By now you've probably heard that Bob Gainey stepped down as the GM (and VP) of the Montreal Canadiens on Monday. I was tipped off about this on Monday morning, and I wanted to post something on this as early as noon, but alas, I was on a train and the free VIA wi-fi was pretty sketchy.

(Actually to be fair I think this blog was temporarily inaccessible, because I was surfing porn and Craigslist Montreal Casual Encounters lots of other things with no problems but every time I tried to get on any site in the Hour/Voir metauniverse I got denied. It got to the point where I was expecting a video of Dikembe Mutombo doing the finger wag to pop up onscreen with Marv Albert emphatically telling me I'd been "rejected.")

Anyway, the timing of this happening is interesting. Hour Editor-in-Chief Jamie O'Meara and I were talking about this just the other day, and we emerged from the discussion pretty damn sure that if Gainey vacated the position (voluntarily or otherwise) it'd happen after the season.

We were drinking heavily, but I'm pretty sure our reasoning was:

(a) He'd have (at least) a few more months to get vindicated (or not) for his massive roster overhaul, which is time that he'd be owed. Rome wasn't built in a day therefore Rome certainly can't be rebuilt in a day, now, can it?

(b) He'd have the chance to sort out the Halak/Price mess, which, to be fair, is his mess to clean up. He hitched his and the team's wagon to Price, after all.

(c) Question: How does switching GMs in the middle of a season make your team better?

(d) Switching GMs in the middle of the season is potentially a deathblow to your season with very little upside.

(e) Replacing a GM is different than replacing a coach.

Anyway, even before reading a ton of coverage on this development today (highlighted by this item from CBC.ca), I was convinced that this is a bad move at the worst time. 

Replacing a GM is different than replacing a coach. Way different. If you fire your coach mid-season, you're basically saying "Our team is underperforming because you suck, and we need a coach that doesn't suck, so don't let the door hit you on the ass on the way out." Replacing your GM in mid-season for any reason other than health issues or a family tragedy (the latter of which Gainey has already weathered, sadly) is basically saying: "We need to change the direction of this franchise," which is fine, except the season's not fucking over yet and now a team that has no agreed-upon leader on the ice has now lost their agreed-upon leader off of it.

Yes Pierre Gauthier is the new GM and not the "interim GM," but you've got to think that was a PR decision. Face it: It looks better to have a guy in charge than a guy who's in charge for the time being. Yet Gainey's being retained as a "consultant," so really, is Gauthier the GM, the de facto leader of the franchise? No, I'm not sure he is.

Furthermore, the guys who are on this team now, especially the guys who've been acquired in the last few years including but not limited to the additions of last summer's free agent acquire-a-thon (a list of men that includes Jacques Martin), well, they have no connection to Gauthier. Sure, Gauthier's been around a long while, and was a solid if unremarkable GM in Anaheim and Ottawa, but Gainey is a Hall of Famer, and a legendary member of the most legendary franchise in the NHL to boot. I'm not betting that Gauthier's gonna command as much respect as Gainey did both immediately and in the summer if/when he's charged with maybe bringing players in via free agency?

Also: If you are a GM eyeing Halak or Price, aren't you licking your chops right now? Like, you're sitting there knowing that Gauthier inherited a problem that by many accounts he has to take care of this season, the sooner the better. Is there a better time to pitch Montreal a deal? Isn't this exactly the set of circumstances you've been waiting for to pitch a trade that looks okay but really amounts to highway robbery?

I mean, seriously, this is like hitting on the lonely, insecure bridesmaid at a wedding. If someone isn't trying to trap Gauthier into a bad trade for one of the goalies right now, they're not earning their money.

Now, I can read and I know that it was Gainey who stepped down today. He wasn't fired; he stepped down, he quit his job. But that this can be perceived as anything more than a complete and total admission of defeat is ludicrous. Let me make something clear: I love Gainey and think he's one of the all-time great Habs and one of the all-time great NHL hockey men. He's always comported himself with integrity and dignity and there need to be more guys in professional sports like him. But, in being this guy, this vaunted, hallowed, incredible guy, he has to know that this decision of his is, at best, tantamount to saying "I've lost the desire to do this."

If that's the case, then yes, stepping down is the right decision. But doing it before the season's over is, to a certain extent, saying that the season's over.

The old Thomas Paine line is "Lead, follow, or get out of the way." Gainey was the leader of the franchise, and he got out of the way. What does that say to everyone else?

Comments, criticisms, death threats, marriage proposals? Holla at ya boy, below.