If you think the John Scott story has already been thoroughly documented, brace yourself.
The retired enforcer, who captured imaginations with his fairy tale appearance at the 2016 NHL All-Star Game, has a book at the presses and a movie script in the bank.
A Guy Like Me: Fighting to Make the Cut, co-written by Brian Cazeneuve, will hit shelves on Dec. 27, and Scott hinted Thursday that he might just air a little more of the NHL’s dirty laundry.
The league’s reigning All-Star Game MVP has been refreshingly candid about his career in his two must-read Players’ Tribune articles, most pointedly revealing that an NHL spokesman tried to talk him out of attending the festivities in Nashville last winter.
According to Scott, an NHL employee asked him: “Do you think this is something your kids would be proud of?”
Scott, of course, attended All-Star Weekend anyway, smoothing tensions with commissioner Gary Bettman beforehand.
“Speaking of who [made] that phone call, you gotta maybe check out the book,” Scott quipped on Dean Blundell & Co. on Sportsnet 590 The Fan on Thursday (watch above). “A little teaser there.”
We know one item that will find its way into Bettman’s Boxing Day shopping cart.
After detailing his side of the story on paper and in interviews, Scott is happy just being a dad. Pizza day is Friday. He says he wants to take the high road, despite occasional media requests to throw shade at the league.
“I still get it to this day: ‘You want to say a little quote about the NHL?’ No, no, I’m good,” Scott chuckled.
In addition to the book, the script for Scott’s Rocky-esque biopic, written by Mitch Albom, is complete.
“The big movie is full speed ahead,” said Scott, who is about to read over the draft for revisions. “They’re starting to look at actors and directors and all that stuff I don’t know anything about.
“I’m not going to play myself. That’s a little bit out of my range.”
While the aftermath of the All-Star Game has been kind to Scott’s publicity, it essentially killed his career as a hockey player.
After All-Star teammate Brent Burns finally lowered the giant man off his shoulders, Scott returned to the Montreal Canadiens‘ farm team in St. John’s, Newfoundland, grinding out shifts on the Rock while his wife raised their newborn twin daughters.
Scott felt so isolated from his family, he said he considered quitting the IceCaps before season’s end.
“It was just miserable. You couldn’t see five feet in front of your face most days because of the snow coming off the ocean,” he said. “After that season, I knew I was pretty much done.”
