Canadiens Fire Guy Carbonneau

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 timing is somewhat odd, as the Canadiens were 3-1 winners in Dallas on Sunday, and have won four of their past six games. Still, Montreal is in very real danger of missing the postseason, occupying the No. 5 spot in the Eastern Conference with 77 points, which is only a two-point cushion over the No. 9 team, the Carolina Hurricanes.

Carbonneau was in his third year behind the Montreal bench, and after missing the postseason in his first year on the job, saw the Canadiens get bounced in the second round a season ago against the Philadelphia Flyers. This after Gainey, the man now replacing Carbonneau behind the bench, traded Cristobal Huet at the trade deadline and entrusted the No. 1 team in the conference to a 20-year-old rookie goalie, Carey Price, who wilted under the pressure of postseason action.

Montreal didn't make any moves prior to this past Wednesday's trade deadline, as Gainey felt the players on this year's roster weren't playing up to their potential:

"We've got a number of players who have been a little below their potential this year for different reasons, this is their time to prove me right ... and for the coaches to take the players that they have and squeeze as much or more out of this team than we've seen to this point,"

The Canadiens return to action on Tuesday night when they host the Edmonton Oilers.This will be Gainey's second stint behind the Montreal bench, as he also took over for Claude Julien during the 2006 season.