As reported earlier, the Montreal Canadiens have fired GM Pierre Gauthier.
The move makes Gauthier the shortest-tenured (2010-12) Habs general manager in 70 years — the last one with such a short shelf life was Jules Dugal, who moved up from the coaching ranks to manage the club for the 1939-40 season.
Gauthier took over Montreal’s GM gig from Bob Gainey on Feb. 8, 2010 and made a number of player and front-office decisions. Here’s a look at some of the more noteworthy ones.
Player transactions
June 17, 2010: Trades Jaroslav Halak to the St. Louis Blues for Lars Eller and Ian Schultz.
June 23, 2010: Signs UFA Tomas Plekanec to a six-year, $30-million deal.
June 29, 2010: Trades Sergei Kostitsyn and future considerations to Nashville for Dan Ellis, Dustin Boyd and future considerations.
Sept. 2, 2010: Signs RFA Carey Price to a two-year, $5.5 million deal.
Dec. 28, 2010: Acquires James Wisniewski from the Islanders in exchange for 2011 second-round and 2012 fifth-round picks.
June 24, 2011: Signs Andrei Markov to a three-year, $17.25-million deal.
June 29, 2011: Trades Wisniewski’s rights to Columbus for a 2012 fifth-round pick.
July 1, 2011: Signs Erik Cole to a four-year, $18 million deal.
July 23, 2011: Signs Josh Gorges to a one-year, $2.5 million deal.
Dec. 9, 2011: Traded Jaroslav Spacek to Carolina for Tomas Kaberle.
Jan. 1, 2012: Signs Gorges to a six-year, $23.4 million deal.
Jan. 12, 2012: Traded Michael Cammalleri to Calgary for Rene Bourque.
Feb. 17, 2012: Traded Hal Gill to Nashville for Blake Geoffrion and a 2011 second-round pick.
Feb. 27, 2012: Traded Andrei Kostitsyn to Nashville for a 2013 second-round draft pick and a conditional 2013 fifth-round draft pick.
Coaching moves
July 21, 2010: Named Randy Cunneyworth coach of AHL Hamilton (replacing Guy Boucher.)
July 23, 2011: Named Cunneyworth assistant coach of the Canadiens (replacing Kirk Muller.)
Oct. 27, 2011: Fired assistant coach Perry Pearn (replaced by Randy Ladouceur.)
Dec. 17, 2011: Fired head coach Jacques Martin. Named Cunneyworth interim head coach.
Synopsis
The defining moments of Gauthier’s regime will be the Halak deal (which Habs fans hated), the Markov contract (Montreal’s second-highest paid skater has played 15 games in the last two years) and naming Cunneyworth the Canadiens’ first unilingual head coach since Bob Berry in 1984.
What might stand out the most, though, is that Gauthier inherited a team that went to the Eastern Conference finals in 2010. Today, they’re the Eastern Conference’s worst team.
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