Scott Gomez is gonna come back to haunt the Habs

You know it. It looked like Scott Gomez was going to be spending the season on the couch in Alaska watching games on TV and counting his millions, after Habs GM Marc Bergevin told him he wouldn’t be playing for the team and would be bought-out next season.

But now the National Hockey League has stepped in and essentially brought in the “Gomez clause”, a new wrinkle in the collective bargaining agreement that allows a team to buy-out a player who’s making more than $3 million……before the season even starts. So Montreal apparently placed Gomer on waivers on Wednesday and he is expected to clear waivers by noon Thursday.

At which point, the Habs will buy him out and he will be free as air. And that means the underachieving centreman will be free to sign with another team for any price. And you know someone’s gonna pick up Gomez. If you pay him $1 million or $1.5 million, suddenly he’s an attractive commodity. Sure it’s a roll of the dice but remember that Gomez was once a very good player.

Yeah he’s stunk out the rink for his entire tenure with the Habs but sometimes a change of scenery is all you need. There was something going on in Gomez’s head that made him unable to threaten in the offensive zone. It was a strange thing. He still skates beautifully, he can move the puck like nobody’s business but once he crosses the opposing team’s blue-line he becomes hockey’s equivalent of a deer in the headlights. He freezes. He doesn’t know what to do. He is clearly terrified of shooting at the net. So he passes to the last man in. Always. And it never amounts to anything.

But maybe he can clear those problems up on a new team, with a new system, a new attitude. Say he signs with – oh I don’t know – let’s just say Toronto. Just imagine if he goes on a tear and comes into the Bell Centre every few days to light up the score-sheet just the way John Leclair did all those years ago when the Habs idiotically shipped him off to the Flyers.

Yikes! Please tell me it’s a nightmare. Someone wake me up. Oh no and is that P.K. Subban on the blueline for the Leafs? Please wake me up!

- Brendan

 

Montreal Canadiens unveil their 2011-2012 schedule

Habs fans, get ready to open and close the season yet again with the beloved – NOT! – Loafs. The Habs unveiled next season’s schedule on Thursday and, as usual, the action will kick-off with a dust-up at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto against the Maple Leafs. That’s Thursday, Oct. 6. And 876 games later – okay, 81 – the endless regular season winds down with the same hapless Leafs visiting the Habs at the Bell Centre. That game is Saturday, April 7.

Let me guess. Going into that last game, the Leafs will be way out of playoff contention and we will be hanging on by the skin of our teeth to 8th place. Sound familiar? Sure it does.

The Canadiens will play each of their division rivals – Boston, Buffalo, Ottawa and Toronto – six times and Montreal will play each of the remaining ten teams in the Eastern Conference four times. Sadly, Montreal will only play 18 games versus teams in the west. It remains a sore point for me that we get so little chance to see the Habs playing teams from out west.

Here’s a couple of games to mark in your calendar. The Habs meet the Winnipeg Threats  – or whatever they’ll be called – Sunday, Oct. 9 in the Peg and the first regular season meeting with the Stanley Cup champion – excuse me while I barf in a paper-bag – Boston Bruins is Thursday, Oct. 27 in Boston, a home-and-home series that continues that Saturday at the Bell Centre. That should be intense. How sickening is that? Just imagine our pals Chara and Marchand rubbing the Habs’ noses in the Cup victory (and you just know they will). Like I said, should be intense.

- Brendan