Gomez Gone

Well, Sather is willing to shake things up after all. In what appears to be a cap-clearing move (one of the two it was possible to make), Scottie Gomez is now a Montréal Canadien. In return, we got a fellow named Chris Higgins. (We also traded 2 prospects each, Tom Pyatt and Mike Busto for Ryan McDonagh and Pavel Valentenko. Valentenko and McDonagh are both defenseman.) Higgins is a 26-year-old, 6', 202-lb center who has scored 151 points in 282 games with the Canadiens. He's nothing special. But he does clear out a substantial portion of Gomez's team-leading $7.4 million cap hit.

I'm sad to see Scottie go, I really liked him. But he'll do great in Montréal, and he was one of the only legitimate moves (with Drury) we could have made to clear space. Redden and Rozsival will not be taken off of our hands unless they're coupled with something good, and Hank is off-limits. I think his game this season will be much better than it was last season, and I'm sad that his time with us couldn't have been more productive.

Still, this feels like a positive step toward the future. I wonder if Torts will actually make Dubinsky our first line center, let Drury do his job as second line center, and let Anisimov, Higgins, and Boyle compete for 3rd and 4th line. I also wonder if this isn't just Step One: the cap room this clears us allows us to try to take on a contract like Heatley's without bleeding ourselves dry. Girardi and Rozsival for Heatley? Too many possibilities. Stop thinking about a first line made up of Dubinsky, Callahan, and Heatley. Right now, we're here to talk about one trade.

All in all, I'm a little sad, as my Dad is, about still not having an identity. This major shakeup happens every off-season now, and it's hard to think about anyone besides Lundqvist as a "career Ranger." Hopefully some of that will start to settle as we build our team around youth. For now, we wish all the best to Scott Gomez in Montréal, and we look to what Sather's next move is gonna be.