Let's start this with a blanket declaration so no one perceives what is to follow as any form of an excuse: Scott Gomez is coming off a horrendous season.

It's clear, there's no need to prove it nor is there any need to harp on it, either.

Looked at from every perspective imaginable – whether it's his salary, his level of production, his two-way play, whatever – Gomez had a season he would like to forget.

Hopefully, he hasn't already forgotten, because the memory of that season from hell should provide the fuel he needs to arrive at training camp in a few months better prepared and hungrier than he ever has before.

But in the meantime, a city full of people are seemingly judging Gomez's value to the Canadiens based on that one season.

To those people, I make one request: breathe.

Deeply.

I don't pretend to be inside the head of general manager Pierre Gauthier, nor do I pretend to have any inside information as to his intentions. I can only form an opinion based on my observations, based on circumstances, and based on reality in trying to determine if Gauthier is in fact looking to trade Gomez as everyone seems to hope he is.

And my guess would be he isn't.

So even though the rise in the salary floor this season to $48.3 million will make Gomez's $7.36 million cap hit attractive to a few teams desperate to reach that floor, I still don't think the Canadiens will actively seek a salary dump type of deal at this point in time.

Too soon to cut losses

The top reason why I don't believe that will happen is that it is too soon for the Canadiens to cut their losses when it comes to the trade that brought Gomez from the New York Rangers exactly two years ago this coming Thursday.

Yes, he had a bad season. Yes, he will never, ever live up to that salary.

But Gomez at his best is still a useful player, one who can put pressure on an opposing defence, one who carries the puck with above average speed through the neutral zone, one who can play well in his own end when he feels like it, and one who rises to the occasion when the stakes are high in the playoffs.

His history proves that, and those attributes proven over a long period of time are what led Bob Gainey and Gauthier to pull the trigger on a trade that is heavily weighted in the Rangers favour right now.

Gauthier's role in that trade leads me to believe he won't be so quick to unload Gomez for the simple reason that doing so would be admitting the magnitude of the error of making the trade to begin with.

But aside from reasons based on professional ego, there are practical factors at play in deciding to pursue a Gomez trade as well.

Barren free agent market

First and foremost is the fact – I'm using the word fact – that there are very few centres available in free agency who could fill the role Gomez fills on the Canadiens roster.

If you take out last season, Gomez's career points per game average is 0.81, which would put him among the top second line centres in the league. Even in his two seasons prior to the last one Gomez produced 0.75 points per game, still good enough to make him a viable second line centre.

That 0.75 points per game average accrued over the two seasons preceding Gomez's career-worst 2010-11 campaign would have placed him 10th among the league's second line centres, right behind Mike Richards in Philadelphia and his 0.81 average.

While no one will say the Canadiens are getting good value on Gomez should he reach his 58 and 59 points of those two seasons, it is not a stretch to think he might reach that level of production again this year. Gomez is by no means young, but at 32 years old he is by no means done either.

Aside from Brad Richards, however, who on the free agent market could even hypothetically replace that level of production? Steve Sullivan appears as though he may be available, but he is a major injury risk who is 36. Aside from that, at the centre position, there is no one but Richards who could fill the hole Gomez would leave behind in a salary dump trade to a bottom-spending team. Should the Canadiens bank on beating out an innumerable number of teams to win the Brad Richards derby? Do they event want to? I doubt it.

More reasons to keep Gomez 

Furthermore, external circumstances would also lead me to believe the Canadiens have no interest in trading Gomez.

First off, Lars Eller is not expected to be ready to play until November, meaning he will miss training camp and the opportunity to build on his strong playoff performance. It's impossible to know how well Eller will be able to come back from his separated shoulder, not so much physically, but in terms of matching the conditioning and level of intensity of players who have been on the ice for two months by the time he plays a single game.

Secondly, Gomez should benefit from having a healthy Max Pacioretty from day one. The left wing spot on his line with Brian Gionta was a glaring hole all season until Pacioretty claimed it for his own, and it re-emerged when Pacioretty was lost for the season.

As much heat as Gomez took all season long, not enough was placed on Gionta for his horrible start to the season. Gionta scored one goal in his first 13 games despite getting off 51 shots in that span, many of which were set up by Gomez. In that 14th game, Gionta was placed on the right of Tomas Plekanec and Mike Cammalleri and took off, scoring seven goals in his next 15 games with Plekanec as his centre.

Whoever was placed with Gomez, meanwhile, struggled.

Except in the 26 games Gomez played with Pacioretty and Gionta, Gomez had two goals and 19 assists for 21 points, while Gionta had 10 goals and two assists. That level of production for Gomez – 21 points in 26 games comes out to a 0.81 point per game average – would be just fine. It's worth finding out whether or not reuniting that line can produce somewhere close to the same results.

Thirdly, Gomez is someone who I feel is genuinely liked in the Canadiens dressing room, and that does count for something. Both Eller and David Desharnais mentioned Gomez specifically as someone who helped them out throughout their rookie seasons. He is a respected presence in that room because of his status as a two-time Stanley Cup champion, and also – based both on anecdotal evidence from teammates and his behaviour with the media – because he is a likeable personality who can keep things loose but who also has an intense desire to win.

And finally, the current collective bargaining agreement will come to an end following the next season. It's very possible the notion of a salary floor will become a thing of the past, or that buyouts will become less punitive, or that any number of new mechanisms will exist for the Canadiens to deal with Gomez should he provide a repeat performance of this past season.

One season is not a career

Hockey, as it should be, is a business where your latest performance is your most important one.

However, if everyone made hockey decisions based on a single season, a lot of elite players would have been shipped out by now.

The decision Gauthier has before him whether or not to pursue a trade of Scott Gomez is one, to me at least, that is simple to make.

Give Gomez one more season to redeem himself, one more season to see if that competitive fire burns as brightly as it did before, one more season to see if his own personal pride triggers a change in his performance.

If not, you cut him loose next summer under the parameters of a new CBA that may make doing so much easier. But to do so now, with no clear candidate to take his place, would be a knee-jerk reaction to what may be an anomaly in the body of work of a player who has consistently shown himself to be a useful player burdened by a salary figure that is way too high.