Sharks Gameday: Fuck that shit

Here's an incomplete list of more reasonable options the NHL could have pursued instead of colluding to force a trade that ultimately sent John Scott to St. John's Newfoundland instead of the NHL All Star Game, 4 and half time zones away from his family and pregnant-with-twins wife:

• Nothing. Let one of your least compensated players, an enforcer in a world that doesn't want enforcers, a guy who was about to retire at the end of the season, have a silly weekend playing an exhibition game thanks to the fans (whatever the motivation).
• Throw out some of his votes before voting ended to bump up another player into Scott's place.
• Ask the coaches to limit Scott's ice time, and subtly nudge the media to make his presence a curiosity rather than a centerpiece.
  
• Quietly seethe about how your own rules were used against you, and make sure this doesn't ever happen again.

This league has consistently taken a hands-off attitude toward criminal investigations of its players, most notably to the sexual assault allegations of one of its star players. But a grinder getting an All Star nod by popular vote thanks to internet voting is apparently enough for them to act. So, rape charges are something they can just live with, but a silly exhibition game is cause to completely fuck over a player, making his personal and professional life materially worse. Nice fucking priorities.

Stars @ Sharks

7:30 PM Pacific

Prediction: Niemi will probably shut them out or whatever, but all I can think about is "fuck Bettman and his sociopath owners and media mouthpieces."