NHL Franchise Boys

Week 18 email from Steve to everyone read as follows (I guess he was right):

 

There have been numerous articles, rumours and speculations about the Canadiens buying out Scott Gomez after this season is over. Such a move may save the Habs a lot of cap space, and would rid Montreal of a highly under performing player. Gomez is currently on the injured reserve list with a concussion, thanks to a hit from behind on Tyler Myers which led to his 3 game suspension. The fact is that concussions are difficult to recover from quickly, and have a very open ended timetable when it comes to a return date. There is the possibility that Gomez may not recover before the end of this season. If he does not, then due to a clause in the current CBA, any injured player cannot be bought out from their contract. The Habs would be stuck with him.

The conspiracy theorists would say that if Gomez wanted to leave Montreal, he could voluntarily return to the lineup to get into at least one game. However, with the guaranteed $10 million left on his contract over the next two seasons, what would his incentive be to leave? Some say that he yearns to return to New Jersey, where he started in the NHL. To do so, he’d have to accept a drastically reduced salary, but perhaps he would be happier playing there. From the team’s perspective, a buyout would save 2/3 of the $10 million left on his contract in terms of real money. Unfortunately, from a cap perspective the cap hit would actually be greater. A buyout would cost Montreal a total of $11.3 million over the next 4 seasons on the salary cap, including a little over $8 million over the next 2 seasons! Would the Canadiens want to carry that much of a cap hit over the next 4 seasons, for a player that does not play for them? Another option exists, where the Canadiens could move Gomez to the minors, where they would be obligated to pay his salary but not be subject to his restrictively high salary cap hit.

Gomez’s career is at an all time low, and has been on a steep decline since he joined Montreal. Perhaps a change of scenery would do both him and the team good. As it stands today, until Gomez returns to play from his injury, nothing definitive can be planned for, for the off season or next season.

According to media sources, the Canadiens may soon be parting ways with center Scott Gomez as the Habs prepare to buy out the remainder of his deal at season’s end. Gomez has two years left with an annual cap hit of $7.36 million and is over the age of 26, Montreal would assume his cap hit over a period of four years (twice the remaining length of the contract)…

• 2012-13: $3,523,810
• 2013-14: $4,523,810
• 2014-15: $1,666,667
• 2015-16: $1,666,667

If the buyout does indeed happen, it’ll be a rather fitting end to one of the most disastrous acquisitions in Canadiens history. Not only did Montreal take on one of the league’s most bloated contracts — they paid a pretty price in doing so, giving up the likes of Pavel Valentenko, Chris Higgins and Ryan McDonagh. Since coming to Montreal in 2009 Gomez has appeared in 196 games, scoring just 21 goals while posting a minus-23 rating.

Note: Tha Habs hope the NHL adopts the amnesty clause (like the NBA) and just get rid of him that way. The “amnesty” clause, a.k.a. the “get-out-of-jail-free” card, allows each team to waive one player and remove him from the salary cap — creating room to sign another player and potentially saving millions in luxury-tax penalties. The player must still be paid, but the provision could give a few teams some relief and put an extra jolt in the free-agent market. Amnesty players will go through waivers, like any other player. However, teams that make claims will also enter bids. The highest bidder will get the player and pay that amount (with the balance paid by the team that cut him).

So let’s say the NHL had an amnesty clause. Now suppose the Canucks decided Cory Schneider was the goalie of the future in Vancouver. The Canucks could waive Roberto Luongo and his $5.3-million annual cap hit would be off the books forever. Now enter the Columbus Blue Jackets, who like Luongo but not for what he’s making. The Jackets could bid 60 cents on the dollar and, assuming nobody outbid them, they’d get Luongo, with the Canucks responsible for the salary shortfall, but not cap hit. (I smell a new rule for our pool!!!)

There are plenty of bad contracts out there. Imagine if every team was allowed to ditch its worst one…. Yes folks, we’re headed for another strike!