What were the expectations? This is what I thought he’d be. Grades on those handling him? Like, X-. That’s 19 times worse than an F.
Outlook: Sadly, Scott’s going to be here next year. Stan Bowman won’t admit a mistake like this, or at least I’ll be shocked if he did, and sending him to the minors will take away minutes from a player that can actually use them. He’ll be scratched a majority of games, I hope, and will provide the jester show the few times he’s on the ice. We could really use that 500k of space, but buying him out would only get you 250K of it. A waste of time, in all ways.