for the league's most overpaid player.
And the nominees are:
Scott Gomez
Cap hit: $7.357 million until 2014.
Last year's salary: $8 million
Montreal paid Gomez eight million dollars this season. Gomez, in turn, provided the Habs with 7 goals and 31 assists over the span of 80 games.
To put this in perspective, Sergei Samsonov, who did not survive his first year playing for Montreal, was paid $3.525 million for 9 goals and 17 assists in 63 games for the Habs.
Why Montreal hasn't put Gomez on waivers, traded him to a team struggling to reach the cap floor, or just plain bought him out is a mystery.
Fearless prediction: the 2011-2012 season will be just as bad.
Ilya Kovalchuk
Cap hit: $6.667 million until 2025.
Last year's salary: $6 million
This is the person everyone will point to when they explain how, when, and why the Devils stopped being a perennial playoff contender. Like Gomez, Kovalchuk's contract prohibits the Devils from signing other skilled players. Maybe there's method in their madness, Maybe the Devils management has recognized that they can't fill their arena even halfway, and need a marquee player to fill the seats and sell jerseys. If that pipe dream comes true, the Devils will have a stadium full of people to watch the Devils lose.
Vincent Lecavalier
Cap hit: $7.727 million until 2020.
Last year's salary: $10 million
Lecavalier has seen a steady decline in his performance, coupled with an unparallelled rise in ego. Vinny has been responsible for the firings of two coaches, and his attitude is a cancer on the Tampa Bay Lightning. With Steve Yzerman at the helm, you can guarantee that Vinny will have at least one "Come to Jesus" meeting with Stevie Y. It's not too late, but Vinny needs to do two things: stop trying to run the Lightning organization, and start putting pucks in net again (or help his teammates do so). Otherwise, I doubt someone like Yzerman, who knows what it takes to win, will keep this guy around.
Rick Dipietro
Cap hit: $4.5 million until 2021.
Last year's salary: $4.5 million
Seriously, it's too easy. The guy is made of glass. After his fight with Brent Johnson, I said, "watch him be out for six weeks." I was joking. But he was indeed out for six weeks.
He has played a total 39 games during the last THREE seasons, with 11 wins. And the Isles have him until 2021.
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