What To Make of Gomez

My first reaction to the news of Gomez's early morning meeting with the principal was one of slight disgust.

Told to stay home? This was not the way to treat a player under contract. This was not the team that we tout as being class of all known teams.



But after reading into the situation a bit, i think I now have a better understanding.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems that the reasoning for this move is entirely to do with the buy out of Scott Gomez and how the Canadiens future is 100% tied to this event going through without a hitch.

Apparently (and I didn't know this before), one cannot buy out a player who is not medically cleared to play (seems fair by our legal standards, I think). And, since the Canadiens backed themselves into the proverbial corner with quite a few less than optimal contracts, they actually full on require the Gomez buy out to get them out of the mess (and sign Subban). These two together meant they could not possibly risk Gomez picking up an injury during the season (or maybe as some speculate, re-aggravating a long-known injury) thereby barring them from this buyout and forcing them to look at some difficult trades to clear cap space.

It doesn't look great, but we understand the ends now justify the means.

My question is, what do you think?

Does this tarnish the Habs reputation? (what was left of it)

Is it fair to Gomez?

Do we care?



Adieu

I would like to end by saying it's a pretty unceremonious way to say goodbye to a player, who, although he struggled of late, was absolutely key to the best finish the Canadiens have had in 20 years. He will not, and should not be among the most treasured Canadiens players of all time, but he was a good player in his time.

I wish him well, and hope that once he finds a more reasonable pay scale that he may return to the NHL in a role that suits his real skills.