Scott Gomez has proven this season he’s indeed ‘not done’ as an NHL player (NJ.com photo)

Normally, doing a blog almost entirely about another blog is a bit unconventional. However, both the Players’ Tribune blog itself, and specifically their most recent piece by the Devils’ own Scott Gomez is definitely worthy of the fifteen minutes-half hour it will take you to read through it:

http://www.theplayerstribune.com/not-done/

You’ve probably heard of the Players’ Tribune since it was founded by none other than Yankees legend Derek Jeter.  In a nutshell, it features many athletes writing first-person accounts of their career or of specific events in it with their own voice – and from what I’ve seen of this site, they aren’t watered down versions of events either.  While it might not be breaking new ground on paper, it’s definitely far more substantive than Twitter or most everyday local and national interviews.  In a player’s autobiography, you may have to read through hundreds of pages of family life and background stuff before you get to what really interests you as a sports fan…the nitty-gritty of the athlete’s career.  These blogs cut to the chase and are quicker reads but informative nonetheless.

Take this piece on Gomez, which is particularly poignant given that for better or worse I’ve followed Gomez’s career for fifteen years since he was a happy-go-lucky teenage rookie in 2000.  Reading something written by say, Russel Wilson is nice and one of the few pieces on the site I’d read before this one, but by the same token when you’re reading something from one of ‘your own’ as a sports fan it certainly makes more of an impression.  Especially given the ups and downs in Gomez’s career, which definitely make a good narrative.  While everyone knows of the highs and lows in Gomez’s career, his account of it is more or less a soul-bearing experience, and provides some revealing behind the scenes nuggets.  I’ll just highlight a few quotes and comment on them, starting with the lead itself:

Early in my career, I’d hear about guys with long scoreless droughts and just think, How’s that even possible? It made no sense to me.

But then there I was, sitting on the bench for the Montreal Canadiens, watching our home fans in the stands dancing around in sombreros and singing “Happy Birthday” in honor of my one-year goal drought.

By that point, I was fully aware of my poor play. My lack of scoring was the subject of TV reports, newspaper columns and, yes, its own website. But it was at that moment, serving as the butt of a bad joke for 20,000 fans at the Bell Centre, that it hit me hardest.

“Holy s***, I’m that guy now.”

While everyone knew about the infamous year plus long goalscoring drought (and the infamous website referenced) during Gomez’s Montreal days, I didn’t actually realize his own fans were mocking him to such an extent.  Reading that I went ‘wow, that’s just mean’, although ironically Gomez also talks in the article about how he didn’t want to be pitied and it hurt when even his closest friends were feeling sorry for him during the down years of his career.  Of course that wasn’t the beginning or end of Gomez’s career, just the nadir.

Thankfully as a Devil fan I got to see many of his best days from 2000-2007 when he was a key cog on two Cup winning teams.  Back then, he was definitely one of my favorite players. Certainly, I loved how he was able to thread the needle with his passing and rush end-to-end like a daredevil.  I was never much of an athlete but always had good peripheral vision myself, so I could appreciate a great pass as much as or even more than a great goal.  Part of my affinity towards Gomez was also personality-based, it was a bit refreshing to see someone overtly outgoing, happy and having fun compared to the dull, introverted persona many athletes adopt to avoid contreversy.

Of course then free agency happened, and everything changed when he went to the rival Rangers.  To his credit he’s unapologetic for moving on, while at the same time understanding the feeling of many Devils fans who booed him every time he touched the puck after he left:

To a hockey fan, signing a contract with the Rangers after spending several years with New Jersey probably sounds like treason. But the truth is that most of my teammates were happy for me. They understand as much as anybody that this is a business.

That’s not to say it was an easy decision. I played on the same team with some guys for seven years. We grew up together. We were like family. There’s no question that I felt a certain loyalty to them and the organization. But at the same time, we’ve all seen the other side of it. We’ve watched our friends get cut. We’ve seen guys buy a house and then get traded a couple of months later. When you see those things, you learn very quickly how important it is to take care of yourself when you can.

Ironically, Gomez was himself traded just two years into his big contract, and after a good initial season in Montreal came the steep descent into rock bottom a couple years later. After the 2012 lockout, Gomez was bought out shortly thereafter and moved onto San Jose.  I do recall reading rumors at the time that Gomez was considering a comeback here, and he in fact talked about that decision, to choose the Sharks over a return here in 2013.

Lou was the first person I called when I made the decision to go to the Sharks. He tried to talk me out of it. He wanted me back in New Jersey. He said he wasn’t going to let me fail. I should have listened to him, but at that point I was so set on trying something new that I didn’t hear him out. I thought getting a new start would build my confidence, but what I probably needed was some familiarity. At that point my mind was made up and I just wanted to get the hell out of the east coast.

Unfortunately the reunion would have to wait a couple of years as Gomez struggled, bouncing from San Jose to Florida a year later with little success.  Many thought his career was done after last season.  It turned out however, that the seeds for his career revival were planted in those last games down in Sunrise:

My final six games with the Panthers, they had a few injuries and I got into the lineup. I figured this was my last hurrah in the NHL, so I went full-out balls to the wall. I decided I didn’t care about fitting in whatever scheme was in place; I just grabbed the damn puck and played my style of hockey. I figured in a few months, I’d probably be in a TV booth so I left everything out there. My ice time jumped from 6 minutes to 17 minutes and I played better than I had in years. At that point, the people closest to me got in contact and told me the same thing: You’re not done.

Fittingly, Not Done is the title of the piece and represents not only fact but an atitude. Everyone knows about the fact Gomez returned on a tryout contract, eventually finding a spot in the lineup in December and proving he still belonged in the league.  However, it wasn’t just a matter of coming home to familiarity for him although it certainly helped – he had to work at it too, training with reknown fitness coach Vladimir Bure (a former Olympic swimmer and father to NHL HOF’er Pavel Bure).  As Gomez writes, those sessions not only became good for him physically but also mentally, helping him believe he could still play at a high level, even as he had to wait around a couple of months for his opportunity.  To date, Gomez has 27 points in 44 games for the Devils – which might not seem that impressive except that he’s less than ten points off the team lead on an offensively-challenged Devils team, and just one assist behind Adam Henrique for the team lead in that category, despite not being on the roster the first two months of the season.  Gomez’s 27 points is also his highest point total in a season since 2010-11.

Amazingly, his career has come full circle.  Once a popular player in New Jersey, then a notorious figure after going to the Rangers and an object of pity after that, he’s become beloved again – one of the few bright spots in an otherwise dissapointing season.  In doing this blog, I intentionally left out commenting on a lot of his Devils-related stuff so as not to spoil it for anyone who hasn’t read the piece yet, but suffice it to say Gomez even after leaving never lost his regard for Lou or the organization.  Perhaps the Gomez story also helps illustrate why so many Devils eventually wind up coming back to the organization. Even if you aren’t a Devils fan though, this is a compelling narrative nonetheless.  As Gomez himself says without it being hyperbole, he’s experienced the highest highs and the lowest lows of hockey.