(Video) John Scott boards Stephen Gionta

Mr. Anger management Buffalo forward/defenseman John Scott drives a much smaller Stephen Gionta into the boards with what can only be seen as a knuckleheaded penalty, and of course all Gionta can do is laugh about it.

Sure, why not!

I guess it’s funny and no one got hurt, but it’s was a dangerous play by the Sabers goon John Scott. In my opinion, Scott is nothing more than a cement head, but also an insurance policy, to use only in case of an emergency.

Looking at the stats sheet, you will see that Scott adds little in the way of offense and rarely takes a regular shift on the ice, unless the Sabres are ahead or need Scott's toughness. In 26 games for the Sabres Scott has an unimpressive line of (0g-0a—0pts) 52 minutes in penalties and is averaging 4.25 minutes of ice time. According to hockeyfight.com, Scott has also been in 6 fights and has won them all, but has had a tough time finding anyone to dance with as of late.

Scott became necessary for the Buffalo Sabres when Boston Bruins forward Milan Lucic ran over the Sabres goalie Ryan Miller last year and the Buffalo Sabres did nothing in response. After the non-response to Lucic running over Ryan Miller, the Sabers were seen as being a weak and gutless team by the rest of the NHL.

Buffalo Pylon John Scott works Shawn Thornton

The Sabres John Scott is 6'8" and 270 and plays about 3:30 minutes a hockey game and has no other value other than he's a goon, some might refer to him as an insurance policy.

On the other hand, Boston Bruins forward Shawn Thornton is a role player that sticks up for his teammates and is also known to chip in goals. Thornton definitely took one for the team here.

For comparison sake, Thornton has scored (31g-43a—74pts) in 456 games, while John Scott has scored (1g-4a—5pts) in a 152 games.

Sabres Pylon Scott was not brought to the Buffalo for his defensive skills

The North East Division teams got tougher this off-season, the much maligned Buffalo Sabres signed former Dallas Star uber punk Steve Ott and former New York Rangers, Minnesota Wild and Chicago Blackhawks pylon John Scott – not to be out done – the Montreal Canadians signed former New York Rangers tough guy Brandon Prust, who shared the NHL’s league lead in fighting majors with the Boston Bruins tough guy Shawn Thornton.

By signing these players – some have said that the North Eastern division teams are playing right into the Boston Bruins hands – last season when the Boston Bruins have at least one fighting major they have a winning record. When the Boston Bruins don't record at least one fighting major last season they had a losing record.

I do predict that these teams are not going to beat the Boston Bruins at their own game. These aforementioned teams were better off to let sleeping bears slumber.

Boston Bruins forward/tough guy Shawn Thornton led the Bruins and tied Brandon Prust for the league lead with 20 fighting majors – thirteen of Thornton’s fellow teams mates dropped the gloves as well. According to Hockeyfights.com, the Boston Bruins were second in the league in fighting majors and held a record of 37-16-8 when they recorded at least one fighting major.

James Cook, Record-Eagle --- A bruising blueliner brought in by the Sabres to contend with fiesty teams such as the Boston Bruins, Scott makes a living as an enforcer. And that role often includes fighting.

"I tell him the only thing uglier than an MMA fight is a hockey fight," Bustance joked. "He's got a good nature. But he's patient like a boxer. He's got a good eye. We can even work with the same foot position so he can do it on skates."

The 270-pound Scott isn't out there for his deft scoring touch. In 146 career NHL games, he's scored just one goal and added four assists. But he's piled up 236 penalty minutes over four seasons with the Minnesota Wild, Chicago Blackhawks and New York Rangers before signing a one-year contract with the Sabres this off-season.

Scott is ranked as one of the top 10 fighters in the NHL as a result of several vicious beatdowns he's handed out in his four seasons in the NHL.

His most infamous fight came when he was with the Blackhawks. It was Nov. 27, 2010, and Scott destroyed Kevin Westgarth, who is no small man himself.

Even at 6-5, 241, Westgarth appeared dwarfed by Scott, who heaped punishment on the Los Angeles Kings forward. Westgarth tapped out to end the fight, which is somewhat unusual because both participants were still on their feet.

The first thing that the Buffalo Sabres should try to do is teach former MTU defenseman John Scott how to skate, so he can take a regular shift on the ice and not just take up a roster spot. I couldn’t resist when I read this article.

The Rangers valued John Scott so much that they made John Scott a healthy scratch during the Rangers “entire” playoff run, because his former head coach John Tortorella felt he was a defensive liability and beating the crap out of people is not a desired trade that you need in the Stanely Cup Playoffs. For whatever reason, the New York Rangers also failed to resign Brandon Prust in the offseason as well.

Just for the record, I am a big fan of fighting in hockey and I relish a good fight between two willing combatants and would never be an advocate for eliminating fighting in the junior or professional ranks. That being said, let’s not kid ourselves – John Scott has one role in the NHL and that’s to beat the tar out of the opposition but let’s call it as we see it – he can’t skate or play hockey very well at all.

Finally, while the Boston Bruins might have been second in the league in fighting majors last season – all of their tough guys can skate and play a regular shift and a vital role on their team. There aren’t any one dimensional goons taking up a roster spot on their team. So while the Sabres employed Scott to dance with a few Bruins in six league games, the Sabres are still wasting a roster spot on a one dimensional player that has a hard time staying in the lineup.

Trade Deadline: The Yawner 2012 (RW77)

NHL on the Fly's Trade Deadline Special was right when it said that the major news was the trade that didn't happen.

Rick Nash wasn't traded. He's the latest Joe Thornton, it appears. Apparently he was to be traded to the New York Rangers but the price was too high (which anyone could have told you that. Rick Nash IS the Blue Jackets. Without him, you basically have no team).

There were some intriguing trades though.

What do you all think of the Wild's trades? They acquire Steve Kampfer and Tom Gilbert for Greg Zanon and Nick Schultz. So, this probably means that Schultz and Zanon were UFAs after the season, right? Perhaps Gilbert and Kampfer were under contract a bit longer? Kampfer is alright and Gilbert is too, but this seems to be a lateral trade rather than an upgrade. They didn't even get any picks.

However, the BEST trade of the day was made by the Chicago Blackhawks. They got a 2012 5th round pick for boxer on skates John Scott. This is almost like (RIP, buddy) trading Boogaard for a 1st round pick. Chicago got WAY THE HELL MORE VALUE than Scott. Someone tell me that the Hawks wouldn't have settled for a 6th or 7th round pick or even a conditional 2013 5th rounder (with conditions that will obviously not be met) for Scott. It's almost like the Rangers GM was Glen Sather... oh wait. Ok, I get it now.

In the end, though, Chicago didn't get what they need: a goaltender, so they won't be there in the end. Detroit traded Commodore for another Dman who won't play.

In the end, believe it or not, the winner overall I think is Vancouver. Sure, they trade Hodgson away, but they got two good players in Kassian Sulzer, pick up Pahlsson and Gordon for depth. Win I say.

Buffalo comes in second.

Boston got this year's Mark Recchi in Brian "when I was a rookie, Crosby's parents were still in middle school" Rolston (which is younger than Mark "I played pond hockey with Moses" Recchi and Chris "I skated with Jesus Christ" Chelios... or perhaps Gordie "I was there when God told me he was having a kid with some chick in Bethlehem" Howe).

Former Sioux Mike Commodore and Brian Lee are now teammates with the Lightning.

Deryk Engelland will get a call from Shanny

This is why I like the NHL; a player dishes out what I would classify as a dirty bush league check on an opposing player. His teammate who happens to be trailing the play takes issue with the questionable hit and challenges the offending player to a fight.

In this case Blackhawks heavy weight John Scott, reacted appropriately to the questionable hit; Scott came to his teammates aid and immediately challenged the perpetrator Deryk Engelland's to a Fight. per the hockey code, Engelland immediately paid for his dirty check on Markus Kruger by getting the tar beat out of him. 

After watching this display, the Pittsburgh Pengiuns have no room to complain about head shots, while most of us know that the league's top player in on the shelf  with a concussion, one of his teammates is out there hitting other players in the head with a dirty checks like this, which in my opinion is definitely a violation of rule 48.

Per NHL.COM  Pittsburgh's Deryk Engelland faces a supplemental discipline hearing with the NHL's Department of Player Safety on Thursday morning. In my opinion you can expect a 2-4 game suspension would be the proper call.

Related articles

• Watch: Penguins' Deryk Engelland goes high on Blackhawks' Marcus Kruger (aol.sportingnews.com)
• Deryk Engelland delivers questionable hit, pays the price (prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com)
• Blackhawks recall C Pirri, place Carcillo on IR (espn.go.com)

John Scott, I will kick the bleep out of him...

CBS Chicago Image

Ah yes; the former MTU Huskies defenseman and former Wild pylon John Scott, the guy that is only redeeming quality is that he is really good at beating the crap out of someone, this is the same defenseman that has virtually no foot speed what-so-ever that ends up being a healthy scratch more times than not against the quicker teams in the NHL. Here at Goon's World we also know him as Mr. Anger Management, the former MTU Husky that threatened to beat the crap out of someone who accused him of running into their car, which he did. A real class act. Just for the record Scott has played so well this season that he hasn't been in the Blackhawks lineup since 3/20/2011.  s/t Rosies Hockey.

chicagobreakingsports.com --- Shawn Thornton received around 40 stitches above his eye Tuesday, accused the Chicago Blackhawks of razzing him from the bench and labeled the Hawks a team that will "chirp a lot," then reiterated Thursday on Boston radio that he and his Boston Bruins squad have a long memory.

Apparently, them's fighting words.

"He said that? That's fine. He can say what he wants," Hawks enforcer John Scott said Thursday of Thornton's team-of-chirpers assessment. "He's going after some of our littlest guys on our team to start a fight. He's trying to challenge (Fernando) Pisani to a fight. What's that say about him?

"He's Mr. Tough Guy and he's trying to challenge Pisani. If I'm in the lineup, he's more than welcome to come chirp at me. I'll kick the (bleep) out of him."

John Scott vs Kevin Westgarth

s/t to the Hockey Wilderness I was over on the Hockey Wilderness checking out the score of the Wild game when I saw this hockey fight. Holy Cow! Talk about a beat down... I don't know why anyone would subject themselves to that type of a beating? The former Michigan Tech bad boy John Scott has found himself a niche in the NHL and he worked Westgarth like a clown.