Scott Gomez Goes A Year Without A Goal: How Impossible Is That?

Monday marks 365 days since Scott Gomez last scored a goal. The Montreal Canadiens forward is not the first player to go an entire calendar year without scoring a goal and he won't be the last, but he's certainly the first $7.35 million player to do so.

Gomez is paid to be an offensive contributor. For a guy whose sole job it is to step on the ice and help get the puck in the net, it's utterly incomprehensible that he's gone so long without scoring a goal. Let's look at just how incomprehensible it is.

Gomez has played 59 games (including playoffs) since February 5, 2011, not counting the game that day against the New York Rangers in which he scored his last goal. He's played an average of 17:29 per game and he's taken 1,283 shifts in those 59 games. He's taken 122 shots in those 59 games.

We're limited in Hockey-Reference.com searches to full seasons -- meaning, we can search single seasons or across any number of seasons, but we can't search for a time period within seasons -- but we can see that no forward has ever taken 122 or more shots in a single season and gone without a goal. That's what Gomez has done over the last 365 days.

No forward in NHL history has ever played 1,032 minutes in a season without scoring a goal. Gomez has played about that number of minutes since February 5, 2011 without scoring a goal.

That's not to say no forward has ever gone any stretch of 1,032 minutes without scoring a goal, or that any player has taken 122 shots without one of them going in the net. Hockey Reference searches limit us from finding this stuff at that level, but that doesn't mean it's pretty remarkable what Gomez has done over the last 365 days.

By not scoring goals, Gomez isn't just pissing off the city of Montreal. He's actually defying the odds.