Pierre Gauthier Fired as Montreal Canadiens GM During Tumultuous NHL Season

The Montreal Canadiens fired general manager Pierre Gauthier on Thursday and have not yet named a replacement, according to the team.

"

Pierre Gauthier has been relieved from his duties. The search for a new General Manager is underway.

— Montréal Canadiens (@CanadiensMTL) March 29, 2012"

UPDATE: Thursday, March 29 at 1:05 p.m. ET

Watch Canadiens owner Geoff Molson discuss the team's future at a press conference Thursday morning.

This season has been a huge disappointment for the Canadiens, who were officially eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoff race on Saturday.

The Canadiens currently sit at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings, which isn't acceptable for a team that just one year ago made the first round of the playoffs and the Eastern Conference final in 2010.

Gauthier's firing is the right call, as a move was necessary to help the franchise return to the winning ways its fans are so accustomed to seeing.

Some of his signings and trades were awful and have led to the struggles the team has gone through all season.

He traded for defenseman Tomas Kaberle from the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for Jaroslav Spacek, which brought in an overpriced contract with two years left while giving up an expiring deal.

Last summer, Gauthier gave defenseman Andrei Markov a three-year contract extension with a large $5.75 million cap hit despite Markov's injury concerns. The 33-year-old has played in only eight games this season.

TSN's Pierre LeBrun explained the Canadiens' salary cap situation under Gauthier, and it's not an ideal one.

"

Gauthier leaves behind a payroll that has 13 players signed for more than $44 million next season, when cap may go down....

— Pierre LeBrun (@Real_ESPNLeBrun) March 29, 2012"

Gauthier also hired Randy Cunneyworth as head coach when Jacques Martin was fired earlier this season.

Not only was the firing of Martin a controversial move, his replacement in Cunneyworth does not speak French very well, which is a virtual requirement of the Canadiens head coaching position. Many people were upset with the hiring of Cunneyworth because of his inability to speak French.

Gauthier made too many bad decisions on too many fronts to continue as general manager of the Canadiens. He made bad free-agent signings, made poor trades and did not handle the head coaching position very well.

This was an easy and correct call for Montreal to make.

Follow @NicholasGoss35

Nicholas Goss is a Featured Columnist at Bleacher Report and was the organization's on-site reporter for the 2011 Stanley Cup Final in Boston.