The Gainey Era is over, here comes the Gauthier Era!

Well, the 15th General Manager of the Montreal Canadiens has stepped down from his position and I won't take time to debate his moves, it's easy to armchair GM, it's a lot harder to be the GM and I've already discussed his actions as the GM far, far too long already.

I won't say much about Gauthier as it has been a while since he actively ran an NHL team so it's hard to say what he may have learned in recent years in running an organization. I'll post my first real opinion about him after the March 3rd trade deadline and see what he comes up with. If Tomas Plekanec is re-signed, if a goaltender is moved, a change on the blue line is made, who knows what Gauthier might have planned.

I will say this though, Gainey exited with class. When asked about disappointments, he mentioned none, rather than appear a bitter man upset with his players, the city and media criticism, he simply spoke of what he enjoyed in his time. He brought respectability to his position and the organization in his time after a long time of the team management being a laughingstock.

We'll see what we get, not terribly enthused about Gauthier and expected him to be named an interim GM with a full search for a new GM to begin and a new one named in time for the 2010 Entry Draft.