Seems like Ray Ferraro thinks that every small center is unwilling to play between the dots. Apparently said it about Schroeder too... If he's as right about Gomez as he is about Schroeder then he's pretty damn wrong.
Almost - when asked what Schroeder has to do to make the most of his opportunity on the 2nd line this year, he said "he has to play between the dots". So he didn't say Schroeder DOESN'T go to the tough scoring areas, but did say that's what he needs to do to be successful.
About Scott Gomez, he said the game is changing. Defensemen are bigger and faster (and IMO the enforcement of obstruction penalties has been abandoned) and are very hard to beat on the perimeter. You can't score or create offense from the perimeter.
Given that Ferarro was a smallish (5'10") center with over 400 NHL goals, he probably knows a bit about the position. Everyone has an opinion, and I don't swallow everything that Ray says, but SOMETHING happened to Gomez during the 2010/11 season - his offense fell off the cliff.
A lot of players decline in their mid-30's, and sometimes quite suddenly (Naslund). But Gomez is not just decline, it's free fall. There have been lots of comments about his work ethic and he's always been a very soft player. IMO - at some point after he was comfortable with his $7M contract, he stopped caring and stopped working.