It was contract that defied logic but it was also a contract that followed the norms of the NHL at the time. Gomez’s contract was but one amongst the likes of Wade Redden, Chris Drury, Thomas Vanek, Adam Foote and Dustin Penner to name but a few.
Players like Gomez simply sat back and watched one GM after another offer contracts which paralleled the GDP of most African countries. When the dust settled, the highest bidder usually came out on top and the dotted line was signed.
You can argue that some of those contracts actually worked out in the end with teams like Detroit securing the likes of Pavel Dastyuk and Henrik Zetterberg or Dustin Brown signing in LA, but many of these contracts simply didn’t pan out.
In the pre-lockout NHL acquiring a big ticket player with little or no production was easy to handle. You take that seven million dollar mistake and then go out and spend another seven million on a player who can get the job done. Basically, you could cover up mistakes by essentially spending more money. The current NHL however does not allow for mistakes to be easily covered up.
An ineffective $7.4 million player ultimately means that more than 10% of possible cap space has been eaten up. Your only possibilities are to find a trading partner willing to take that contract or to demote that player to the AHL or Europe, a luxury that only the richest of NHL teams can afford.
The Rangers were lucky to have found the Montreal Canadiens to take the Gomez contract. Teams like the Oilers with Sheldon Souray, the Rangers with Wade Redden, the Blackhawks with Cristobal Huet or even the Maple Leafs with Jeff Finger were all forced to spend millions of dollars simply to save much needed cap space.
So what should the Montreal Canadiens do?
I already said that I am not going to hide my displeasure bu by that same token I am not going to simply disregard the player and toss him to the side. Scott Gomez is a valuable piece to the success of this team.
What Now?
I think that if we were to poll the entire Canadiens fan base we would see something to the effect of 45% voting to send him to Hamilton, 45% voting to buy out the contract and less than 5% voting to keep him.
Even if you are not an accountant I think it is obvious that this does not equate to 100%. The remaining 5% would prefer to remain anonymous should Gomez one day find himself to be sleeping with the fishes.
Up until recently, my personal choice would have been to buy him out at season's end, pay him his two-thirds of his salary spread out over four years and then use the cap space to acquire a player that we know can do more (i.e. pretty much anyone right?).
But I have to admit that I have had a change of philosophy.
I actually want to see Gomez live out his contract as a Hab even though he makes more than my entire lineage does on a yearly basis.
Unpopular as it may be, I firmly believe that Gomez is a crucial component to the success of this team not only because of his production but primarily because of the presence in the locker room.
Production
There is no denying that Gomez had a horrendous year in 2010-11. 38 points for any player playing on the top two lines is unacceptable. When you figure in his salary, it even further compounds the problem.
I question however whether the 2010-11 season was a blip on the radar?
Despite never living up to his salary Gomez has always produced at the 50 points per year pace if not more. This pattern was further demonstrated in his first year as a Hab when Gomez netted 59 points in the regular season and another 14 points in 19 games in the playoffs.
Given his production history, is this not the type of player that we can come to expect?
I will take it one step further and argue that when Gomez produces, the Habs generally have success as a whole.
As a matter of fact, if you take a look at the team's past with 15 games with Gomez in the line-up, the sqaud went 8-4-3. In the eight wins Gomez has seven assists and is a +8.
Not bad for a guy who has seen the bulk of those minutes playing on the fourth line.
Chemistry
If the departure of Mike Cammalleri should tell us one thing, perhaps it is that chemistry is the most important factor in the success of a team.
A team like the Boston Bruins stick up for one another. The players are selfless, and that mindset makes it hard to defeat them.
The perception of Cammalleri, on the other hand, was that he was a selfish player who put himself ahead of his teammates. This sentiment, however, has never been expressed with regards to Gomez. If anything the complete opposite is what you see from number 11.
Whether we are talking about the Pacioretty-Chara incident, or a scrum behind the net, Gomez is always there for his teammates. I am not going to sit here and argue that is a tough player, who will drop the gloves when needed but by that same token he is not afraid to get his nose dirty and he doesn’t seem back away from chirping back at any player in this league.
From what I can see, he has the respect of his team and that is sometimes more importance than any other factor you can name.
I fear that if the Habs were to part ways with their benign center in conjunction with the loss of Jaroslav Spacek and potential loss of Travis Moen, and Hal Gill that we are going to see a team with a loss of focus, and misdirected vision.
We have often heard that the strength of this team is the locker room and Gomez is certainly a major component of that leadership.
Let’s not make a mistake now. What sort of message does it send to the team and what sort of message does it say to the rest of the league when management simply disregards the personnel and tosses them to the side when they are no longer needed.
For a team void of organizational leadership, it is important to show strength.
But hey that's my $.02. I am sure you all think differently so let me have it.
On a personal note
For those who follow me on
Twitter I have been tweeting quite a bit recently about the recent commitment that my wife has made.
In 2012, she decided that rather than to simply write a cheque to the numerous charities that we endorse that she would take it to a whole new level by singing up to run a Marathon with all proceeds going to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of Canada.
Cancer has had it’s victims in both her family and my own. It is a subject and cause with personal meaning to us both. If anyone out there has a few dollars to spend on a really great cause then
I invite you to make a taxable donation for her personal cause.
Thank you all for any and all support that you can provide.
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Bryan is a Marketer by day, writer for HabsAddict.com by night and full time fan of the game. Follow me on twitter @BryanWilley78 but don't bother looking for me on Facebook, I'm just too old for that now!
(Photo by Richard Wolowicz/Getty Images North America)
