Earlier today, TSN reported that Montreal Canadiens general manager Bob Gainey stepped down from his position, leaving Paul Gauthier to fill his role within the organization. Gainey will remain a part of the front office and will be available to Paul to "show him the ropes" but stated that he just could not take on the position for another several years.

This was not necessarily a case of Gainey being fired because of a poor job, but rather the 56-year-old realizing he cannot go on as GM anymore. While Gainey had his ups and his downs, he had an overall successful tenure with the Habs with the team posting a 241-176-46-7 record and .569 winning percentage while he was sitting on the throne.

I must admit that this is an odd time for him to announce a decision like this with the trade deadline approaching and still one-fourth of the season remaining to be played. But hey, us Ranger fans have no right to complain because he did take dead weight off of our hands in Scott Gomez this past summer, which ultimately resulted in the acquisition of Marian Gaborik.

This is the next step for Rangers GM Glen Sather. He will either be fired like the fans have been wishing (and I highly doubt), or he will step down and allow Mark Messier to take control of the front office of this team. When that time will come is anyone's guess, but I am sure it will be handled in a similar fashion to what we saw today with the Canadiens.