Scott Gomez: Is he worth it?

Scott Gomez: 7 goals, 24 assists in 62 games this year. Average numbers for an NHL player, but it would be expected that a player who makes 7.34 million a year would be far beyond these numbers. It would also be fair to expect that he wouldn't be minus-17 on the year. But holding back your teammates is absolutely unacceptable for a player being paid more than the Sedin twins. (6.1m/year) You may be asking yourself: "Wait, What? Scott Gomez makes more per year than the Sedin twins?" Yep. That frightful fact may have overshadowed what I mentioned before when I said that Scott Gomez was holding his teammates back, none the less, true. Here is some proof:

Recently, Andrei Kostitsyn was taken off of Gomez's line. Over the 10 games that the two of them were line mates, Kostitsyn was minus-8, On Feb. 9 their line was benched mid way through the third period for having a minus-4 record in the first two periods alone! Also the Belgian forward put up only two points In all ten games. In all the games prior, Kostitsyn has recorded a combined plus-12 record!

Since then, Kostitsyn has played three games without Scott Gomez as his centre. In the most recent game against the Panthers, Andrei had himself a 2 point, plus-3 game. During this 3 game stretch, Kostitsyn has recorded 5 points and has gone plus-2.

I am not trying to say that Scott Gomez is completely useless, but a common and rather acceptable theory, Gomez's playing style has low compatibility with Martin's defensive 'dump and chase' coaching style. He could prosper more with a different team/coach, That being said, Any GM would crazy to acquire his extremely excessive contract through trade. So if the Montreal Canadiens' franchise somehow stumbled upon this "article" and say "Well what do we do with him" (I know/pray to the gods that would never be said by anyone in the organization.) My opinion would to wait out the remaining 2 and a bit seasons left in his contract and let him walk as a free agent or resign him for maximum 3 -3.5 million/year.

to read more Check out this: http://montreal.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20110226/mtl_habshub_habit_freed_110226/20110226/?hub=MontrealSports