UPDATE: There is no interim tag as had been previously reported.  Gauthier was appointed as Executive VP and General Manager and has signed a long-term contract.

TSN.ca Staff

2/8/2010 1:35:09 PM

The Montreal Canadiens have called a news conference for 4pm et/1pm pt where they will announce that Bob Gainey is stepping down as general manager of the hockey club.

Assistant general manager Pierre Gauthier will take over the duties on an interim basis.

The Canadiens are 28-26-6 this season and are sixth in the Eastern Conference standings.

Gainey, 56, was hired in 2003 as the 15th general manager in franchise history and the Canadiens made the playoffs in four of the five full seasons he led the front office. Under his guidance, the club tallied a 241-176-46-7 record and .569 winning percentage.

Their best season during that period came in 2007-08, when the team finished atop the Eastern Conference standings and made it to the second-round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Once described by Russian hockey legend Viktor Tikhonov as the world’s most complete hockey player, Gainey played his entire NHL career with the Canadiens from from 1973 to 1989 and was the team captain for his last eight seasons. As a player, he won five Stanley Cups and won the Selke Trophy as best defensive forward in four consecutive seasons. He was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoff MVP in 1979.

Following his playing career, Gainey coached the Epinal hockey team in France and later joined the Minnesota North Stars as head coach. He led the North Stars to the Stanley Cup final in 1991 and was coach and general manager from 1992 to 1996.

From 1996 to 2002, Gainey led his team – which re-located to Dallas – to a Stanley Cup in 1999.

He was also assistant general manager of the 1996 Canadian team at the World Cup of Hockey and was one of three general managers of the Canadian Olympic team at the Nagano Olympics in 1998. He was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1992 and the Canadiens officially retired his No. 23 jersey in 2008.