The New York Islanders have continued to add to their coaching staff, hiring former NHL forward Scott Gomez to work with Doug Weight as an assistant coach this season. The team had previously hired Luke Richardson this spring to work behind the bench, and is still rumored to be interested in bringing Kelly Buchberger on board.
Gomez, though he will be remembered for the relatively weak end of his career, was an outstanding player during his prime. The 2000 Rookie of the Year, Gomez broke out with 70 points in his first season and would go on to score 756 over his career. Winning Stanley Cups in both 2000 and 2003, he was one of the elite playmakers in the league for nearly a decade.
His career ended in 2015-16 after bouncing around from team to team, suiting up for the Devils, Rangers, Canadiens, Sharks, Panthers, Blues and Senators throughout his career. He’ll be remembered most as a Devil, but will now join the Islanders for the next chapter in his hockey career. Though his Players’ Tribune piece “Not Done” near the end of the 2014-15 season turned out to be a bit ironic in its timing—though Gomez was finishing up something of a renaissance in New Jersey, he would play just 34 NHL games the next season, his last, scoring nine points—it does outline the incredible work ethic that was instilled in him as a Devil, one that he will likely bring to New York next season.