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Bob Gainey Steps Down As Habs GM
by PuckStopsHere on 02/09/10 at 10:53 AM ET
Comments (8)
Montreal Canadiens GM Bob Gainey announced that he is stepping down as their general manager yesterday. Assistant general manager Pierre Gauthier takes over the role. The timing of the move is poor as the transition takes place just before the NHL trade deadline. This was a move that Gainey had contemplated for a while. It is the second time he has walked away from an NHL general manager position in mid-season. He did the same with the Dallas Stars in 2002.
Gainey was a very successful Dallas GM. He took over the team in 1992, while they were still playing in Minnesota. He built the 1999 Stanley Cup champion team. When the Stars were into their downslide from that success, he stepped down as GM in mid-season to let his assistant Doug Armstrong take over the role. Gainey was quickly recruited to come back to Montreal, where he played his NHL career, and be the Habs GM.
He was the Montreal GM for almost seven years before walking away again. During that time, Montreal was a pretty good team. They made the playoffs in all but one season. They never made the jump to serious Stanley Cup contenders - their best playoff run was to the second round.
Gainey is a victim of the over-zealous hockey media in Montreal. They cannot accept less than the Stanley Cup (and have not had one in 17 years and are realistically not too close to the next one). Eventually their demands for change made the job of Habs GM one that Gainey would rather walk away from than keep.
The criticism of Gainey became significant when he fired coach Guy Carbonneau last season. Gainey took over as coach and didn’t do any better than Carbonneau was. The Habs lost in four straight games in the playoffs. Montreal had several free agents that summer and significantly remade their team. In was Mike Cammalleri, Scott Gomez, Brian Gionta, Jaroslav Spacek and others. Out was Saku Koivu, Alexei Kovalev, Alex Tanguay and Robert Lang. Montreal made big changes in their lineup and nothing significant changed. If the season ended now, Montreal would hold the sixth playoff berth in the East Conference and be expected to lose in the first round. None of the team’s additions are having all star type seasons (neither are the departures - so it is hard to complain that Gainey made the team worse). Montreal was hit by an ankle injury to Andrei Markov in their first game of the season. He was out for about half of the season so far. That has slowed Montreal’s progress.
The Montreal media was demanding change. The lack of a Stanley Cup contender was viewed as not good enough. The problem is that it is unclear how getting rid of Gainey moves them any closer.
The new GM Pierre Gauthier has NHL general manager experience. He was the GM in Ottawa and Anaheim. He took over a young Ottawa Senators team in 1995. Under his run, Ottawa first made the playoffs. It was after he left that the Sens run as a Stanley Cup contender began. The trade of Alexei Yashin to the New York Islanders for Zdeno Chara and the draft pick that became Jason Spezza was after Gauthier left the team. That is the single move that did the most to make Ottawa serious Stanley Cup contenders. Gauthier left to be the Anaheim (Mighty) Ducks GM. His run in Anaheim consisted of three years of missed playoffs. In the first season after his departure, Anaheim made the Stanley Cup finals. While Pierre Gauthier has general management experience, there is no reason to think he can build a team into a serious contender. Those moves have always happened after he left the scene in his previous jobs.
Montreal has a new GM. It would have been better for Gainey to complete the season before handing the team over to Gauthier - if that was his plan all along. The timing is suspect. It looks like Montreal has downgraded in their general manager position. It looks like the pressure of being general manager in a hockey mad city like Montreal drove Bob Gainey out and the team is no better for it.
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Tags: Bob+Gainey, Montreal+Canadiens, Pierre+Gauthier,
Comments
While I appreciate the discussion - I think you’re missing some big points on Gainey’s move.
Gainey’s contract was approaching expiry, and he simply wasn’t enjoying the job anymore. He didn’t feel that he was able to commit to another 5-6 years as GM, and he sees the GM position as requiring a long-term vision.
You say the timing is poor due to upcoming FA’s etc - would you have preferred he stayed on, made some big changes and left the mess with whoever got the job between seasons? He’s no fool either, he knows if Montreal missed the playoffs, the decision to leave wouldn’t have been his to make. At least this way he gives Gauthier (a man he has been working with for years, and ostensibly been preparing for the position) a fighting chance at the role.
And its not like he’s just abandoning the team, he’s staying on as a special advisor to Gauthier through the end of the season to help with signing and any trades.
Posted by That Bird Guy on 02/09/10 at 11:25 AM ET
Bird Guy
Instead of leaving the team in mid-season, Gainey should have left last summer. Mid-season is a poor time for GM changes in part because teams have limited options. At this point Montreal must make Gauthier their GM and cannot search for a better choice.
I think this will work out about as well as Doug Armstrong’s run as Dallas GM when Gainey left in mid-season there. Like Armstrong, Gauthier is unlikely to do anything too horrible to the franchise and unlikely to do anything to built the franchise into a serious contender either.
Posted by PuckStopsHere on 02/09/10 at 11:30 AM ET
Bob Gainey played in 1,160 games and won 5 Cups with the Canadiens… he knew what pressure he could expect from the fan base. I don’t think the issue was not being able to handle the pressure, but playing to it too much.
Not being able to land Marian Hossa at the ‘08 trade deadline (in a deal that would have included Johan Hedberg) after trading Cristobal Huet set up the Price/Halak tandem which has been underwhelming to say the least. Not being able to land Lecavalier was a big strike. And with a popular Francophone head coach in Guy Carboneau getting shown the door last season, Gainey had to hire a Francophone thus why Jacques Martin (hardly the best coach available at the time) was hired.
It will be interesting to see if Gainey resurfaces somewhere else.
Posted by TJ on 02/09/10 at 01:25 PM ET
And to counter your point about Gainey should have left in the summer, that’s actually the worst time for a GM to leave, especially in Gainey’s case. Montreal was in the middle of its 100th anniversary, and had the eyes of the league on it during the draft. A team MUST be stable in March/April/May in the GM position because from top down the organization has to prep for RFA and UFA negotiations, the draft, free agency, etc. Now is the perfect time for Gainey to step down and advise, letting Gauthier steer the ship as soon as the season ends.
Posted by TJ on 02/09/10 at 01:29 PM ET
TJ
The best time to replace a GM is after the season ends (presumably a team replacing a GM does not have a long playoff run) but well before the draft.
The most candidates are available to be hired and the new hire has time to get his plan together for the off-season.
Posted by PuckStopsHere on 02/09/10 at 01:41 PM ET
Again… you completely missed my point…
Posted by TJ on 02/09/10 at 02:00 PM ET
The timing for Gainey’s departure is appropriate. Gauthier is an experienced GM and has an understanding of the Canadiens organization. With the Olympic break, Gauthier has the opportunity to retool the team at the trade deadline for the playoff run and prepare for the draft. Better for Gainey to leave now than play out the string.
Posted by Matthew McCallum from Redding, California on 02/09/10 at 03:42 PM ET
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Posted by moore00 on 02/09/10 at 11:01 AM ET