Andrew in Toronto asks…
Which trade in any of the major North American sports-baseball, basketball, hockey, and football-consummated within the last year, has turned out to be the worst?
Answer: Scott Gomez to the Montreal Canadiens
Bob Gainey’s acquisition of Scott Gomez could seal his fate. The Habs dealt struggling forward Chris Higgins, 2007-first round draft pick Ryan McDonagh, Paul Valentenko, and the rights to Doug Janik in the summer transaction. Along with Gomez, Montreal received Tom Pyatt and Mike Busto. Higgins’ is set to become restricted free agent at the end of the season and, with only nine goals, he is unlikely to improve on his $2.25 million salary cap hit.
Gomez, one of many players who Rangers general manager Glen Sather grossly overvalued (he is on the epic list of Wade Redden, Chris Drury, Michael Rozsival, and to a far lesser extent Ales Kotalik…among others), is signed through 2014 at a $7.36 cap figure.
The 2005-06 season was the only campaign in which the Anchorage, Alaska native eclipsed the eighty-point mark. It was the first and last time he scored more than twenty-goals. In 49 games this year, Gomez has seven goals and twenty-eight assists. His 7.3 shooting percentage ranks 398th in the league. While the thirty-year old is strong on faceoffs and is responsible defensively, his game is far too limited to warrant his albatross of a paycheck.
