from Ken Campbell of The Hockey News,

It looks as though the NHL is going to restrict the likes of John Scott from the All-Star Game by placing parameters around the definition of NHL player.

Even though the NHL plans to continue to have populist voting for the All-Star Game, it’s still unclear whether or not the John Scott debacle/public relations miracle might ever happen again. And the reason for that is that the term “bona fide NHL player” leaves things open to an awful lot of interpretation.

Almost everyone assumed the league would do something to prevent it from ever happening again, but now we’re not so sure. Elliotte Friedman of Hockey Night in Canada reported Saturday night that there would be no substantive changes to the voting procedure, leading many to believe that a repeat of the Scott situation could indeed happen.

But thn.com has learned that might not be the case. And it all centers around the definition of a “bona fide NHL player.” As was told to thn.com by a league source, “There will be parameters put around what it means to be an NHL player. The intent is to allow populist voting if that’s what the fans want to do, but players elected have to be bona fide NHLers.”

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