Gainey does it again...au revoir Samsonov!

COWABUNGA!

Bob Gainey has done it again, folks.

After ridding himself of Jose Theodore's seemingly unmovable contract last year, he clears the air and dumps Sergei Samsonov in a trade with the Chicago Blackhawks.

''Considering we didn't have plans for Sergei Samsonov in our organization for next season, our options were either to buy out his contact or to trade him in order to allow us to save valuable cap room over the next two seasons,'' Bob Gainey told the media.

And Pierre McGuire finally got one right, he had recently told the Team 990 Montreal that the Canadiens and Blackhawks were close to making a deal, and hehe, here it is!

The Canadiens finally parted ways with their problematic Russian forward, 28-year old Sergei Samsonov today, sending him to Dave Tallon's Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for depth defenceman Jassen Cullimore and checking-line winger Tony Salmelainen.

Samsonov's $3,75 million 2007-2008 salary is off the Habs' books, and into Dave Tallon's; heading this way is defenceman Jassen Cullimore, who proved last season that he was no longer NHL material.

The 6 foot 5, 220-pound Cullimore had two goals and 12 assists in 118 games over the last two seasons with the Blackhawks, after winning a Stanley Cup with the Lightning in 2003-2004.
However, he and his $1,9 million salary will not be suiting up in Montreal any time soon.

The 34-year old veteran and ex-Hab [was traded to the Canucks in 1996 for Donald Brashear] will have his contract bought out by the Canadiens, and he'll need to look for greener pastures if he wants to continue playing hockey next season.

Salmelainen's situation will be "re-evaluated" over the next few weeks, but he'll likely battle for a roster spot come September.

He's still relatively young at age 25, and might still turn out to be a decent player one day.

Bob Gainey is a genius, he turned Samsonov's salary into a 600K cap hit over the next two seasons!

I'll have more on this later, right now, time to rejoice!

WE GOT SOMETHING FOR SAMSONOV! Who woulda thought of that?
WE GOT MORE THAN A PUCK BAG!

Cheers,

--BBR