BREAKING NEWS: Pierre Gauthier is Habs new GM

OFFICIAL MONTREAL CANADIENS PRESS RELEASE
PIERRE GAUTHIER NAMED EXECUTIVE VICE-PRESIDENT AND GENERAL MANAGER OF THE MONTREAL CANADIENS
Bob Gainey remains with the organization as Special Advisor to the General Manager

MONTRÉAL (February 8, 2010) – Montreal Canadiens President, Pierre Boivin, announced today the appointment of Pierre Gauthier as Executive Vice-President and General Manager. He also announced that Bob Gainey remains with the organization as Special Advisor to the General Manager.

Pierre Gauthier joined the Montreal Canadiens organization as Director of Professional Scouting on July 21, 2003. On July 24, 2006, he was named Assistant to General Manager Bob Gainey, while holding on to the responsibilities of professional
scouting, an area in which he is particularly familiar with, having spent almost 30 years in player recruitment at various levels.

Pierre Gauthier has extensive NHL experience having held the positions of President, General Manager, Assistant General Manager, Director of Professional Scouting as well as Head of Amateur Scouting.

Gauthier, who was born in Montreal, worked with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim during six seasons, serving as Assistant General Manager in their first two seasons in the NHL from 1993 to 1995. On December 11, 1995, he was named General Manager of the Ottawa Senators and teamed up with Jacques Martin. They led the Senators to the Stanley Cup playoffs in their first complete season together in 1996-97. The following season, the Senators won their first ever playoff series and
reached the second round of the playoffs. On July 16, following two and a half seasons as General Manager of the Ottawa Senators, from 1995 to 1998, he returned to the Mighty Ducks’organization as team President and was named General Manager of the Anaheim franchise on August 6, 1998. Pierre Gauthier served as General Manager of the Mighty Ducks for four seasons, from 1998 to 2002. The team earned a playoff berth in his first year back, in 1998-1999.

Gauthier originally came to the Anaheim organization from the Quebec Nordiques where he spent 12 seasons from 1981 to 1993, serving in all areas of scouting, including the position of Chief Scout from 1988 to 1993.

Gauthier was also involved at the international level. Along with Bob Gainey and Bobby Clarke, he was one of three NHL General Managers with Team Canada at the 1998 Winter Olympic Games in Nagano, Japan. He was also Team Canada’s
General Manager for the gold medal winning team at the 1997 World Championships in Finland, as well as for the silver medal winning team at the 1996 World Championship in Austria. He was also a member of Team Canada’ hockeys management at the 2009 World Championships in Switzerland.

Bob Gainey became the 15th General Manager in the history of the Montreal Canadiens on June 2, 2003. Under his leadership, the Canadiens earned a playoff berth four out of five years, and recorded at least 40 wins in all five seasons between 2003 and 2009. The team finished atop the Eastern Conference standings in 2007-08, and second in the Northeast Division in 2008-09. Under the guidance of Bob Gainey, the Canadiens posted a 241-176-46-7 record in 470 regular season games, for a .569 winning percentage.

On February 23, 2008, the Canadiens officially retired his No. 23 jersey in a ceremony at the Bell Centre.

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