What would it cost to buy out Gomez?

[Chris]

They have been mediocre for at least 15 years. This is basically an entire new team, which has key injuries, new coaches and a new style.

Only time will tell if this team is average. They have played half a season.

You ignore Gomez's salary because you aren't paying it, you didn't trade for him and you aren't his team mate. Like it or not he is your #1 or #2 centre for the rest of his contract.

Take a few deep breathes, relax. Things aren't that bad.

[dlbalr]

The guy is a total disaster with respect to the payroll, and his contributions to the scoresheet are marginal at best. We can sugarcoat this any way you wish to make it taste better, but this guy has THE worst contract in hockey and he is proving it on the CH just as he did on the Rangers.

If douchebag Burke had made this signing we would be mocking him mercilessly and would continue to do so until the cows come home, but if Bob does the exact same thing certain folks on this board think he is exonerated from the same heat.

He has an albatross contract (for 3 more years at least) yes, but there's at least one more signed that same offseason that I think is notably worse - Chris Drury ($7,050,000 cap hit) and on pace for 34 points (16 points in 39 games). It's an ugly contract, but I don't think it's the worst one out there, especially considering the chemistry he and Gionta seem to have. (Yes, it's sad that I can think of only one worse contract, so your point is taken).

- buy out and then resign him at a cap hit of 4 mil. I would like Gomez ALOT more on this team at a cap hit of 4 mil.

This would be nice but it is prohibited by the CBA - a player cannot re-sign with the team that bought him out for at least 1 full season (I think calendar year even).

[BCHabnut]

This team has sucked since 95 MK1. I cheer for them. So I guess I have been celebrating mediocrity for 15years. I like good players. I am not a GM, so what they earn really means nothing to me. Get enough good players to entertain me and give me a reason to cheer for you. We traded Higgins for Gomez. Gomez is good. Cammy and Gionta came because of Gomez. I don't argue that he is overpaid, but it is what it is. It won't change. I personaly like the work ethic of our new core, way more than the last 10 years. The business side of sports tends to consume us. In the end if the team can afford it, great. You can say they can't and he is the reason and blah blah blah, but there are a at least 10 teams in the same position. Bob couldn't develope a top line C, so he went out and signed one. The best available was Gomez. That's it.

[Colin]

16pts in the previous 30+ games ... see I can play with numbers to make them fit my argument as well.

But your point was that his production was marginal. I think in his last few games, his production has been anything but marginal. It's not about playing the numbers, it's about noting that he's third on the team in scoring and without him, we'd be in a far worse pickle than we now find ourselves. Is his contract too large for what he's bringing? Sure. But to say his production is marginal seems to me to be a knee-jerk reaction to his contract, and not a statement based on his actual on-ice production.

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

http://dailyhab-it.blogspot.com/

Pertinent observations on Gomez, including that he's been a PPG producer with 18 points in 18 games, after shaking off his usual autumn slump. Production comparable to the vaunted superhero of so many fans, Tomas Plekanec. Also comments about how much attention he draws from opposition defenceman, implying a player who clearly becomes part of the opposition game plan (thus creating more space for other players on the team). And so on.

He'll never be a superstar and he'll never be worth his ridiculous contract. But he's a good player and an elite playmaker and we should at least have the grace to give him a full season with the Habs before crapping on him.

[KEEP26]

http://dailyhab-it.blogspot.com/

Pertinent observations on Gomez, including that he's been a PPG producer with 18 points in 18 games, after shaking off his usual autumn slump. Production comparable to the vaunted superhero of so many fans, Tomas Plekanec. Also comments about how much attention he draws from opposition defenceman, implying a player who clearly becomes part of the opposition game plan (thus creating more space for other players on the team). And so on.

He'll never be a superstar and he'll never be worth his ridiculous contract. But he's a good player and an elite playmaker and we should at least have the grace to give him a full season with the Habs before crapping on him.

[matsnaslundsuperfn]

http://dailyhab-it.blogspot.com/

Pertinent observations on Gomez, including that he's been a PPG producer with 18 points in 18 games, after shaking off his usual autumn slump. Production comparable to the vaunted superhero of so many fans, Tomas Plekanec. Also comments about how much attention he draws from opposition defenceman, implying a player who clearly becomes part of the opposition game plan (thus creating more space for other players on the team). And so on.

He'll never be a superstar and he'll never be worth his ridiculous contract. But he's a good player and an elite playmaker and we should at least have the grace to give him a full season with the Habs before crapping on him.

Another good read! I'm a fan of yours Monsieur Cucumber. I'm with LAZY26,

But to add... never say never!

I'm cheering him on to prove his critics wrong. If he does this he's a superstar in my book. I'm leaning towards the fact that he will end up our top centre.

mats

[lazy26]

Another good read! I'm a fan of yours Monsieur Cucumber. I'm with LAZY26,

I appreciate the sentiment, but why?

I'm guessing you meant KEEP26

[matsnaslundsuperfn]

I appreciate the sentiment, but why?

I'm guessing you meant KEEP26

Oooh, oops...

Hey, what is the meaning of your name? Which 26 are you talking about?

[johnnyhasbeen]

What would it cost us? Really? Are you ready for this?

It would cost us any chance of ever signing a player with a big contract again!

Think about it. If we start to try and dump him after an average season for him what does that say to every other big contract player that becomes available? If we want UFA's to sign here, which thank Bob they seem to have started to do. we need to honor the contracts that come with them.

It may cost us Cammy and Gionta who may then ask to be moved.

I also think you are missing the big picture on this guy. He is the type of player we have needed in the playoffs for many years now. We will make the playoffs and Gomez is the leader that will bring the winning attitude to the club come spring time. I have to say it, during our last few playoff attempts I would have been willing to drop 7 mill of our cap space to have a Gary Roberts kind of leader on the team. Does it matter if your big money player puts up 110 pnts during the regular season and you take first place in the regular season if your same player does nothing to elevate the team during the first round and you get swept in an upset by a team who just seems to want it more?

He is here for a reason, Bob Gainey will not in any likelyhood, let alone "Could very well happen" be fired at season end. Where the heck does that come from? What if Gainey is still here after Gomez's contract has run out, "it could very well happen"!!!! This team was selected by most hockey minds to miss the playoffs this season. It seems, they way things have gone so far, that Bob has proven to have a better insight than most of the so called experts.

Bob's top 3 moves, in my eyes.

1 Dumping Koivu and his 4.5 mil of first round leadership (Note: it should have been done sooner)

2 Signing Gomez which made us a legit place for UFAs to sign

3 Not signing any of the trash he had last year before seasons end

so that he could put them by the curb on July 1st

and as a bonus

4 Not listening to the media and us crazies on here!!

Edited January 9, 2010 by johnnyhasbeen

[lazy26]

Oooh, oops...

Hey, what is the meaning of your name? Which 26 are you talking about?

Definitely not Naslund lol.

lazy26 actually doesn't refer to any player on the Habs. It's a handle I've used since high school, for reasons I can no longer remember.

[ehjay]

This would be nice but it is prohibited by the CBA - a player cannot re-sign with the team that bought him out for at least 1 full season (I think calendar year even).

thanks for the info.

ahh them lawyers, always findig ways to screw the ppl that can afford they service

[fromage]

2 Signing Gomez which made us a legit place for UFAs to sign

we traded for gomez... and gave up too much.

[JoeLassister]

we traded for gomez... and gave up too much.

Could we just wait before saying we gave too much.

Higgins is not doing anything.

Valentenko will most probably never come here.

McDonagh is the real asset we gave them. If he turns out to be a top 2 dman, it's gonna suck, but right now, we totally won the trade.

[fromage]

Could we just wait before saying we gave too much.

Higgins is not doing anything.

Valentenko will most probably never come here.

McDonagh is the real asset we gave them. If he turns out to be a top 2 dman, it's gonna suck, but right now, we totally won the trade.

The worst part is regardless of what we gave up, anything more than a bag of pucks would be a fleecing for Gomez.

I kinda like Gomez, but his contract and his numbers don't match.

[ForumGhost]

People need to take the contract out of the equation and look at the player.

[BCHabnut]

People need to take the contract out of the equation and look at the player.

Exactly. In a cap era, the contract matters a bit more, but to be honest, i liked Gomez from the beginning. He is a huge upgrade on Kovy for carrying the puck into the zone. He enters the zone untouched almost every time. He does it with such speed that it is very fun to watch. I like watching Gomez play hockey. The only time I care what he earns is when we lose players because of the cap.

[JCPetit]

People need to take the contract out of the equation and look at the player.

You're right. Let's face it, if we were hockey players, we would love to sign big contracts too. What we tend to forget, though, is that those guys are human beings. They have their problems and, sometimes, it's difficult for them to keep going on with the same intensity.

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

I like watching Gomez play hockey.

Hear hear. I always just liked Gomez's game, all the way back to when he first broke in with Jersey. Sometimes you just have to be a fan and not get all hung up.

[hab29RETIRED]

Hear hear. I always just liked Gomez's game, all the way back to when he first broke in with Jersey. Sometimes you just have to be a fan and not get all hung up.

I've liked Gomez back when he was with NJ as well, and quite frankly he was a guy that I hoped the habs would have signed when Gomez was a free agent. Back when the Sather lost his mind giving Gomez and Drury those ridicolous contracts, I thought he had overpaid for Gomez by around $1.5M. Now we know it is by around $2.5-$3M. That is the crux of the problem. It's really too bad you can't renegotiate a contract, bcoz, unfortunately for Gomez he will NEVER get apprecaited for his talent and what he brings to the table bcoz of the money he is making. If this was the pre-cap era, it woudn't matter as much, but as long as Gomez is a habs, I doubt if the habs can ever be a top 3-4 ranked team in the East, bcoz they have too much tied up on three forwards, and all of them are overpaid by at least $0.5M (Cammy - 0.5M, Gionta - .75-$1M, Gomez $2.5-3M).

On top of that they gave a 4 year deal to a guy like Spacek when he was over 35. It would have been fine to give him the money they did on a 2 year deal, but giving a guy over 35, top dollar and term is just ridicilous. Again I like Spacek, but really, you can't risk signing a guy over 35 for more then a 1 or two year deal the way the CBA is setup. If you do, you got to make sure it is for less then market value in $.

What gets me about the habs contracts (another example is Laraque), is that good GM's have been creative is dumping bad salary (i..e NJ), by dumping them in the minors or trading guys who are pretty much done (i.e. Malakov), to another team, who doesn't have to pay him, but took the cap hit. I'd like to see Gainey start using the cap to the habs advantage and stop ridicolous signings where a guy who can only fight is given a NTC and is overpaid by at least $0.5K (and even that is IF he was performing and was adding any value to the team). I remember when Gainey signed him, I said the same thing and was shot down by people here saying his contract is ONLY for $1.5M. Well, the bad contacts are starting to add up.

If I'm gainey, i'd tell Laraque to waive his NTC, bcoz he is never going to be in the lineup again for the habs. Then try and move him and a 4th/5th pick to someone with cap room in exchange for their 6th/7h pick.

WE HAVE to start finding ways to fix the cap situation.

[saskhab]

Spacek got a 3 year deal, not a 4 year.

Gainey has shown creativity in the past for fixing his cap situation: Remember the Samsonov trade? He asked for Salmelainen in return because he was a cheap buyout option. He still had to take Cullimore, but overall the situation saved cap space. So you can't say he hasn't ever found a creative way to open up cap space.

[BCHabnut]

I don't see why this conversation is occurring. Did everyone think the team would be in first right now? New coaches up and down, new core, half a new team, their best player out for 3 months. at least one top 2 D or top 3 forward out from the begining of the year. I'm confused by all of this. let's see how th eteam does in the second half.

[BlueKross]

I am not a Gomez fan, but why would you trade him unless you are bring in more offense? You need all you can get. You don't want to lose on the defensive end neither. I don't have any problems with Laraque on this roster. There are nights when he needs to be on the roster. The NHL has been going with a 23 man roster for the last few years, the last three guys are marginal as a rule. I remember a game in Toronto this year when Orr was getting a little pushy; George went over and give him a little push, and that ended the story.

[Toronthab]

I don't see why this conversation is occurring. Did everyone think the team would be in first right now? New coaches up and down, new core, half a new team, their best player out for 3 months. at least one top 2 D or top 3 forward out from the begining of the year. I'm confused by all of this. let's see how th eteam does in the second half.

I gionta agree that I enjoy watching Gomez go. He's fast and talented and a terrific play maker. Much as I admired and admire Saku and really appreciated Kovy in all his particularity, I am very happy with the team we have before us today. When, and we will, we have two scoring lines flying, we will be a handful and more for anyone.

Check out that powerplay and PK.

I don't know that uncle Bob (sorry about that to folks who don't like "uncle Bob', but this is my thread and I do like calling uncle Bob uncle Bob) doesn't have to pay a premium .... a lot one year ago for the very reasonable taxes in Canada and Quebec which should be higher but for the jungle to the south. And some guys like it hot, a la Tampa. I often explain to my American friends that to understand what a Canadian is, think of an American, only tougher and smarter. This has increased my popularity immensely.

I am not going to fret aout two years from now, just as I didn't when we kept Souray for a strong finish a couple of years ago. Mr G is no dummy and players' agents who sit opposiite him know they are dealing with a straight shooting standup guy. Paying Gomez too much was probably done advisedly by someone who knows the score and what had to be done, how quickly.

Now, risking further alienation.... In Bob I Trust.

I am really looking forward to the second half.

Cheers