GDT: Capitals vs Canadiens, Mar. 26

[BTH]

I dunno...I think this is too charitable to Gomez. So many of his rushes and offensive zone plays seem to end up with the puck on the other team's stick, it's not even funny; if anything, he sucks the life out of plays more often than he succeeds in kindling them. That's what drives me crazy. It's not just that Gomer is not producing; unlike Cammy and Gio, he seems to be actively hurting the team with some frequency, a point well-documented in analyses such as this: http://habsloyalist....mez-effect.html

Certainly he is *not* a good third liner (stats aren't everything, but a +/- of -15 doesn't speak to a good defensive player). And of course he brings absolutely zero physical presence or meaningful 'compete' level along the boards etc.. The bottom line with Gomez is that, despite his limitations as a goal-scorer and his lack of physical prowess, he always was an elite playmaker with great speed. Now his playmaking has almost completely deserted him. The ONLY thing he has left is speed. If he were a rookie, he likely would have been sent down weeks ago, classified as one of those guys who 'shows flashes' but is one-dimensional and still needs to learn the game. Unfortunately he is no rookie.

Now, dlbalr is absolutely right that sending him down NOW, or even ranting about what a horrible acquisition he was two years ago (which conveniently overlooks his perfectly adequate performance last season), is counter-productive, Groundhog-Day-type behaviour. Right now, the only other option we have at C is Desharnais; and only a foolish organization would send a Gomez to the minors with 10 games left and hand over the reins to a 5'7 unproven rookie. We are indeed stuck with him. That shouldn't blind us to the fact that this season he has been absolutely (one of?) the WORST second-line C in the NHL and that a solution WILL need to be found for the Gomez Problem.

Cammy and Gio are plucky players who are slumping. Gomez is another matter entirely.

+/- means as little to me as evaluating a goalie by his record.

Mike Fisher is -21, Chad Larose is -20, Alfredsson, Gagne and Clarkson are -19, Dominic Moore's -16, Langenbrunner's -15, Chris Kelly's -14, Matt Cullen's -13, Sammy Pahlsson, Chimera and Neil are -11, John Madden, Versteeg and Eric Staal are -10.

I see many renowned defensive players on this list.

He has been one of the worst second line centers in the league but that doesn't mean he is a marginal NHLer. His +/- is so low because he plays over 19 minutes a night and hasn't been scoring. I think he's a good forechecker and defensive player, worth about 2.5 million dollars (last year, I'd have put him at 4.5-5M). There are very few players on this team that could play 19 minutes a game without having their +/- tank.

I just see a problem with his offense. He is good at skating into the zone with speed but then often loses the puck. He can make plays but not on his known. I think he used to be less passive and less of a perimeter player, but he isn't completely useless and I don't think he's one of the worst players on the team.

[Chris]

Yep, if you can't score you can't win. Simple as that. At least Tampa split with Carolina.

You can talk about individuals all you want but what i see is lack of effort, not driving the net, not drawing any penalties, taking way too many penalties, spending too much time in the defensive zone. All those things have been issues throughout the year but now they are al;l happening at once.

So stop feeliong sorry for yourselves and work harder, drive the net. Eventually you have to score.