The “Subway Series” is one of MLB’s great traditions that puts New York City’s baseball teams against each other. At one point there were three teams in the Big Apple and an all New York matchup in the World Series was a pretty good bet. Nowadays there are two teams, the New York Yankees and New York Mets, who meet yearly in the regular season with a World Series matchup always being the ultimate goal.
This year’s Subway Series featured a little extra drama. Newly-minted free agent acquisition Juan Soto took his generational talents to the Mets in Queens after going all the way to the World Series last season with the Yankees in the Bronx. Mets fans were thrilled while Yankee fans felt betrayed. Yes, there was a lot of booing.
What if we told you there was a similar scenario with the area's NHL teams not too long ago? In the 2007 offseason, Scott Gomez left behind the New Jersey Devils to sign with the rival New York Rangers. The betrayal was just as bad, if not worse, in the eyes of Devils fans . Its similiar to what Yankee fans currently feel about Soto.
The Devils were always in the Rangers' shadow. Not even winning three Stanley Cups in a decade could help them grow out of it. Now, their home grown Cup winner (Gomez won the Calder Trophy in 2000 and the Stanley Cup in 2000 and 2003) was turning heel.
In the years since, Gomez has explained his decision as being motivated by the allure of playing in New York City for a legendary franchise in what might be his only chance to sign a big contract. His personal sense of loyalty to the Devils made it a hard decision although in an NHL article from the time he mentioned a lack of dialogue between him and the Devils during his free agency process.
He added that his former Devils teammates were happy for him, citing they viewed the contract as a good business move and not a personal betrayal. An ESPN article about the signing even mentions Gomez going out of his way to give credit to the Devils while he was being shown off as the Blueshirts' shiny new toy.
That same ESPN article makes a few interesting points about Gomez’s signing in a historical context. Gomez, along with now-Rangers general manager Chris Drury, were the Rangers big free agent acquisitions that year. Ratings for that year’s Stanley Cup Final were a historic low and it was hoped the signings would drum up interest and lead to on-ice success in the nation’s largest media market. Parity in the league as part of the new salary cap at the time was mentioned as a factor in small market teams having success that didn’t translate into television ratings or media attention.
Gomez would fall out of favor with the Rangers in a mostly disappointing tenure. Perhaps he was the victim of expectations that were too high. His lasting legacy with the Rangers was being traded to the Montreal Canadiens for future captain Ryan McDonagh.
Gomez joins a short list of other Devils, such as Bruce Driver and Bobby Holik, that switched sides in the Hudson River Rivalry with disappointing results. Gomez would be redeemed in the eyes of Devils fans when he returned for a one-year stint with the team in 2014-2015.
The Gomez and Soto stories have some parallels as both went to teams willing to pay top dollar to get them back to a championship they were impatiently seeking. Soto is in his first season with the Mets, but his play and fan reception is earning him negative attention much in the way Gomez did towards the end of his Rangers tenure. For the record, Gomez did have a productive first year with the Rangers.
The real difference is the dynamic between the teams in these examples, namely one being the “big brother” and the other the “little brother”. Soto signing with the Mets was a vindication for Mets fans, who always felt like the little brother in New York’s baseball sibling rivalry. Gomez left behind the “little brother” to go to the “big brother” after much success. Rangers’ fans felt they deserved it while Devils fans were left with the same bitter feelings they had in the 1994 Eastern Conference final.
There have been more than a few athletes who played between the multiple New York teams in their respective sports. Soto and Gomez’s story’s stick out because they feature vindication on one side and betrayal on the other.
Is there an example between the Rangers and Islanders? Just a few years back Artemi Panarin turned down a bigger contract from the New York Islanders for this current pack with the Rangers to the enjoyment of Rangers fans and disappointment of Islanders fans. If John Tavares had chosen the Rangers over the Maple Leafs it would not only meet, but exceed, the flip flopping of Scott Gomez just over a decade earlier.