Arizona’s John Scott selected as NHL All-Star game captain

Arizona Coyotes left wing John Scott (28) and Winnipeg Jets center Andrew Copp battle for the puck in the first period during an NHL hockey game, Thiursday, Dec. 31, 2015, in Glendale, Ariz. AP

NASHVILLE, Tennessee — Unheralded forward John Scott was among the four captains chosen by fans for the NHL All-Star Game.

Florida forward Jaromir Jagr, Washington forward Alex Ovechkin and Chicago forward Patrick Kane also were announced on Saturday (Sunday Manila time) as captains for the reformatted All-Star event on Jan. 31 at Nashville.

One player from each division was selected to lead a team in the three-on-three game.

Scott’s improbable selection was the product of a fan campaign to send the journeyman to his first All-Star game. Scott has one assist in 11 games for the Arizona Coyotes this season, and the enforcer has been waived three times by them.

“It’s one of those things where I don’t want to be a joke, I don’t want to be an embarrassment, I don’t want to kind of embarrass the game in that way,” Scott said.

“But I talked to some people, I talked to a lot of former players, and everyone said have fun with it, just go with it and it’ll be a good experience”.

The other three captains were not surprising. Jagr is one of the game’s elder statesmen, Ovechkin one of its best players, and Kane is the NHL’s points leader.

Scott has five goals, six assists, and 542 penalty minutes in 285 career NHL games — and now he will be the captain of the Pacific Division’s All-Star team.