devils26

This is how I feel about Gomez as well. With Gomez, I felt there was literally 0 chance he was re-signing here. The main thing that stung about Gomez was where he went. He also decided within 5 minutes of FA opening it seemed and never gave me any thought that he was even considering signing here. Zach was a lot different. I personally felt that he was going to leave, but I had been preparing for it all year so I expected the worst. The only respite from Zach leaving is where. Gomez also wasn't a captain and we weren't 2 games from a cup when he bolted.

I rank the sting of guys leaving like this:
1. Niedermayer 2. Parise 3. Holik 4. Gomez

I only count those four because the other guys who have left, we mostly knew they were going and the consensus was that it wasn't a big deal. Madden was my favorite player when he was here, so that one stung personally, but I didn't hate the guy (nor do I) because it was an expected departure.

I definitely agree with the ranking of those four players but you might want to throw Martin into that mix; I don't think people felt his leaving was no big deal. Yeah, he might be at number 5 for me on that list, but his leaving wasn't easy for me to take either.

One place we differ about Parise is that I bought his crap about wanting to stay, so I think his leaving stings me more than it does you. Overall, however, Nieds' actions stung more than Parise's ever will.

Of all the player defections we've endured, Gomez still stung the most. It was just a pure cash grab from our biggest rivals. Zach said "No way" about the Rangers, kept his word on it, turned down more money from the Flyers, turned down Sid and the Pens, and ultimately went home. I couldn't hate Rafalski for going home. Why would I hate Zach for it?

Of course I hated Gomez going to a rival, but all season I felt like there was no way he was re-signing here. On the other hand, Zach was feeding us lines about wanting to re-sign here. Maybe I'm a sucker for believing him, but he kept giving me hope, while it was clear Gomez was leaving.

I'm with Rowdy, dr33, '7', etc.
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Now back to your regularly scheduled venting ...

Thank you for stating your opinion but not acting like everyone who disagrees with you is an idiot. The board is more fun when people are just giving opinions and not acting like they're smarter than everyone else.

some people just can't let it go. Sure I was pissed he left...for a day or two. But not like I ever owned any Parise merch. Now I can look forward to getting the C put on my Kovy jersey, once it becomes official....

Lol, it's been four days. Give it a break.

it is amusing that he and Cam are on the same team now, Wonder how morning skates are gonna go!

I figure they'll both be on the side watching the real players practice.