Lou's Handling of Gomez

Do you guys think it would have made more sense to pay Gomez 7.5 million than pay Pando and Rolston 7.5+? You can even throw Zubrus into that equation if you wish. Despite how much we all hate Gomez, he was and still is the player we need. I personally dislike the Rolston signing this offseason as it tied up alot of cap space on an aging player.

Think about it, if Lou offered Gomez that contract our roster would most likely be this:

Elias (6) - Gomez (7.5) - Gionta (4)
Parise (3.2) - Zajac (984k) - Bergfors (500k)
Vrana (475k) - Madden (2.9) - Langenbrunner (2.8)
Clarkson (837K) - Holik (2.5) - Whoever (600k)

Our defense ties up about 13,070,833.
Our goalies tie up 5,887,500.
New Forward line up ties up roughly 32.4.

This puts our total cap at about 51,358,333. Realistically once you add in back ups it more like 52.5 million most likely. That is a little less than our current cap. We could even add another mid grade player if we wanted. So based on the facts, was letting Gomez go the right idea? I know the argument is he is overpaid, which he is, but instead of overpaying him we have over paid Pando, Rolston, Zubrus, possibly Holik.

Dont attack me, i just was wondering what people think of this lineup vs our current lineup, please place all bias against Gomez aside.

I would love to still have Gomez. For me at least, i think that he was already bound for the NYR.

Its too bad. He is exactly what we need.

i just was wondering what people think of this lineup vs our current lineup, please place all bias against Gomez aside.

That lineup isn't going any deeper in the playoffs than our current lineup - although it may gain the zone better on the PP.

That alone isn't good enough reason to use the 20/20 hindsight machine to play what if...

Plus any what-if fun must include the Rafalski stays scenario.

It's funny, but he needs us too, he's not really meshing in New York. He was a fool to let it go. I don't blame Lou on this one, I blame Scott for being greedy scum.

**** him

It's funny, but he needs us too, he's not really meshing in New York. He was a fool to let it go. I don't blame Lou on this one, I blame Scott for being greedy scum.

I always found it funny that everyone on the NYR board is like, who do we put with gomez blah blah blah?

you put him with Elias and ****ing Gionta.

I wouldn't sign him anywhere near 7.5 million. He's a 6 million dollar player at the most. 7.5 mil would prohibit Lou from doing other things as well.

Looking back, I think Lou could've hammered out a multi-year deal in the summer of '06 before going to arbitration for around this same number.

I had an argument on here during the summer where I contested that Gomez is/was a better player than Rolston and would turn out to be more important to the Devils. Looks like I'm starting to be right. The center position has been in limbo ever since. Thankfully, Zajac is on the rise, but Madden's play has slipped and Zubrus is no where near a top 6 center. Rolston isn't a center either.

I like the style of Gomez's play, but I can't like him for the simple fact that he's on the NYR.

That lineup isn't going any deeper in the playoffs than our current lineup - although it may gain the zone better on the PP.

That alone isn't good enough reason to use the 20/20 hindsight machine to play what if...

Plus any what-if fun must include the Rafalski stays scenario.

The lineup may not be any deeper, but it is much younger. Also cheaper. That lineup is no weaker than our current. I am one of the guys who thinks Lou has made several mistakes since the lockout, so i just wanted to put this scenario into perspective.

I don't think he'd be here anyway, regardless of money

The lineup may not be any deeper, but it is much younger. Also cheaper. That lineup is no weaker than our current. I am one of the guys who thinks Lou has made several mistakes since the lockout, so i just wanted to put this scenario into perspective.

It is much younger and cheaper, which isnt always a good thing but i think in this case it wouldve been. also the NYR would not be nearly as good.

Could care less about Gomez, we should have kept Rafalski. But oh no, our D is good enough(not the case at all). We needed a Dman, and all Lou did was get rid of our best one and has got Brookbank, Vishnevski, and Rachunek in return, you can't win a cup that way.

no..

I always found it funny that everyone on the NYR board is like, who do we put with gomez blah blah blah?

you put him with Elias and ****ing Gionta.

I have a very strong feeling that he's going to be dealt in the next year. Especially if he can't find linemates to match up with.

When they signed him everyone salivated at the thought of Jagr-Gomez. FAIL.

Then they signed Naslund this year and traded for Zherdev. Oh man we've got a young hungry winger on his line this time. They're going to kill it on a Naslund-Gomez, Dubinsky-Zherdev combo. WRONG, while they're playing very well as a team, it's because of defense and goaltending. Something they hated watching from 95 onward but all of a sudden that's what their team is doing and it's the most genius move that they have ever made. Pure genius! They're so awesome. Yet they don't complain how freakin' boring they are to watch.

They should trade him to Vancouver to play with the Sedins.

Sedin-Gomez-Sedin

I can picture it now. Sedin passes to Gomez, passes to Sedin, pass back to Gomez, back to Sedin, over to the other Sedin, over to Gomez again. Here comes the shot.......any second here it comes! GOMEZ WINDS UP!!!! SLAP PASS TO SEDIN WHO PASSES IT BACK TO THE POINT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And it's poked off their stick and out of the zone.

Gionta, White, Rupp, Bergfors, pick to NYR for Blowmez

I can picture it now. Sedin passes to Gomez, passes to Sedin, pass back to Gomez, back to Sedin, over to the other Sedin, over to Gomez again. Here comes the shot.......any second here it comes! GOMEZ WINDS UP!!!! SLAP PASS TO SEDIN WHO PASSES IT BACK TO THE POINT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And it's poked off their stick and out of the zone.

They should just tell him to pass it to the inside of the net.

I can picture it now. Sedin passes to Gomez, passes to Sedin, pass back to Gomez, back to Sedin, over to the other Sedin, over to Gomez again. Here comes the shot.......any second here it comes! GOMEZ WINDS UP!!!! SLAP PASS TO SEDIN WHO PASSES IT BACK TO THE POINT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And it's poked off their stick and out of the zone.

That made my day. A+

I would love to still have Gomez. It's clearly hurting us.

I wouldn't want Gomez at his salary at all. Plus, I don't think he was ever going to re-sign and was always going to go to the Rangers anyways. I really don't think he's THAT missed.

Gomez was leaving regardless. That's why Lou didn't bother making him an offer. Gomez wanted the big bucks Lou wasn't prepared to give him. He got it from the Rangers. That's the only reason he signed there, nothing else.

Gomez the player is something this team is missing and of course we'd better today with him in the lineup. But I don't like the idea of the Gomez with his current paycheck on this team.

One can't really say anything about the Rolston signing yet either. The guy got seriously injured four games into the season. He has barely played. Let's give him some time when he comes back to show that he can help this team.

Rolston's age is somewhat concerning, but I rather have Rolston at $5 million than Gomez at $7.5 million. That's my honest opinion.

The Rangers would've offered more. Shame on Lou for not trying to drive his price up.

My only problem with Gomez when it comes to Lou, is that he didn't trade his ass for someone who would have helped this team now. I know he wasn't moving Gomer for picks when the team was considered a contender, at least in Lou's eyes.

Gomez is overpaid and isn't playing as well as last season, where he only netted 70 pts., or so. The Rangers may have gotten their best season out of him already.

I don't miss him at all.

If Rolston can prove to be the PP specialist he is meant to be when he returns then he is better than Gomez.

We create enough chances with our depleted line up, we just don't have the finish.
Gomez would not help that.

To be very honest with you I think we would be better off if we kept that guy that went to The Wings.....

Whats his name...Not Gomez. ( This guy wanted to be so closer to Alaska, that he sadly left us to move ****ing 10 mins up the road)

Looking back on everything that has happened, I am happy letting Gomez walk, however, we have not seen the benefits yet because rolston is hurt.

If you had a gun to my head and said what would you do over again to keep gomez on the team... I would say let Elias walk to the Rangers or Chicago who offered him more money, and sign Gomez.

Jesus, the more I think about Elias' rediculous contract, the more i wonder who we could have signed. For real, he makes Jarome Iginla money and puts up Steve Begin type numbers.

The evil empire can have Gomez and his 13 goals.

I had a small rant about this at njdevs, not going through it again.

The evil empire can have Gomez and his 13 goals.

I had a small rant about this at njdevs, not going through it again.

It probably was the 13 goals that did him in. You know how Lou feels about #13.

Gomez was never coming back.

Gomez was never coming back.

This is fact

id much rather havbe pando and rolston for 7.5, or zubrus rolston for 8.5 than gomez blowmez or 7.5

It's funny, but he needs us too, he's not really meshing in New York. He was a fool to let it go. I don't blame Lou on this one, I blame Scott for being greedy scum.

:laugh::laugh:

id much rather havbe pando and rolston for 7.5, or zubrus rolston for 8.5 than gomez blowmez or 7.5

Didnt i say without bias? Lol Gomez is better than Rolston, sorry. A rather young Gomez at 7.5 is way better than an aging Rolston at 5.5. Point is all 4 of the players you mentioned are overpaid, so it just becomes who is more valuable.

Oh and if he was never coming back Lou is even more incompetent than i thought for not trading him.

As other have said Rafalski leaving is what has hurt. We miss that puck movement from the backend which in turn has hurt the goal scoring.

I don't see how we have missed Gomez, he isn't exactly lighting it up with the Rangers. He had 70 points last year, which is the most points he has ever had with the exception of the post lockout year where everyone's stats were inflated due to the # of pp'. That year shouldn't count when looking over a player statistics. That is what he is a 70 point max player. Gomez made the Rangers so much better that they scored only 7 more goals than the Devils last year. Like I said before that difference is more losing out on Rafalski than Gomez.

Like others have said Gomez was not coming back regardless. e was the type that probably bought into the myth that the Devils were holding back his offensive production. BTW, has there ever been a foward who spent signifigant time with the Devils who left the team and put up better numbers? I can't really think of many except for mybe Rolston who put up the numbers with the same coach he had with the Devils. The Devils have never held an fowards numbers back by requireing them to backcheck.

The fact is Gomez is a 70 point play and that is is ceiling. He's the classic example of a guy who got a big contract because of a weak free agent market. Briere was the only first line center available that year.

Didnt i say without bias? Lol Gomez is better than Rolston, sorry. A rather young Gomez at 7.5 is way better than an aging Rolston at 5.5. Point is all 4 of the players you mentioned are overpaid, so it just becomes who is more valuable.

Oh and if he was never coming back Lou is even more incompetent than i thought for not trading him.

so in other words unless we agree with you, we are bias? i said rolston AND pando or zubrus, we get a pp speacialist and a pk speacialist instead of just s pp speacialist. gomez isnt needed as much now that we have zajac coming into his own and parise doing well. rolston and zubrus are so much better than just gomez

Lol Gomez is better than Rolston, sorry. A rather young Gomez at 7.5 is way better than an aging Rolston at 5.5.

Right now? Give me Rolston. I take his 30 goals, 60 points and two-way game at 5 millions/year over Gomez 15 goals and 65-70 points at 7.3 millions/year. You can make an argument in 2 years maybe, but right now i will take Rolston.

Gomez was never coming back.

:nod:

Even if he was, I would not want to be handcuffed with that contract

I think Pando has negative value. So, looking at him and Rolston at $7.5M isn't completely honest. You're saddled with him, and to get rid of him you would probably have to eat his cap value through waivers (if someone was willing to take him.).

The issue with Gomez is the years, not really the raise, since he was already getting $5 million of the cap to begin with. I'd have to see more of Rolston before I decided one way or another, who is more valueable for the money, Rolston and the anchor known as Pandolfo, or Gomez.

As said, though, in that market, it was moot, there was probably no way of keeping him unless the market was deep and it dried up. That wasn't the case, and Lou apparently had no interest in even offering anyway.

I agree that we should have kept rafalski instead. But by letting them BOTH go, we saved a ton of money which SHOULD have been used toward a top pairing defensman instead of Zubrus and a bunch of spare parts. All will be forgiven though if Lou signs Blowmeester (who is highly overrated but would still be the best defenseman on this team by far) or another legit top pairing defenseman.

The reason why Brian Rolston was brought here in the first place was because he can score goals, especially on the Power Play.

Even during the immediate post-lockout season of 2005/2006 when both Gomez & Gionta had their monster career years, in addition to Elias playing like he was worth the money given to him later that summer, our PP was stil ranked #18.

Brian Rolston has played like 4 games, so the jury is still out if he would have been able to improve our offense and especially our PP.

The Scott Gomez experiment ran its course. He failed here as a #1 Center. We already have enough overpaid and underperforming forwards here right now, but at least one is comming off the books this summer.

Gomez was never coming back.

I knew that, you knew that, and everybody on the Devils knew that, including Lou......thats why its so messed up that Lou didnt trade him before we got worse than nothing in return......cause now he hurts us in the wins / losses against our most hated rival.........Lou really messed up that year with Gomex and Rafalski

The reason why Brian Rolston was brought here in the first place was because he can score goals, especially on the Power Play.

Even during the immediate post-lockout season of 2005/2006 when both Gomez & Gionta had their monster career years, in addition to Elias playing like he was worth the money given to him later that summer, our PP was stil ranked #18.

Brian Rolston has played like 4 games, so the jury is still out if he would have been able to improve our offense and especially our PP.

The Scott Gomez experiment ran its course. He failed here as a #1 Center. We already have enough overpaid and underperforming forwards here right now, but at least one is comming off the books this summer.

you know what might happen and this will really SUK, if Gionta signs with the Rags next year, and Gomex gets the winger he's needed over there and they have a monster year (s) :shakehead

Im more upset with Lou's handling of Rafalski. Rolston and Rafalski on our PP units would have been nice. I like Zubrus but, holy crap he's well overpaid.

I knew that, you knew that, and everybody on the Devils knew that, including Lou......thats why its so messed up that Lou didnt trade him before we got worse than nothing in return......cause now he hurts us in the wins / losses against our most hated rival.........Lou really messed up that year with Gomex and Rafalski

The team was in first place just a couple of points back of Buffalo for first overall in the league? To say you wanted the team to trade Gomez, their number 1 center (rightly or wrongly), is pure hindsight. No team just a couple of points back of #1 overall are trading any impending free agents. In fact most are probably going to try and aquire some impending free agents as rentals. The only teams you dump soon to be free agents are teams out of the playoff picture.

you know what might happen and this will really SUK, if Gionta signs with the Rags next year, and Gomex gets the winger he's needed over there and they have a monster year (s) :shakehead

What monster year as I said before outside of that inflated stat season the most points he has had was 70 points, once with the Devils and last year playing with Jagr a future Hall of Famer. Even counting that inflated stat year the most he has is 84 which isn't a monster year considering the other numbers players put up that year.

Even if the Rangers aquire Gionta he isn't putting up more than 75 points.

I knew that, you knew that, and everybody on the Devils knew that, including Lou......thats why its so messed up that Lou didnt trade him before we got worse than nothing in return......cause now he hurts us in the wins / losses against our most hated rival.........Lou really messed up that year with Gomex and Rafalski

No, Lou didn't mess up..

Lou wants to contend.. In order to do so, you hang on to your best players no matter what the situation is the next year.

No, Lou didn't mess up..

Lou wants to contend.. In order to do so, you hang on to your best players no matter what the situation is the next year.

He should have kept one or both then instead of letting them walk during free agency season............he had first dibbs on both.

Im more upset with Lou's handling of Rafalski. Rolston and Rafalski on our PP units would have been nice. I like Zubrus but, holy crap he's well overpaid.

I honestly think the Zubrus signing was as close to a panic signing Lou has ever done.
we just lost 2 big names, and Zubrus was out there, it kinda stopped the bleeding a little that summer.

I honestly think the Zubrus signing was as close to a panic signing Lou has ever done.
we just lost 2 big names, and Zubrus was out there, it kinda stopped the bleeding a little that summer.

Zubrus was signed only for his physical presence. If you remember, our rather wimpy, smallish team was manhandled, outmuscled, pummeled, pushed-around & toyed with in the playoffs by the Flyers in 2004, Carolina in 2006 & Ottawa in 2007.

He is holding his ground very well and is performing as expected. Other than 2 career years on the Caps, I don't think anyone (including Lou) expected him to do more than bang out 10-15 goals per years on this offensively challenged Devils team.

He is winning his battles in the corners and doing his job. It's then our other forwards repsonsibility to take those pucks and get thim in the net. This last part is not getting done.

In the playoffs against the NYR, our HOF goaltender was getting ran over and disrespected and none of these wimps on the current roster did anything to Henrik Lundqvist to retaliate. Except for Zuburs of course, who bumped him several times and had a glorious spray stop that angered the heck at him. Other than that, every other Devil wet their pants at the the sight of the NYR team.

Zubrus was signed only for his physical presence. If you remember, our rather wimpy, smallish team was manhandled, outmuscled, pummeled, pushed-around & toyed with in the playoffs by the Flyers in 2004, Carolina in 2006 & Ottawa in 2007.

He is holding his ground very well and is performing as expected. Other than 2 career years on the Caps, I don't think anyone (including Lou) expected him to do more than bang out 10-15 goals per years on this offensively challenged Devils team.

He is winning his battles in the corners and doing his job. It's then our other forwards repsonsibility to take those pucks and get thim in the net. This last part is not getting done.

In the playoffs against the NYR, our HOF goaltender was getting ran over and disrespected and none of these wimps on the current roster did anything to Henrik Lundqvist to retaliate. Except for Zuburs of course, who bumped him several times and had a glorious spray stop that angered the heck at him. Other than that, every other Devil wet their pants at the the sight of the NYR team.

Yeah we got manhandled by the Senators in 07, and the Rags had their way with us last year, thats another reason Lou signed Holik...for that size and nasty play we lacked.

you know what might happen and this will really SUK, if Gionta signs with the Rags next year, and Gomex gets the winger he's needed over there and they have a monster year (s) :shakehead

There is about a 1% chance he comes to New York. Due to the Dubinsky, Zherdev, Callahan, Dawes contracts we can't afford him, and we have too many undersized forwards. We lack size.

Gomez can suck it. I still wish we would have resigned Rafalski.

He should have kept one or both then instead of letting them walk during free agency season............he had first dibbs on both.

If we had won that year, would you be signing the same tune?

That's the kind of management that would piss me off as a fan..

We really take Lou for granted.. This guy puts a competitive team out there year in and year out

You can't just say, "he should have kept one or both instead of letting them walk." You don't know what's going to happen when the time approaches and there is more to signing people than your NHL 09 shows..

Some people make it seem like it's as easy as "I want to sign you, so I will, here's a bunch of money and sign here... kthanksbye"

gomez for $7 mill is laughable, i wouldnt give him a penny more then 5 mill. I rather give that 7 million to Jbow, a place where we need a star player.

But the funniest thing i heard when gomez signed with the ranger was his offensive numbers would climb and NJ style held him back...:laugh:

There is about a 1% chance he comes to New York. Due to the Dubinsky, Zherdev, Callahan, Dawes contracts we can't afford him, and we have too many undersized forwards. We lack size.

True, the Rags have enough players to sign in their own

gomez for $7 mill is laughable, i wouldnt give him a penny more then 5 mill. I rather give that 7 million to Jbow, a place where we need a star player.

But the funniest thing i heard when gomez signed with the ranger was his offensive numbers would climb and NJ style held him back...:laugh:

Yeah I believe Renny said something like this..."Scott Gomex is a premier, gifted center in this league, and the NY Rangers are gonna show you how talented he really is"

Honestly, Gomez was gone and after the bull **** with arbitration and his overall arrogance Lou was never bringing him back.

The situation was not mishandled as far as Gomez goes, in terms of trying to move forward, yes there have been missteps, very clear ones at that. Lou's unwillingness to move any of our top guys for other talent was foolish and the fact almost all except Parise have drastically depreciated in value only further digs us into a hole.

However, unlike some people suggest, I don't think Gomez would make this team too much better than they are now because while he can skate, we're also undermining the skating of Oduya, Martin, Parise and arguably Zajac (though not at Gomez's level obviously).

We need someone with a true shot, which Gomez simply does not have. In fact, he's ****ing awful and I have to wonder how many people burned short-term memory capacity smoking weed when thinking of Gomez and his horrific aim. Age aside, in my opinion we need someone that has Joe Sakic type skills: Can skate, is smart, and has a deadly accurate shot.

Who that is though, is an entirely different question. But one of our biggest problems overall isn't just moving the puck, it's shot accuracy. Between blocks and flat-out misses, I'd be amazed if we weren't the top in the league at shots blocked against and missing the net entirely in the previous 2 seasons.

Honestly, Gomez was gone and after the bull **** with arbitration and his overall arrogance Lou was never bringing him back.

The situation was not mishandled as far as Gomez goes, in terms of trying to move forward, yes there have been missteps, very clear ones at that. Lou's unwillingness to move any of our top guys for other talent was foolish and the fact almost all except Parise have drastically depreciated in value only further digs us into a hole.

However, unlike some people suggest, I don't think Gomez would make this team too much better than they are now because while he can skate, we're also undermining the skating of Oduya, Martin, Parise and arguably Zajac (though not at Gomez's level obviously).

We need someone with a true shot, which Gomez simply does not have. In fact, he's ****ing awful and I have to wonder how many people burned short-term memory capacity smoking weed when thinking of Gomez and his horrific aim. Age aside, in my opinion we need someone that has Joe Sakic type skills: Can skate, is smart, and has a deadly accurate shot.

Who that is though, is an entirely different question. But one of our biggest problems overall isn't just moving the puck, it's shot accuracy. Between blocks and flat-out misses, I'd be amazed if we weren't the top in the league at shots blocked against and missing the net entirely in the previous 2 seasons.

Maybe those players numbers would be up to par with a playmaking center on the team...like Gomez

Parise-Elias-Zajac

WIN

**** Gomez...lets hire these guys for the 12th:

http://www.break.com/index/the-all-bear-olympic-hockey-team.html

Lou and Gomez are like oil and water. Gomez is happy in NY. Lou never replaced him and the Devils are feeling it.

gomez is a good player however, tying up 7.5 million for a 20 goal (at best) player seems ridiculous to me. the rangers will realize this when it becomes time to sign up and coming stars like brandon dubinsky.

and don't forget parise will be making much more than 3.5 million soon. i agree that gomez is a type of player sorely missed as is rafalski, but the devils decided to go a different route.

you cannot be overly critical at this point due to the rash of key injuries. as the team starts to get healthy, i think they will be fine. although it has become more apparant to me that one more top 4 defenseman is badly needed. most of this i believe because the play of white has gone south in a big way.

Now this might be my short term memory loss showing (or long term) but it seems we are getting a lot more quality scoring chances this year than in the past. This team is playing the way Sutter wanted them to last year, at least the offense is and this is without Roslton and Holik for most of the year. Hopefully they get back and this team learns to win without Marty stealing them games.

Gomez can skate with the puck and pass, better than anyone on this team can right now, although Patty is a pretty good playmaker in his own right. Would we score more goals with him here? Not really. Let the Rags have him, and like many on here I would love to get J-Bo but i don't have high expectations of that even though he is what we need. The defense without him only looks like a dangerous unit if Greene and Salmela continue to get better and we cast off Mottau. Oduya is the man and thank god we have Martin but I don't think having gomez still here would make us a better team.

Seriously guys, **** Gomez.

He's a general in Sather's 4th Reich...

One of my coworkers brothers owns a pizza place in Manhattan that Gomez eats at all the time. I was thinking about making the trip just to have a word with him

One of my coworkers brothers owns a pizza place in Manhattan that Gomez eats at all the time. I was thinking about making the trip just to have a word with him

Get the guy to put Rogain in his pizza sauce. Baldmez could do with that.

Get the guy to put Rogain in his pizza sauce. Baldmez could do with that.

When I talked to the guy, I asked him to "Nancy Kerrigan" him. But he likes Gomez and he gives him good business so he refused

Just make a pizza with some 'special sauce' for him... and not the rogaine - that would just ruin it. He's striving for the Mark Messi-gay look you know...

Would you guys have rather the Rangers signed Elias the year before?

Sather reportedly offered him 7 mill. If Elias signs than theres no room for Gomez.

Good job Elias isnt a greedy S.O.B and actually has a sense of loyalty then. I mean we could of ended up with the worse player, paying him more!!

Phhhewwww...

One of my coworkers brothers owns a pizza place in Manhattan that Gomez eats at all the time. I was thinking about making the trip just to have a word with him

Oh how appropriate. I'm sure Fatboy eats aloooooooooot of that pizza on his way to reaching 250 lbs. by the time he turns 30.

I remember reading that Jason Spezza's offense never really took off until he ditched fast food in favor of hiring a personal chef and totally changing his eating rituals. He said he would always stop for fast food after a game, but now goes home for salmon and brown rice. Conversely, I have visions of Mr. "3 assits over 10 games" going home and stopping off for 6 slices of greasy pizza, and that's just for starters.

I'm convinced that Fatboy's ego gets in the way of healthy eating as he truly believes that he is actually healthy (and offensively performing up to his expensive contract too) and can go on eating (and drinking) recklessly forever. I remember seeing him in a bar (and he was feeling no pain) in Hoboken sometime after the Cup season of 2000-2001 and man, was that gut really prominent.

I'm sure there isn't a drinking or unhelthy eating establishment on the Upper West Side (or wherever he lives) that he doesn't like.

Keep it up Fatboy, you overindulgent, expensive jerk!

I don't really care for Gomez anyway but Rafalski was a different story. He wanted to be here and Lou should have done everything he could to keep him here.

Alot of our puck movement and scoring was hinged on Rafalski's play.

gomez for $7 mill is laughable, i wouldnt give him a penny more then 5 mill. I rather give that 7 million to Jbow, a place where we need a star player.

But the funniest thing i heard when gomez signed with the ranger was his offensive numbers would climb and NJ style held him back...:laugh:

I think lots of us thought that, but then the Rangers started to really employ the Trap regularly.......So Gomer made a lateral move in terms of Systems. This isn't the Rangers System that he and we were used to seeing in the early 2000's up until 06.... Poor him.

7 Mil is a lot for J-bo, and he hasnt really played that well this season from what i understand.....

Grass always looks greener on the other side. How many people were saying how great Rolston was? Now that we got him, the first thing we do is regret it? Come on, he's only played a few games.

We need to have a healthy team before we can really see where we are as a team. I think fully healthy we are definately a cup bound team. We just need to stay healthy.