Bob Gainey Steps Down In Montreal

((HT: RDS))

Bob Gainey has stepped down as general manager of the Montreal Canadiens this afternoon and the team has promoted Pierre Gauthier as Executive Vice President and General Manager. Gainey will stay with the front office in an advisory role.

The Canadiens are 28-26-6 this season and are sixth in the Eastern Conference standings. He was hired in 2003 as the 15th general manager of the franchise.

Gainey saw the writing on the wall after the new ownership took over, and decided to plan for what he called "his own future." He took a bit of a gamble during the centennial year with wholesale changes that haven't necessarily panned out.

Here's the beginning of his presser...
Thanks again to our friends at RDS- some of it is in French...


The questions will come in waves as to the timing of the move with Gainey stepping down just before the Olympic break and trade deadline, but Gainey looks like he knew he was a "dead man walking" and just decided to go now instead of later...

Here's another section of the presser involving Gauthier and Canadiens team president Pierre Boivin- who were left to answer more questions than Gainey...

Frere Jacques To Les Habitants

((HT: TSN))

The Montreal Canadiens began their offseason moves with a bang on Monday, as general manager Bob Gainey announced that the club has hired Jacques Martin ((both pictured, thanks CP)) as their new head coach.

Montreal will be Martin's fourth NHL stop as head coach after working for the St. Louis Blues and Ottawa Senators and holding the head coach and general manager positions for the Florida Panthers. The Canadiens also announced that goaltending coach Roland Melanson would not be returning next season.

"This is a tremendous opportunity to join this organization," Martin told a news conference in Montreal. "When you look at the players who are in the organization, there is a strong nucleus, a strong base, to build a winning team and I'm really looking forward with excitement to leading this team next year."

The move reunites Martin with assistant general manager Pierre Gauthier and head of amateur scouting Trevor Timmins from their time together with the Senators.

"I really believe this organization is rich in people and that is a very important ingredient," said Martin. "We had the opportunity to discuss at length, to talk about philosophy, talk about operations, talk about players, talk about the league. I was really excited by those conversations with Bob. It's good chemistry."

It also marks the first time since 1992-93 that the Canadiens have formally hired a coach with NHL experience. The team hired former Blues and Red Wings coach Jacques Demers that season, and have since hired first-timers Mario Tremblay, Alain Vigneault, Michel Therrien, Claude Julien and Guy Carbonneau.

"It was a priority for me to find a head coach that had a lot of experience in all situations," explained Gainey. "Jacques has proven himself in all capacities as a coach and he understands this environment. I like his professionalism. He's a coach at heart, a teacher who is here work as team and bring people together."

The Canadiens were in the market for a new coach after the club fired Carbonneau in March. Gainey took over as interim head coach for the second time in his tenure with the club, guiding the team to an eighth-place finish and a first-round exit at the hands of the Boston Bruins.

"I think he has a really good reputation from what I hear," Canadiens forward Georges Laraque told TSN on Monday. "He did really well in Ottawa and as GM in Florida and the people will be happy here (in Montreal) because he's bilingual."

Montreal is facing a summer of questions, with several of the clubs bigger names - captain Saku Koivu, Alex Kovalev and Mike Komisarek - among 10 regulars heading toward unrestricted free agency on July 1.

Last week, a Russian newspaper even reported the team offered Kovalev a new deal that would include being named captain and were prepared to let Koivu walk away.

With so many players potentially moving on, the duo of Martin and Gainey will have much to do when re-working the roster before the start of the 2009-10 season.

Note: On June 1, 1988 Pat Burns was named the 21st head coach in team history, replacing Jean Perron.

Here's the interview RDS did with Jacques Martin after the presser...
Chantal Machabee and Gaston Therrien are your anchors...

((Threw you a change-up, didn't we...??))

Carbonneau Addresses Media Post Firing

((HT: CP))

Guy Carbonneau ((pictured, thanks Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)) was all smiles as he met the media for the first time since he was fired as coach of the Montreal Canadiens, but it was clear that a part of him still hurt.

"I'm definitely not happy," he said of general manager Bob Gainey's decision on March 9 to axe his old friend and teammate and take over himself behind the bench of the struggling club. "I didn't expect it.

"I thought we were going in the right direction, despite the fact that we were struggling for a while. Upset? It's the first time I got fired, so it's new to me. But everybody that knows me knows I'm a pretty positive person. The sun always comes up."

Carbonneau was celebrating his 49th birthday and wore a smart grey suit to the packed Bell Centre news conference, joking that he was "almost starting to miss you (reporters)."

He said he was proud of the job he had done in his two-plus seasons as head coach of the team he once captained. He was particularly proud of finishing first in the Eastern Conference last season, being nominated for the coach of the year award, and earning the right to be assistant coach to Claude Julien at the January 25 all-star game in Montreal.

And he thanked everyone, particularly Gainey, who named him to his first NHL head coaching post to start the 2006-07 season, after he served a half season as associate coach.

He also refused to criticize any players and wished the team well for the rest of the season.
There had been rumblings that Carbonneau was on thin ice when the Canadiens went through a 15-game stretch starting just before the all-star game in which it won only three games, falling from safely in playoff position into the thick of the battle.

But the team had pulled off five wins, despite mostly being outplayed, in seven games and had just won in Dallas when Gainey pulled the plug.

"I definitely didn't see this coming because I felt we were going in the right direction," Carbonneau said. "But Bob Gainey decided otherwise and I must accept his decision. I'd like to turn the page and move on."

Since the change, the Canadiens have gone an underwhelming 1-1-2 under Gainey. Some Bell Centre fans have taken to chanting "Car-bo! Car-bo!" in support of the fired coach during games, which he called "flattering."

"It meant I did a lot of good things. Maybe not all great things, but good things. I'm happy for that."

What irked Carbonneau was that he was fired just before the team began a stretch of nine out of 10 games at home. Also, players out with long-term injuries were due back, such as wingers Alex Tanguay and Guillaume Latendresse. He felt the team was ready to start playing solid hockey again.

But he had just landed with the team from Dallas, had picked up his dogs from the vet and was driving home when he got a message that Gainey wanted to see him. That he was about to be fired was only one of many things he suspected it might be, and not even the top one, he said.
The meeting lasted only 10 minutes and he was out of a job.

"I know it was tough for him to deliver that message," Carbonneau said. "We've been friends for a long time, so for him to come to my house to bring the news wasn't easy for him," said Carbonneau. "I won't go into details (of what was said). He saw I was disappointed. But we'll certainly have a chance to meet again soon and we can talk in more detail."

Carbonneau signed a three-year contract extension last summer, but is now on what he called "vacation."

He said he hoped to coach again in the NHL one day, and certainly wants to stay close to hockey in some capacity. But as for what went wrong with the Canadiens, he's still not sure.

A knock on him was that, as good as he was in dealing with the media, he didn't communicate well with his players.

He grants that one, but said it wasn't what caused the team to start losing or himself to be fired.

"I don't declare that I'm perfect, but I got better," he said. "One reason I hired (assistant coach) Kirk Muller is that I knew I had a problem there. It's not that I can't talk, but I'm not the kind of guy that likes to go forward with it. But conversations sometimes go both ways and I got better a it. And I know I'm going to get better."

When asked about reports that some players were unhappy with his coaching, he said it was impossible to keep everyone happy and that it was "normal" that some were glad to see him go.
But he insisted that the players did not quit on him.

"I think we had a good attitude," he said "I liked the atmosphere on the team. Could we have played better? Yes, but I wouldn't say I lost the room. I think I had enough support from the players to do my job well."

It is a pressure-packed season for Montreal. Expectations were high after their strong 2007-08 campaign, and pressure was on to win with the club celebrating its 100th anniversary.
But while the Canadiens got through last season with no major injuries to key players, this season they went down left and right. They are still without centre Robert Lang, their goal-scoring leader at the time who is gone for the rest of the regular season at least with a severed Achilles tendon.

"Last year we had a good season because players had good seasons, goaltenders were solid, our power play worked, we had great chemistry," he said. "Everything kind of clicked. This year, we had really good times and other times when nothing was working and it was really hard to get confidence and get everything in order. But I knew we were coming back, that we'd have a good finish and create a lot of surprises in the playoffs."

He also said he is sure the firing had nothing to do with reports that some players were partying too much downtown, or a report that three players had hung around with a suspected drug dealer and gang member.

Now, debate rages over whether Gainey should remain head coach through next season or find a successor. When he fired Carbonneau, Don Lever, coach of the AHL Hamilton Bulldogs, was brought to Montreal as an assistant.

But Lever doesn't speak French, which some consider vital for what is perhaps the most high-profile job in Quebec.

Carbonneau joked that "if he spoke only Chinese it may be easier."

"Look, we live in a place where 80 per cent of the people speak French. For sure, it's a plus. For many years now, it was something very important and it's still important, but it depends on the candidates. They should chose the best one, no matter what language he speaks."

Breaking News: Gainey Fires Carbonneau

((HT: CP))

The Montreal Canadiens have fired head coach Guy Carbonneau ((pictured, thanks Phillip MacCallum/Getty Images)) and replaced him behind the bench with general manager Bob Gainey. Carbonneau, a finalist for the Jack Adams Award last year, was let go after nearly three seasons as Montreal's head coach.

Gainey first appearance behind the bench will be on Tuesday night when the Canadiens host the Edmonton Oilers.

Although they got off to a very strong start, the Canadiens have had their struggles this season. The team was comfortably in playoff position until the All-Star game in Montreal on Jan. 25, after which they won just three of 15 games to fall back into a group of six teams that are fighting for four playoff spots. Montreal currently sits in fifth in the Eastern Conference standings, just one point ahead of Florida, the Rangers, and Pittsburgh.

Associate coach Doug Jarvis, along with assistant coaches Kirk Muller and Roland Melanson will all be staying with the club. In addition, the Canadiens have added Hamilton Bulldogs head coach Don Lever to their staff. Hamilton assistant coach Ron Wilson will take over as bench boss of the AHL club.

This will be Gainey's second stint as head coach of the team. He previously took over following the dismissal of Claude Julien during the 2005-06 season. He guided the club to a 23-15-3-0 record after the team went 19-16-6-0 under Julien. The Canadiens lost in the first round of the playoffs that season.

After finishing first in the Eastern Conference last year, the Canadiens' 100th anniversary season in 2008-09 has been anything but smooth. Controversy has followed the team throughout the year and they have dealt with several on and off-ice issues.

Carbonneau originally replaced Gainey as head coach of the Canadiens on May 5, 2006. He had spent part of the season prior to that as an associate coach with the Habs, and was hired to Gainey's staff with the intention that he would become head coach in time for the 2006-07 season.

Carbonneau's coaching record with Montreal was a combined 124-83-23. Montreal missed the playoffs in his first season, and last year were eliminated in five games by the Philadelphia Flyers in the second round.