New Jersey Devils invite Scott Gomez for a tryout
By Cory Buck
The New Jersey Devils have little enough to lose after a disappointing 2013-14 that saw the team miss the playoffs in a wide open Eastern Conference. At least, that’s what they’re citing in inviting former Devil Scott Gomez to an unsigned tryout when the team opens training camp in September.
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“He felt he still had a lot of hockey in him and he’s been working out this summer so I told him to come to camp,” general manager Lou Lamoriello told the Star-Ledger. “There are no promises. We certainly know what he has the capability of doing. This is no different than with Petr Sykora.”
Gomez can only hope his tryout goes as well as that of his former teammate, Sykora, who returned to the Devils in the 2011-12 season and tallied 21 goals and 23 assists in a full 82-game season. Gomez has only one season of 20 or more goals in his career, which started with the New Jersey Devils in the 1999-2000 season, when he won the Calder trophy for Rookie of the Year.
The Devils won the Stanley Cup in Gomez’s rookie season, then again in 2003, but Gomez left a few years later for a big payday with the New York Rangers. When his game deteriorated, Gomez was traded to the Montreal Canadiens in one of the most lopsided trades in recent history, landing the Rangers skilled blue liner Ryan McDonagh. The Canadiens eventually bought out Gomez’s contract.
After stints with the San Jose Sharks and the Florida Panthers in the last two seasons respectively, Gomez is finally ready to go home. Whether or not he can supplant anyone on the Devils roster is a question for another day. Today at least, it appears this may be his final stop in the NHL one way or another.