The Montreal Canadiens general manager Bob Gainey fired head coach Guy Carbonneau on Monday and took his place behind the bench.Gainey's first appearance as coach will be on Tuesday when The Canadiens are host to the Edmonton Oilers. Carbonneau, was a finalist for the Jack Adams Award last year, and has been released after nearly three seasons as head coach of the Canadiens.
Gainey said on Monday that hiring Guy Carbonneau was the best decision had made as Canadien's GM. He stated that team performance has been below average for the last 8 weeks and that he believed that a change of direction at ice level was needed.
Gainey said "With 16 games left in the season I believe that the change was necessary to maximise our chances of being one of the teams to participate in the playoffs this spring".
"There were certain games when I had a real confusion about the overall ... it showed up as effort, but I felt like it was emotional engagement to a game," Gainey said.
"Our team (did) not seem to be emotionally engaged".
The Canadiens finished first in the Eastern Conference last year, but their 100th anniversary season in 2008-09 has not been going well. There has been much controversy about the team during the year and they have had to deal a number of on and off-ice issues.
Gainey said "I find ourselves in a position that requires my intervention, and the response is my decision today,". "I feel like its necessary to make a change, but the real answer will be the results 35 days from now."
The Canadiens started the year strongly, but of late have been struggling. The team was well set for a playoff position until Jan 25 and the All-Star game in Montreal. After this they won only three of 15 games to fall back into fighting for a playoff spot with a group of six teams. Montreal is now fifth in the Eastern Conference, just one point ahead of The Rangers, Florida, and Pittsburgh.
"I'm not going to make black-and-white changes, but we need to move toward being a better, stronger, more consistent team defensively and an offensive team that takes advantage of our opportunities," Gainey added.
Associate coach Doug Jarvis, along with the two assistant coaches Kirk Muller and Roland Melanson will be staying with the club. In addition to this, the Canadiens have taken Hamilton Bulldogs head coach Don Lever onto their staff.
This will be Bob Gainey's second term as head coach of the Canadiens. He previously was head coach after the firing of Claude Julien in the 2005-06 season. He carried the club to a 23-15-3-0 record. The Canadiens however lost in the first playoff round in that season.
Guy Carbonneau took over from Gainey as head coach of the Canadiens on May 5, 2006. Prior to that he was an associate coach with the Habs. He was hired by Gainey's with the understanding that he would be head coach in time for the 2006-07 season.
Carbonneau's coaching record with the Canadiens was a combined 124-83-23. Montreal did not make the playoffs in that his first season, and last year were trounced in the second round by the Philadelphia Flyers. Carbonneau is seventh NHL head coach to be fired this season.
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