Bored with the lockout?
Yeah, so are we. So, in an effort the generate content and discussion, we have decided to tackle some of the questions we hear from friends, Facebook and Twitter.
Today, myself and Louis Moustakas tackle a classic query: Scott Gomez's decline.
Mika Oehling @armchairhockey asks "Any explanations to Gomez and his 1 goal a season since he joined the Habs?"
Sean Lloyd: Thanks for the question Mika, and quite a doozy to kick off the HabsAddict mailbag.
Gomez is a playmaker, always has been. While it's impossible to ignore his lack of scoring, it's his vision and passing abilities that make him an NHL player.
My best guess as to why he doesn't bury more goals would be his reluctance to shoot. In 2011-12 he was tied for 15th — with Josh Gorges — on the team for shooting. Even Alexei Emelin managed more shots with 62.
Then there is the good old fashioned "pressure of Montreal" theory. With the New Jersey Devils he scored 116 goals in 548 games, or one tally every five contests. In two seasons with the New York Rangers he scored 32 times in 153 games, once again producing one goal every five games.
Since donning the Montreal Canadiens' jersey, his average has dipped to one goal every nine games, producing only 21 goals in 196 games.
Gomez will either need to direct more pucks towards the net or learn to handle the pressure, if not we can expect roughly nine goals out of him whenever hockey resumes.
Louis Moustakas: Mika, that a doozy indeed.
Sean is right, Scott Gomez is not a natural shooter or natural scorer. In fact, his 33 goal season with the New Jersey Devils has to be considered a huge anomaly.
Other than his extremely successful 2005-06 campaign, he never reached the 20 goal plateau at the professional level, not even while playing in the ECHL during the lockout.
Having said that, it is perplexing to see a player who has regularly produced 10-15 goals per year plummet so drastically.
Beyond the point of Scott Gomez not shooting frequently, his shot locations are not optimal. Especially in 2011-12, his attempts on net came from either the wings or afar. Hardly prime choices.
Just look at his first goal in over a year. Fabulous pass, but really, he is quite distant off the wing.
That, and it's not like his head and heart have looked in the game in recent years.
What do you think? What caused Scott Gomez's precipitous decline?
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Sean is a freelance writer currently contributing to HabsAddict.com. He is also a regular blogger and frequent panelist on the Habs post game show at MontrealHockeyTalk.com
You can follow Sean on Twitter.
Louis is an Associate Editor and Senior Writer at HabsAddict.com. Born in Chicago, Louis grew up in Quebec City where he earned Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration from Université Laval. He is also an occasional guest on CKCU's Red Zone program.
Find him on Twitter @LouisMoustakas
(Photo by Richard Wolowicz/Getty Images North America)
