John Scott: Teddy Bear

Updated:

Thanks, Dan Hickling

Don't let the scowl, the bloody knuckles and the menacing stare fool you.

Big John Scott is a big old teddy bear.

In reality, the hulking 6'8" face basher is just a little kid stuck in a Sasquatch's body. Don't judge the book by it's cover.

Scott was only a Buffalo Sabre for a brief period of time. However, his legacy lives on in Buffalo. Scott still has loyal legions of fans in and around the Golden Horseshoe on the Niagara Frontier and into Southern Ontario.

In his 90 game career in Buffalo, Scott scored one goal and accumulated 194 PIMs. He provided effective pest control. Scott was signed by then Sabres GM Darcy Regier after the 2012-13 season for one reason: to ensure that Milan Lucic would never run over Ryan Miller ever again.

Scott, a St. Catherines, Ontario native, told me once that he grew up hating the Toronto Maple Leafs and loving the Buffalo Sabres. His childhood dream was to one day pay for the Sabres, a goal that he accomplished when he was signed as a free agent in 2012-13 Scott left Buffalo after the 2013-14 season and played in San Jose. He signed with Arizona last season and is now the body guard for 21 year NHL vet Shane Doan and whiz kids Max Domi, Oliver Ekman Larsson, Anthony Duclair, Mikael Boedker, Toby Rieder and the rebuilding, youthful Coyotes.

John Scott's name has created quite the hockey buzz for the past two weeks. He returned to Buffalo as the NHL's leading fan vote earner for the 2016 NHL All-Star game.

Scott understands that him being the leading fan vote leader is just a huge prank. However, he is leading the voting as we speak.

Scott said Friday that if chosen to play in the NHL All Star Game he will follow through and appear on behalf of the Coyotes.

On Friday night, it was a homecoming of sorts for Scott. His head coach Dave Tippett activated Scott and he played his seventh game of the season against his favorite NHL franchise.

During the pregame warmup skate, Scott singled out a couple of Sabres fans, one of which was fans wearing Big John's #32 Buffalo Sabres sweater. Like an NHL All Star boss, Scott greeted "Molly", wearing a Nathan Gerbe sweater .

To know Big John is to know that he absolutely worships the ground that Gerbe skates on. I'll never forget being in the Buffalo room the day after practice when this now legendary Scott-Gerbe "twins" photo was snapped.

Priceless!

Nathan Gerbe & Big John Scott on "Bring Your Child to Work Day" circa 2012 pic.twitter.com/vf1oMYehig

— Wild Xtra (@wildxtra) March 7, 2015

After Friday's warmup skate, Scott made his way off the ice and up the gang plank to the Yotes' room. Along the way, the big nasty 18-wheeler pumped the brakes and came to a dead stop. Big John made the day, and perhaps the lifetime for his biggest fan when he signed his autograph on the hand made banner that she has constructed in Scott's honor.

For this reason and this reason alone Scott should be voted into the NHL All Star Game.

Scott's heart and his love for the city of Buffalo is a big as the Peace Bridge.

Here’s a better clip of John Scott making this fan’s night. A hockey player being a hockey player! @arizonacoyotes https://t.co/ek9uYsqCoz

— FOX Sports Arizona (@FOXSPORTSAZ) December 5, 2015

Attaboy, Big John.

You have my vote for NHL All Star Boss!

***

Want to get even more production and passion out of Ryan O'Reilly? Then call up his brother Cal from Rochester. That is exactly what Tim Murray has done.

With Tyler Ennis on the shelf with an upper body injury and Tim Schaller demoted to Rochester, the Sabres are in need of forward depth. Schaller provide grit and jam but zero offense. Dan Bylsma wants scoring from all four lines and he will get more of it with Cal O'Reilly in the Buffalo lineup. O'Reilly was impressive in his exhibition performances with the Sabres and has carried over his solid play to the Amerks.

In Cal O'Reilly the Sabres are getting a fast, smart, skilled, versatile puck possession forward. Cal is strong on both sides of the puck and is responsible in all three zones. Cal and Ryan are notoriously tireless workers. The O'Reilly work ethic is especially impressive when you see how they're good habits rub off on youngsters like Sam Reinhart and Jack Eichel. Cal plays an identical game to that of his baby brother Ryan. I recently asked Ryan who has role models in life are and he told me without hesitation his father Brian, and his older brother Cal. O’Reilly (6’0…, 188 lbs) joins the Sabres for his first recall of the 2015-16 season. The Toronto, Ontario native currently leads the Amerks with 14 points (3G,11A) in 21 games this season and has eight points (1G,7A) in his last six games.

Three years ago, I introduced you to "The O'Reilly Workout". Ryan and Cal train like Navy S.E.A.L.S during the summers back home. Their father designed this monster workout and oversees his boys during their summer training.

The O'Reilly's don't just talk about being great leaders of men. They walk it.

On Friday, I asked Samson Reinhart about the now famous "O'Reilly Practice". That's when Dan Bylsma's practice ends and O'Reilly's session begins.

"I love it. Ryan and I shoot pucks and he analyzes my shot. I have improved by working with Ryan, that's for sure."

I was at HARBORCenter in August when Ryan and Cal O'Reilly first reported for captain's practices. It didn't take long for the O'Reilly boys to introduce themselves to their new teammates and to show them several on ice drills that added immediate intensity to the session. Long after the majority of players left for the day, Ryan, Cal, Brian Gionta, Josh Gorges, and Zach Bogosian had stayed on the ice for 45 additional minutes playing 2-on-2 down low and shooting hundreds of pucks at Robin Lehner. .

The O'Reilly Family is changing the culture of losing to a culture of winning in Buffalo and Rochester. It's truly an exciting time to be a Sabre and Amerks fan. Tim Murray wasn't just spit-balling when he traded Mikhail Grigorenko, Nikita Zadorov, JT Compher and the 31st overall pick in he 2015 NHL Draft for Ryan O'Reilly and Jamie McGinn. He also struck gold when he signed Cal O'Reilly as a free agent. Murray knows winners when he sees them. In Ryan and Cal O'Reilly he has two thoroughbreds who are changing the culture in the 716 and 585 area codes.

O’Reilly’s assist on Friday night gives him five points (1G, 4A) in his last five games.

O’Reilly now has eight points (3G, 5A) in his last eight games against the Coyotes, including at least a point in each of the last five.

Entering Friday night’s games, O’Reilly (59.3%) was ranked fourth in the league in faceoff percentage. O’Reilly also ranked third in the league with 594 faceoffs taken, accounting for 40.1% of Buffalo’s total faceoffs.

I'm excited to see how Ryan's overall game will go to the next level with Cal in the starting lineup, on the bench, and on the team charter for the next week.

Knowing what I know about Ryan, he will do his best to show his big brother that his advice and guidance is respected and appreciated.

Ryan and Cal have never played hockey together on the same NHL team. They played together for KHL club team Magnitogorsk during the last NHL work stoppage. Afterwards, Cal went back to NHL Vancouver and AHL Utica and Ryan went back to the Colorado Avalanche.

Ryan will be over the moon when he and Cal get to spend time with one another on a daily basis albeit for a week in Edmonton, Vancouver, and Calgary.

I truly see an opportunity for Cal to stick and stay in Buffalo after the Western roadie ends. Tyler Ennis is still listed as week-to-week with his upper body ailment. With an inspired effort during this call up, Cal O'Reilly can grab this opportunity and skate with it.

What better way to show appreciation than to go out every shift and score a goal, set up a linemate, finish a hit, block a shot and win a D-zone faceoff?

That's the O'Reilly way.

***

It's been a long time coming. This sudden blitzkrieg of Buffalo Sabres offensive production isn't a mirage. It's actually happening. The percolation period and feeling out period appears to be complete.

The Sabres disposed of the Arizona Coyotes on Friday night and now have won three of their last four games as they now stab westward to Edmonton, Vancouver and Calgary.

In their past four games, the Sabres have now scored 17 goals After scoring 45 goals in their first 22 games, Coincidentally, Tyler Ennis has been out of the lineup for those four games. More on that later. The last time the Buffalo Sabres scored four or more goals in four-straight games was when they won five-straight games from February 20 to March 2, 2007.

Jamie McGinn scored the second goal of the game on Friday night off of a gorgeous pass from Jack Eichel. McGinn has a theory on why the Sabres are not gripping their sticks too tightly and making piles of saw dust on the ice.

Samson Reinhart scored his seventh of the season on Friday night with an absolute jewelry store heist of a goal. Reinhart recalls a time not too long ago that he and his teammates were not lighting the lamp.

“It seems like yesterday we were answering questions on if we’re getting frustrated or not, so it’s nice to have. Once we get a couple it comes in a wave.…

Samson is correct. In the six game segment from from November 14 to November 25, he and his teammates were mired in a season-worst scoring slump that saw the Sabres score only six goals in six games.

On 11/14, they lost 2-1 in OT to San Jose.On 11/17 they lost 3-1 to Dallas. On 11/19 they lost 3-2 to St. Louis. The Sabres were shutout 3-0 in Dallas on 11/21. Then lost 2-1 to St. Louis on 11/23. On Thanksgiving Eve, they dropped a 3-2 decision on home ice to the Nashville Predators.

Then on Black Friday, their luck would change and their offense would begin its resurgence period.

They spanked Carolina 4-1. The next night, they slapped Nashille in their barn, 4-1. On Tuesday night, they dropped a 5-4 shootout decision in Detroit. On Friday night, they tamed the Desert Dogs by a 5-2 score. Evander Kane was the best player on the ice and scored a shorty and an empty netter to pace his Sabres to victory. He's playing a sandy game: Finishing his checks, chirpingand getting in the heads of opponents.

Domi v Kane pic.twitter.com/K5KsmVrDA8

— Stephanie (@myregularface) December 5, 2015

As Kane goes, so go the Sabres.

Kane and the Sabres are roliin'.

Kane's father texted him after the Detroit game to tell his son that he was finally beginning to look and play like his old self. Pops was correct. Kane missed 10 games in November with his MCL injury. When he returned to the lineup his game was rusty and needed to be cleaned up.

After a few games, the power forward found his stride and started taking pucks to the dirty areas in the attack zone. Since then, all of his teammates are following the lead that Kane and Ryan O'Reilly have set forth.

When Dan Byslma assembled the Kane-O'Reilly-Reinhart trio, he did so with offensive production and pucks possession in mind. The Sabres needed a spark and Kane, ROR and Samson have ignited an inferno of goals.

Kane now has four goals and six points in his last three games. O'Reilly has a goal and five points in his past four games. Reinhart has goals in three straight games.

McGinn said Friday night that he and his boys have finally found their mojo just in time for their battles with the Oilers, Canucks and Flames.

“The guys are a little happier in the room,… McGinn said. “There’s some smiles around. The confidence is high. We’re working hard in practice right now and scoring a lot of goals because we went through a struggle.…

After the Friday morning skate, a relaxed Reinhart told me that he feels very confident playing alongside two veteran producers in Kane and O'Reilly.

"They (ROR and Kane) are veteran players who communicate with me here in the room and on the bench. They are very approachable and supportive of me and everyone in here. We are a close team. I don't think that you will find a closer team in the NHL than this team is".