Danielle Scott could barely find the words after her husband, NHL enforcer John Scott, completed his unlikely NHL All-Star weekend in storybook fashion.
Not long after he had been named MVP and handed a $1 million check to divvy between his teammates, John Scott’s wife was overcome with emotion. Danielle Scott, who is nine months pregnant with twins, said she and the family were so touched by the outpouring of support from fans and players around the league.
“It’s been so overwhelming, we’ve had so much support,” she said, holding back years. “I’m so pregnant and emotional.” Scott, a longtime enforcer in a league moving away from lumbering fighters, became a fan-favorite in the All-Star voting this year. With the NHL turning power over to fans to fill out the All-Star rosters, they decided to vote in a player who is the opposite of the traditional superstar — the lumbering, slow, and often clumsy Scott.
While it may have started as a joke, many fans of the eminently likable John Scott turned it into something very real, leading Scott to actually be named to the roster. Controversy followed, with the Arizona Coyotes trading John Scott to the Montreal Canadiens, who promptly shifted him back down to the AHL.
The NHL was reportedly behind the move, and league officials also put pressure on Scott to turn down the All-Star Game invite, but he vowed to play.
John Scott said his wife Danielle and his two young girls were a powerful motivating factor.
“It’s one of those things where I never thought I’d be able to get to go, so when I found out it was a possibility my family was like, ‘you have to go. It’s going to be so cool,’” Scott said in a phone conversation with Puck Daddy last week. “They’re excited for it – probably more excited than I am. It’ll be one of those ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ experiences.”
Danielle Scott was actually a very important part of his decision to play. John Scott’s wife is nine month pregnant and expecting twins, so on the not-so-low chance that she went into labor this week, he would have skipped the game.
As it was, John said he wasn’t trying to get her too worked up during the game.
“I’m not going to exert my wife that much. I don’t want her to go into labor during the game,” Scott joked. “I think everyone’s just getting a little panicky now that I’m going.”
Family is very important to John Scott, who has a reputation around the league as a family man and is often seen bringing his two young daughters with him to the rink.
John Scott’s wife Danielle wasn’t the only family member in the spotlight during the 2016 NHL All-Star Game. NBC’s cameras caught his mom celebrating one of his two goals on the night.
John Scott’s mom reacts to him winning the #NHLAllStar MVP pic.twitter.com/CDdhis615b
— Ryan Biech (@ryanbiech) February 1, 2016
John Scott later took his two young daughters out onto the ice after to bask in his MVP award.
Family is everything. #NHLAllStar pic.twitter.com/ovIRSkYXkn
— NHL on NBC (@NHLonNBCSports) February 1, 2016
The All-Star Game was likely a bittersweet moment for John Scott. After Montreal demoted him to the AHL, there is a good chance that he may never play another NHL game. Going out as the All-Star Game MVP would be a good way to cap off the career of a journeyman player, however.
And the six-foot, eight-inch forward has some more fans on the way. John Scott’s wife Danielle is due with twins any day now.
[Image via Instagram]