The NHL All-Star game will be held Jan. 31. Usually the game isn’t a serious event, but this year one particular player has sparked uproarious debate.

His name is John Scott, and as of writing this, he is not even on an NHL roster.

Players are voted into the All-Star game by the fans, which is a common system shared by a multitude of sports.

It allows the fans to interact and feel influential in the decision-making process and allows for fan favorites to always be present.

This year the system backfired as it became a tongue-in-cheek internet movement to vote in Scott, who is described by many of his peers as a “goon.”

Scott stands at 6-foot-8, weighs 270 pounds and has tallied only five goals in 285 NHL games.

During this time he has also accumulated 542 penalty minutes.

In the weeks following his nomination and subsequent voting barrage, Scott was subjected to every type of scrutiny and brutal criticism imaginable.

When interviewed on The Dan Le Batard show on ESPN, Scott sounded truly saddened by the whole situation.

“I’ve been doing this my whole life and this is all I can relate to and everyone takes that and just throws it in the gutter like I’m this huge joke for the whole country and everyone is just rallying behind it and making a farce out of me,” Scott said.

“It was depressing every time I looked at the TV and papers,” he said.  

The internet voting movement, which was nothing more than a stupid joke that snowballed downhill, was undoubtedly catalyzed by a bunch of former class clowns looking to poke holes in an imperfect system.

The NHL tried to award fans some democratic involvement and this is how it is repaid.

The “fans” have voted in the biggest, worst player they could find and have inserted him into this sinister cheese maze to watch the world’s best embarrass him at every turn.

The NHL’s animosity toward the situation reached critical mass and produced a childish retaliation.

Scott was traded from the Arizona Coyotes to the Montreal Canadiens, and was immediately demoted to the minors.

The Canadiens general manager, Marc Bergevin, denied that the All-Star game played any role in the trade, but also said, “I have some reasons that I can’t even tell you why, but if I could you probably would understand.”

What began as an internet joke is ending with a harsh punchline.

Scott’s wife is pregnant, and now he is being shipped across the country to finish the season.

“It was quite a bit of a shocker,” Scott said. “The emotions, anger and the roller coaster started again.”

After deliberation, it has been determined that Scott will still be playing in the upcoming All-Star game and will even captain the Pacific division team.

He is staying positive and focusing on the rarity of the opportunity presented to him.

The whole situation is muddled and it’s difficult to feel bad for somebody who is achieving one of his life goals; all that’s left is to tune in and hope that somebody has the gall to drop the mitts with him.