“I’ve done my best and now it’s time for me to pass the torch,” Gainey said on Monday. “I believe that the general manager position requires a long-term vision and a long-term commitment. At this point, I’m not prepared to make a commitment of four or five or six more years in this position.

Assistant GM Pierre Gauthier has been promoted as the new GM.

Gainey took over the role in 2003 to great fanfare greater expectations. At first, he battled the naysayers and started the long process of rebuilding the team, achieving first place in the East two seasons ago.

But many of his decisions have been very questionable of late, and the trust was gone, namely, ill-timed overconfidence in Carey Price, the failure to secure big-name free agents despite public efforts, firing of Guy Carbonneau and hiring Jacques Martin in his place, and of course the great shake-up during last off-season.

I think a lot of people were fed up with Gainey. He won’t go down in history as the Habs’ worst GM (I’d say that role belongs permanently to Rejean Houle). He had an overall winning record, and he did do a lot of good things for the team, which was in shambles when he took the reins. But his legacy is mixed, at best. And of course, nobody ever remembers what you do best; they only remember what you do last.

Bye bye, Bob. Best of luck to you.

Let’s see, we’ve got:

• Marian Hossa to Detroit, where he obviously wants to try to win a Cup from the other side of that equation.
• Michael Ryder to Boston, not surprisingly leaving the Habs for our arch-rivals.
• More surprisingly, the Habs also lost Mark Streit to the Islanders. Streit was one of the most valuable Habs last season, and I’m frankly stunned that Gainey didn’t make keeping him into a bigger priority.
• Rangers shit-disturber (and surprising fashionista) Sean Avery heads to Dallas.
• Wade Redden to the Rangers, taking one of the top D-men out of the free agency market.
• Brian Campbell to Chicago, taking care of the other.
• After being traded to the Caps in time for an inspiring playoff run, former Hab netminder Cristobal Huet is heading to Chicago to try to give all the young talent over there a fighting chance.
• To fill that void, the Capitals have acquired Jose Theodore from the Avalanche, who in turn signed Toronto-castoff Andrew Raycroft. Definite downgrades for both teams, there.
• Tampa Bay has signed three free agents, most notably top forward Radim Vrbata, as well as Adam Hall and former Caps’ veteran goaltender Olaf Kolzig. Along with their previous signings of Ryan Malone, Gary Roberts and Vinny Prospal, and their first-round draft of Steve Stamkos, Tampa Bay is clearly determined to dig out of last place in a big way.

And the Habs? Aside from re-signing Andrei Kostitsyn, and picking up Alex Tanguay on draft day, Gainey has been pretty quiet. We lost Ryder (no surprise there) and Streit (big surprise and tough loss) and so far we have nothing to show for it. Not even Sundin, who I don’t even want, but who surely would have signed by now with Montreal if he had any desire to be here.

We cleared cap space, we made offers, but it’s starting to look like Gainey’s highly publicized announcements about his intention to land an “impact” forward will end this year much as they did last year. And I have to wonder how many people will stick to the “In Gainey We Trust” bandwagon this time around.

Last night’s routing of the Leafs was marred by the display of Aebischer as only slightly-less-shaky than Rayyyyyyyycroft. And the Habs are 20 minutes away from being shut out on Broadway tonight.

All this doesn’t exactly add up to a team pouring its heart and soul into a drive for the playoffs.

Conclusion: Gainey, Carbs et al have given up. *Sigh*.

It’s obvious that the Habs are saddened by the Gainey family’s loss. The team held a poignant moment of silence before the start of tonight’s game against Boston, and it was obvious that the thoughts and prayers of the crowd were with the family as well.

With all these one-year contracts, Gainey must be planning a lot of trades this season, or else it’s going to be real trouble come next summer.

In other big news, Zednik won’t be back next season; after a disappointing year, the Z-man is off to Washington.

With only 7 wins in the last 25 games, it was clear that the Habs were in big trouble and something needed to be done. But was this the right move? That depends on how you look at it. If the talent is there and simply not producing, then it’s reasonable to blame the coach. But if the front office hasn’t made the deals to put the right guys on the ice, then Gainey ought to shoulder more of the blame himself.

Here’s Craig Rivet’s reaction:

I think it’s unfortunate that it’s always the coach that takes the fall for lack of production from players. He gave us a game plan and guys maybe chose not to follow it. That’s too bad because he’s a good coach.

Until the players step up and start moving and controlling the puck and creating scoring chances and playing a full 60 minutes each game, then no shakeups will have much effect. I’m sad to say this as a fan, but I’m not holding out too much hope that this move is going to turn things around. But who knows?

Update: Well, in the immediate term at least, the shakeup seems to have lit a fire under the Habs, who routed the San Jose Sharks 6 to 2 tonight. It’s been far too long since the last time the sounds of the “na-na-na-na hey hey hey goodbye” song were heard in the Bell Centre. Whether the team can keep it up remains to be seen, but this was a good start.

It’s the oldest scapegoating trick in history. Team fails, so fire the coach or replace the management. Whether or not Gainey, a former Habs captain and multiple cup-winner, can inject new life into the lackluster team, will remain to be seen.