Best pick at No. 27: Scott Gomez, Devils

[msweet]

Gomez continued to develop into one of the game's best playmaking centers, totaling at least 40 assists in six of his first seven seasons and helping the Devils win the 2003 Stanley Cup. He showed he could score goals, finding the back of the net a career-best 33 times in 2005-06, when he also had a personal-high 82 points.

He moved across the Hudson River in the summer of 2007, signing a seven-year, $51.5 million contract with the Rangers. He spent two seasons in New York, averaging 16 goals and 64 points per season, then was traded to the Montreal Canadiens in June 2009.

Things went south quickly for Gomez after he had 12 goals and 59 points in 78 games with the Canadiens in 2009-10. He had seven goals in 2010-11, and two in 38 games the next season, going through a goal drought that lasted 369 days.

 

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=672790

[Devilsfan118]

You know, it's a shame.  If he had stuck with the Devils and stayed in the system I think he could've become a very, very special player.

Instead, he chased the dollar, and, at times, was the laughing stock of the NHL.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

You know, it's a shame.  If he had stuck with the Devils and stayed in the system I think he could've become a very, very special player.

Instead, he chased the dollar, and, at times, was the laughing stock of the NHL.

 

I said this a while ago, but in the interviews I've seen and heard of Gomez, he doesn't come off as a guy who's terribly bright, and kind of a doofus.  I think the Devils had a better handle on how to handle Gomez's "doofus-ish-ness" better than anyone else.  Unfortunately, I think he was a guy who was easily tricked/manipulated, and when Glen Sather basically told him that the Devils didn't know how to use him and that he would flourish with the Rangers in a way that he never had never been "allowed" to with the Devils, Gomer quickly bought in...and of course, Sather has long been making the classic GM mistake of "Let me sign the best available free agent(s) of a given class to superstar dollars, whether they are or not, and hope that they perform like superstars." 

 

What's also sad is that I don't think Gomer ever worked terribly hard at his craft...I think most of what he accomplished was due to sheer talent.  And I don't think he got nearly as much out of that talent as he could have.

[Beck27]

I said this a while ago, but in the interviews I've seen and heard of Gomez, he doesn't come off as a guy who's terribly bright, and kind of a doofus.  I think the Devils had a better handle on how to handle Gomez's "doofus-ish-ness" better than anyone else.  Unfortunately, I think he was a guy who was easily tricked/manipulated, and when Glen Sather basically told him that the Devils didn't know how to use him and that he would flourish with the Rangers in a way that he never had never been "allowed" to with the Devils, Gomer quickly bought in...and of course, Sather has long been making the classic GM mistake of "Let me sign the best available free agent(s) of a given class to superstar dollars, whether they are or not, and hope that they perform like superstars." 

 

What's also sad is that I don't think Gomer ever worked terribly hard at his craft...I think most of what he accomplished was due to sheer talent.  And I don't think he got nearly as much out of that talent as he could have.

 

It was reported quite a few times during the 06 season that he was spending extra time before and after practice with Jacques Laperriere, working on his shot.  Go figure that's the year he scored 33 goals.  But I think there is truth to him relying on his sheer talent for the majority of his career.   

[Devils731]

I said this a while ago, but in the interviews I've seen and heard of Gomez, he doesn't come off as a guy who's terribly bright, and kind of a doofus.

 

After the Devils won the cup won the cup in 2003, I won my friend a visit to ESPN Radio to see the Cup, Gomez, and Pando with like 5 other people by calling Gomez a doofy Devil, so I'm right there with you on your impression of him.

[TomsRiverDevil]

Its crazy to see all of the devils in the top 30!

[capo]

I still think we're going to see him back in a Devils jersey.

[DevsMan84]

I think CR1976's post about Gomez is dead-on.

 

I really wonder how he would do back in a Devils sweater.  Maybe the system that he seemed to hate especially at the end is what made him excel in the first place and perhaps he will see that one day?

[Devils731]

I think CR1976's post about Gomez is dead-on.

 

I really wonder how he would do back in a Devils sweater.  Maybe the system that he seemed to hate especially at the end is what made him excel in the first place and perhaps he will see that one day?

 

I think that's one reason we see players leave and come back.  As younger players they chafe under all the restrictions and general seriousness of the Devils, they want to have fun and enjoy the payoff for all their work.  Then when they get older, they appreciate that a lot of what the Devils do leads to winning and getting the most out of players abilities and now they want to have fun winning as a slightly higher priority than enjoying relaxed standards off the ice.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

I think the reason Gomez had the success that he did have had almost everything to do with the Devils...coming into a team and franchise that was already established and ready to win, and with guys like Lou and Stevens who weren't about to put up with any nonsense.  I think if he had played for a team that was struggling or rebuilding and didn't have the leadership on par with the 99-00 Devils, I could see his career going very differently.  He really came into a perfect situation, the kind a guy like him really needed.