Scott Gomez – No surprises, but what should he have been paid?

It is no secret that Scott Gomez’s contract that was signed with the New York Rangers and is now being carried by the Montreal Canadiens is out of whack for his value. Since day one of the signing just about everyone mentions that he is not worth the $7M+ average annual salary of his contract.  Obviously he is an easy target to criticize as a result, but at what salary would the comments go away?

			Scott Gomez
	GP	G	A	Pts	Cap Hit ($M)	True Value ($M)
2008	81	16	54	70	7.36	3.77
2009	77	16	42	58	7.36	3.57
2010	78	12	47	59	7.36	3.79
2011	80	7	31	38	7.36	2.82
2012	38	2	9	11	7.36	0.94

2011-12 was a tough year for Gomez given injuries and a lack of productive numbers, but there had been some consitency to his game in previous years. If Scott Gomez’s contract was in the $3M-$4M range it is likely he would not be such a lightning rod. Unfortunately his outsized contract may lead to him playing in Hamilton in 2012-13 (or less likely, having his contract being bought out).