Off the top of Coach’s Corner Saturday, a heated Don Cherry vented about the John Scott saga.
Scott was the number-one vote-getter according to fans for the upcoming all-star game in Nashville. Reports surfaced revealing that both the NHL and the Arizona Coyotes asked Scott to decline the invitation and stay home. Scott refused, and intended to go to the event.
On Friday, Scott was traded to the Montreal Canadiens and assigned to the team’s AHL affiliate.
“You jerks who put him up to be in the All-Star Game, you’ve taken this kid who was doing pretty good playing six minutes…(with) an NHL contract, what you’ve done is put him in the minors and he’s making American League money,” said Cherry. “Lots of fun, eh?”
Scott’s rise to the top of the voting polls was largely attributed to an online push from podcasts and Reddit, and the trend caught on as fans around the NHL elected Scott to participate.
“What they did was they said, ‘Let’s get a guy who hasn’t scored a goal (into the All-Star Game) and we’ll upset the NHL,” said Cherry. “It’ll be funny. Four families have to (move) now, I bet you’re very proud of yourselves.
“The (All-Star Game) is going to be terrific, it’s going to be 3-on-3, it’s gonna be dynamite. You tried to ruin it all, you ruined this kid who’s in the minors never to come back. You should be ashamed of yourselves. That’s it!”
Cherry cooled off to talk about the rise to prominence by Calgary Flames rookie Sam Bennett.
“Remember this guy who was in that stupid combine and they said he wasn’t dedicated because he couldn’t do chin-ups?” asked Cherry. “He dropped from number one to number four (in the draft). I wonder what those dumb-dumbs think of him now. This guy is dynamite.”
Bennett has 10 goals on the season, four of them coming in the Flames’ win over the Florida Panthers Wednesday.