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Should Montreal banish Scott Gomez to the minors?

Scott Gomez Braden Holtby Scott Hannan

Montreal Canadiens’ Scott Gomez is shoved into Washington Capitals’ Braden Holtby by Capitals defenseman Scott Hannan during the first period of an NHL hockey game, Tuesday, March 15, 2011, in Montreal. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Paul Chiasson)

AP

Sure, the New York Rangers traded Scott Gomez, but he might still be a kindred spirit with Wade Redden. A TSN panel discussed a mind-blowing possibility: should the Montreal Canadiens pay Gomez $7.4 million to not play for their team?

While Aaron Ward and Marc Crawford called for a buyout, Bob McKenzie recommended giving Gomez the Redden treatment.

In an ideal world (for the Habs, at least), Montreal would be able to unload Gomez’s laughable deal on another team, much like the Chicago Blackhawks did with Brian Campbell. Most NHL teams probably find it hard to believe that Gomez will deliver like Campbell has so far in Florida though, so it’s reasonable that the TSN crew emphasized two options in which the Habs would eat part of Gomez’s salary.

Assuming a trade indeed cannot happen, it breaks down to three options, then:

1. Buy him out: On the bright side, Montreal would save some money and cut ties with Gomez altogether. The minus is that the Habs wouldn’t get total cap relief and the impact would cover four seasons.

2. Demote him: The perks are two-fold: Gomez would be gone to the AHL and the cap hit would evaporate. That being said, the Habs would need to pay Gomez his full salary to play in the minors.

3. Keep him: Naturally, the Habs could hope that Gomez will find a way to get his career back on track, as unlikely as that might seem to some.

Since it’s not my money, I’d go with option number two - at least if another team decides to go in rebuild mode and unload a pricey star (Jarome Iginla, maybe?). What would you do with the struggling Alaskan scorer, though?