FanHouse BobGainey

After serving as the Florida Panthers general manager for the past four seasons (and head coach for three of those seasons) Jacques Martin will be named the new head coach of the Montreal Canadiens on Monday. During his four-year stint in charge of the Panthers, the team failed to make the playoffs each season, while he brings 14 years of head coaching experience to the Canadiens.

After a brief two-year tenure with the St. Louis Blues in the late 1980s, Martin took over the Ottawa Senators in 1995, leading the team to the playoffs eight times in nine years, while also winning three division titles and the Jack Adams award as coach of the year in 1999.

Last week it was reported that Hall of Fame goaltender and former Avalanche netminder Patrick Roy was offered the team's head coaching position currently occupied by Tony Granato. Today, a report from Ruefronteac.com cites sources close to Roy that the Avs have stepped up their offer to include their GM position.

The report goes on to mention that the Avalanche have stepped up the offer to try and draw Roy away from other suitors, particularly the Montreal Canadiens, whose head coaching job is currently vacant. The Habs fired Guy Carbonneau earlier this year and GM Bob Gainey filled in for the remainder of the season.

Earlier this week, word surfaced that the Montreal Canadiens were going to be without the services of veteran defenseman Mathieu Schneider due to a shoulder injury that might require surgery. As it turns out, we may have just been victim to playoff injury reporting smoke screens, as the 39-year-old defenseman participated in Thursday's morning skate.

The Canadiens can clinch a playoff berth with a win over their longtime rivals, the Boston Bruins, and head coach Bob Gainey sounded somewhat optimistic regarding Schneider's condition.

We're in the home stretch of the NHL season, and both conference playoff races are heating up as the standings change on a daily basis. The Eastern Conference has seven teams separated by just seven points in the No's 4 through 10 spots, while everybody except Phoenix and Colorado is still competing for a playoff spot in the West.

Hurricanes 3, Rangers 0: The good news for the Carolina Hurricanes is they seem to be playing their best hockey of the season at the absolute right time. The bad news is they still can't seem to gain any separation in the tight Eastern Conference playoff race.

Thanks to the Hurricanes 3-0 win over the New York Rangers on Monday, they jumped over three teams to move into a tie with Montreal for the No. 5 spot in the conference, but are guaranteed to fall as low as the No. 7 spot on Tuesday, depending on what happens in the Pittsburgh-Florida game. It's going to be like this every day for the rest of the regular season.

The Montreal Canadiens entered 2008-09 as a serious Stanley Cup contender in what was supposed to be a glorious centennial celebration. Instead, the season has been derailed by scandal off the ice and disappointing results on it, and the man that's going to take the fall for it all is head coach Guy Carbonneau. The 38-year-old Carbonneau was fired on Monday afternoon, and will be replaced by general manager Bob Gainey.

The Clash once posed the question: Should I stay or should I go now? We take a look at the big names surrounding the NHL trade deadline and whether they'll be staying in place or going to finish the season in another city.

It wasn't supposed to be like this. After giving a contract extension the good ol' college try over the summer, Minnesota Wild general manager Doug Risebrough has watched his biggest trade asset blow up in smoke. Marian Gaborik has been injured for virtually the entire season, first going down the day before Minnesota's third game of the season. For the season, Gaborik has appeared in a paltry six games. With their best player spending too much time in the training room, it's no surprise the Wild are in a struggle for their playoff lives.

The Montreal Canadiens are fading in the Eastern Conference playoff race, and a day after acquiring an old friend in defenseman Matheiu Schneider, the Canadiens have continued to shake up their roster.

On Tuesday, general manager Bob Gainey announced that Alexei Kovalev will not be joining the team on its two-game road trip to Washington and Pittsburgh, while Sergei Kostitsyn has also been sent to the minor leagues.

Yes, I know I ought to be paying attention to the 16 teams that are still alive in this year's edition of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but I never have to be persuaded from taking a few moments to marvel at the genius of Bob Gainey, General Manager of the Montreal Canadiens.

Why do I bring that up now with Les Habs sitting at home polishing their gold clubs? It's this profile of young AHL goaltender Carey Price, who just recently signed his first pro contract with the Canadiens and won his first professional start with the AHL's Hamilton Bulldogs, a 3-1 win over the Grand Rapids Griffins.

It's clear that Price, the #5 pick in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft, will be making his way to the NHL eventually. Unfortunately for Price, the roster with the big club is rather stocked with talent right now. You have the solid David Aebischer, the occasionally brilliant Cristobal Huet, and the latest addition, Jaroslav Halek, who was only the top goalie in the AHL when Gainey was forced to call him up late in the season when injuries took down Aebischer and Huet.

What does it all mean? Sending Halak back down to Hamilton next season would hurt the development of Price, and there's simply no way any coach can stack three goalies with the big club. The solution: One of the three -- Huet, Aebischer or Halak -- will be moved before next season, sure to bring a body in return.

Gainey knows what he's doing, even with a number of high-priced free agents to contend with. I don't anticipate the Canadiens' absence from the playoffs will last longer than this year.

For more on Price's debut, check out Scarlett Ice.