Former San Jose Sharks C Marcel Goc is the newest addition to the Nashville Predators organization.
Notice how we worded that.
Goc, a former 1st round pick, signed a 1 year, 2-way contract with the Preds on Thursday evening, despite being made official on Friday.
The German center’s best season was his rookie campaign, scoring 22 points. Since that 2005-06 season, he’s only added 31 additional points to his career resume. Not exactly what General Manager Doug Wilson and the Sharks had in mind when they selected him 20th overall in 2001, which probably explains why they didn’t bring him back.
Goc has promise however. In limited action (read: very few minutes), he was able to amass two points in his first five NHL games: the 2003-04 playoffs. The 22 point rookie season mentioned above and his finishing fifth in the NHL in faceoff percentage last season. The latter was probably the biggest key for the Preds, having opted to not re-sign Radek Bonk, the teams only real faceoff specialist.
An argument could be made that the organization (sans getting younger), didn’t move forward with the signing of Goc, but rather kept running in place. His career numbers don’t exactly suggest he’s going to set the place afire, not to mention the Preds are pretty stacked at the center position with captain Jason Arnott, David Legwand, Jerred Smithson, Cal O’Reilly along with Colin Wilson and Nick Spaling in the system (for now). That’s not to mention off-season aquisitions Ben Guite, Ben Eaves and now Goc.
Given the sheer volume of centers the Preds have brought in since July 1, it’s almost impossible to think that these moves are for anything other than depth at Milwaukee. The Admirals, despite being deep in defensemen, are pretty thin at the forward position and filling out the farm system with veteran NHLers isn’t the worst idea in the world. Most fans would like to see a significant signing impact the big club however, no matter how unlikely.
With his full-time status as a San Jose Shark the past four seasons, Goc, if sent to the Admirals, looks to be one of the first called-up as the season goes on. Expect to see his name on the back of a Predators sweater at some point this season.
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PHOTO CREDIT: Aaron Kehoe