Scott Gomez, who has missed the team's past six games, has resumed practising with his teammates, albeit with a non-contact jersey. Upon his return, the odd-man out will most likely be fourth line winger Mike Blunden.
But that doesn't entirely clarify the situation.
The Canadiens have four centre spots available and the return of Gomez means the Canadiens will have five centres, which suggests that one of them will have to play wing and it won't be the veteran Gomez.
It won't be the team's first line center and most important forward Tomas Plekanec (50.5%), who's been the squad's leading scorer for the past two seasons. I also highly doubt it will be fourth line center and newcomer Petteri Nokelainen, who has been a welcome addition in the faceoff dot (56.7%).
That leaves Gomez (53.5%), as well as Lars Eller (40.8%) and David Desharnais (44.6%) to battle for the remaining two spots.
With Gomez's success on the dots combined with Eller and Desharnais' inefficiency, it would be a wise to move Desharnais or Eller back to the wing. While David Desharnais has found chemistry with veterans Erik Cole and Michael Cammalleri, Lars Eller has experienced similar success with Andrei Kostitsyn and Travis Moen.
However, after a torrid start, Moen has cooled off dramatically, as expected, notching only one assist in the past six games. As such, Moen is the most likely candidate to be sent down to the fourth line alongside Mathieu Darche and Petteri Nokelainen. Gomez played as a winger in his rookie season with the New Jersey Devils, so is somewhat familiar with the position should he be moved there by his coach.
The best move would be to insert Gomez on the Habs' third line alongside Eller and Kostitsyn, keeping Eller as the center, but asking Gomez to take the draws because he is more efficient. This move could also be temporary as many injuries occur during the long NHL season and you never know when you are going to need your veterans to step up.
Don't expect to see Scott Gomez traded this season as his $7.3-million cap hit will repel any general manager that might have a small interest in the veteran and this same cap hit will prevent GM Pierre Gauthier from burying him in the minors, at least for the time being.
Gomez is here to stay, at least until the summer when his actual salary drops to $5.5 million per year and he might be of interest to team's looking to reach the cap floor.
In the meantime, Andrei Kostitsyn left yesterday's practice with an undisclosed injury and might miss some time in the near future.
What would you do with Gomez to make it work?
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Fred is a freelance sports write and translator, as well as a featured Montreal Canadiens blogger on http://hockeyindependent.com/blog and a baseball columnist on http://www.dobberbaseball.com. Fred also joined www.habsaddict.com in time for the 2011-12 season.
7 comments:
What to do, what to do?
I think the #1 answer which helps this team most is a demotion to Hamilton. I think we all want that, but realistically we all know it will never happen.
We therefore need to figure out how to get him in the line-up.
Forget the top line. They seem set. I still don't like Gionta alongside Plekanec but the line is clicking.
Forget the second line because on most nights Cammalleri-Desharnais-Cole is our best line.
That leaves the 3rd.
Like you said Moen is the odd man out and likely has to drop to the 4th to form an even better prototypical 4th line.
Kostitsyn will be the RW'er meaning Eller and Gomez as the remaining 2 guys. Gomez at center is the logical choice because he is better on draws but Eller is not as effective as a winger than he is as a center.
I think if it was up to me I would flip things around again and re-unite Gionta and Gomez and put AK46 on the top line:
Pacioretty-Pleks-Ak46
Cammalleri-DD-Cole
Eller-Gomez-Gionta
Moen-Nikoleinan-Blunden
With Darche as the 13th forward.
Honestly If Gomez doesn't get his "stuff" together by the new year he should be demoted or PG should be fired.
@BW:
I really like the way that Eller and Kostitsyn have been playing together, and I'm not sure I would be comfortable splitting them up just yet. Adding Gomez to the line in place of Moen (and running face-offs a la FP's suggestion) could be the best fit for the team; Eller and Kostitsyn have a bit of size, and might work well with Gomez.
Who knows? In my mind it really makes sense, but JM doesn't usually do what I think is best. No matter how it plays out, lets hope Scotty picks up his game!
@JohnnyFivestar: I'm with you in that I do NOT want to break up the AK46/Eller combo.
Did anyone else notice he's second on the team with 5 goals scored?
In all honesty, while I agree with Bryan that you can't break up the second line, I think that is exactly what Martin will do.
I see himn slotting Gomez in DD's spot between Cammy and Cole, bumping DD to third line wing with Eller/AK, pushing Moen to the fourth line and Blunden back to Hamilton.
JM is a veteran's coach and I see him giving Gomez his spot back BUT not giving him PP time over DD.
That said, I think Gomez will be on a VERY short leash. Bottom line is that this team is second to last in the East and looking at a tough up hill climb just to make the playoffs.
As such, all options should be on the table because missing the post-season could mean a clean sweep of management.
I think we are left with only one alternative. I hate to quote Jack Todd because he is such a douche but many years ago when we were faced with a horrible situation with Patty Brisebois he came up with a perfect solution.
Let's trade Gomez for a Dog, then shoot the dog.
Graphic yes. Animal cruelty, I know. Tough times call for tough measures.
You're a bit harsh Bryan, I would give the dog away at least instead of shooting it!
No way.....if we give him away then the memories will remain. We need to outright but on end to this.
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