John Scott recalls infamous preseason melee with Maple Leafs' Phil Kessel
Photo credit: USA Today
Former National Hockey enforcer John Scott reminisced about his infamous dustup with Toronto Maple Leafs star Phil Kessel, which took place during a pre-season game in Toronto in September 2013.
Scott, at the time one of the most feared tough guys in the league, suddenly found himself squared off with the Leafs then top star, who gave up eight inches and more than 60 pounds to Scott. Scott was thirsty for revenge following a mix-up on the ice between Devils teammate Corey Tropp and then Leafs enforcer Jamie Devane, even skating by the Leafs bench and warning then head coach Randy Carlyle that he intended to beat up whomever Carlyle sent out on the ice next.
The coach sent out his top line, which featured Kessel.
Scott recalled the now classic sawoff during an interview on his Dropping the Gloves podcast, saying he warned Phil before the puck drop that he was going to jump him. When the puck dropped, Kessel began swinging his stick at Scott, which prompted a line brawl to break out, with Leafs teammate David Clarkson jumping off the bench to join, earning an automatic 10-game suspension. Goalies Ryan Miller and Jonathan Bernier also joined the melee. A total of 239 penalty minutes were handed out, and suspensions followed.
But curiously, Scott admitted, he wasn't among those suspended, though he said he expected it at the time. Kessel, however, was slapped with a suspension of the remainder of the pre-season.
«I got kicked out of the game, obviously, Phil got kicked out of the game, a lot of guys got kicked out in that scrum,» Scott said on the podcast. «Our whole line, Ryan Miller we went back to the room, we were chopping it up, laughing, everybody was watching the replays.»
Scott recalled how he watched the replay to try to determine if he should expect a suspension.
«I was just in my mind like �How can I get suspended with this?' because I know (then director of player safety Brendan Shanahan) had it in for me, I knew he wanted to ding me up and I'm just like going through my head like �What did I do?' I'm watching the replays and I thought I was in the clear,' » Scott said.
However, right after the game, Shanahan did call, Scott recalled.
«I get a call from Shanny after the game, right away after the game, and I go �Ok, I'm going to get suspended,' and he starts listing off the suspensions. He's like �We're giving Phil three, we're giving Clarkson 10 and you're not getting anything.' I was like �Ahahahah, suck it,' but he goes �I looked and I wanted to suspend you, I want to suspend you, but I can't because you didn't do anything wrong.' I'm like �What?' He literally said �I want to suspend you, but I can't.'.
Scott's softer side came out when he was named MVP of the 2016 NHL All-Star Game after captaining the Pacific squad after being named by fan vote.
Previously on MapleLeafsLatest
| POLL | ||
3 SEPTEMBRE | 33 ANSWERS John Scott recalls infamous preseason melee with Maple Leafs' Phil Kessel Who is the Leafs player least likely to fight all time? | ||
| Phil Kessel | 5 | 15.2 % |
| Mitch Marner | 24 | 72.7 % |
| Auston Matthews | 4 | 12.1 % |
| Mats Sundin | 0 | 0 % |
| LIST OF POLLS | ||
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