Paul Chiasson
We've been preoccupied by other things today, but word has reached our ears that Bob Gainey has parted with ways with another fourth-liner.
We are assured this is a big deal.
So after swapping Guillaume Latendresse for Benny Pouliot, out goes Georges Laraque.
We can't say we're all that surprised, given hockey skills that are best described as, um, notional. Or perhaps rustic.
Laraque's presence never really had the desired effect for the Habs. It didn't, for example, dissuade the Rangers' Aaron Voros from taking a run at Andrei Markov last Sunday.
Then there's the unnerving propensity for opponents scoring goals whenever BGL was on the ice.
So perhaps it'll be full-time animal rights and veganism advocacy for Laraque, who is to be commended for all he's done to raise money for his parents' birthplace of Haiti in the island nation's hour of need.
Speaking of which, playing the Haiti card in a telephone interview with TSN after being told he was done in Montreal, may not have been the wisest move. We will never bemoan the departure of someone who is pure gold for the journalistic classes, which come to think of it probably had as much to do with his current predicament as anything he did or didn't do on the ice.
His departure presumably means the Habs players will also need to find a new friend of the working man, Georges is technically the team's NHLPA rep.
We wish Laraque luck, he's fundamentally a decent guy, although we fear the era that made him a rich man is drawing to a close.
We'll have more to say later, after the big man speaks to the media.