Gauthier has lots of his own ideas
David Shoalts
Pierre Gauthier operated as Bob Gainey’s right-hand man for more than six years but that does not mean the Montreal Canadiens will simply continue down the same track now that Gainey has handed the general manager’s job to Gauthier.
Gauthier, 56, is not going to be an extension of Gainey. This is his third go-round as an NHL GM, so Gauthier has lots of his own ideas. He wasted little time sharing them when it came to the thorniest problems Gainey left behind.
The first is the goaltender issue with Jaroslav Halak and Carey Price. Gauthier immediately made it clear that he has no plans to trade either one before the March 3 NHL trade deadline. He said if the Habs are to stay in the playoff race and make a good postseason run they need both goaltenders.
Once the season is over, though, one of them will have to go. Both Halak and Price will become restricted free agents on July 1 and there is unlikely to be enough room under the salary cap to keep both of them. The other problem Gainey left behind made sure of that.
That problem is the expensive long-term contracts Gainey acquired by trading for Scott Gomez and signing Brian Gionta and Mike Cammalleri to free-agent deals. Gomez, who has four years left with a cap hit of $7.36-million (U.S.), is supposed to be the No.1 centre, but has not played anywhere near that level. Luckily, Tomas Plekanec stepped up this season to fill the void and leads the team in scoring with 58 points in 60 games.
The trouble is that Plekanec, 27, becomes an unrestricted free agent this summer. He said he wants to stay in Montreal and Gauthier said in his introductory press conference that he has already started talking to Plekanec’s agent about a new contract.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/gauthier-has-lots-of-his-own-ideas/article1462072/