Montreal, QC (My Sportsbook) - The Montreal Canadiens fired head coach Guy Carbonneau on Monday, and team general manager Bob Gainey will take over behind the bench.

Carbonneau was in his third season as head coach of the NHL's most successful franchise, which has 24 championships in its history. Viewed by many as one of the preseason favorites to win the Stanley Cup, the Canadiens currently sit in the fifth position in the Eastern Conference with 77 points, only two points ahead of ninth-place Carolina.

"Not long ago, I responded to a question: What was the best decision I made as (Canadiens) GM? And hiring Guy was my best decision," Gainey said. "Today this decision might seem contradictory, but in the last eight weeks our performance has been below average, and I believe that a change of the direction at ice level was necessary. With 16 games left in the season, I believe that the change was necessary to maximize our chances of being one of the teams to participate in the playoffs this spring."

Gainey, who has served as the team's general manager since 2003, will take over as head coach for the second time in his tenure with the team. He also coached for 41 games in 2006 after firing Claude Julien, posting a 23-15-3 record in the regular season before being defeated in six games by eventual Stanley Cup champion Carolina in the first round.

"I find ourselves in a position that requires my intervention, and the response is my decision today," Gainey said. "I feel like its necessary to make a change, but the real answer will be the results 35 days from now."

Carbonneau, who was a member of the Canadiens for 12 seasons, including the team's last Stanley Cup victory in 1992-93, led Montreal to a first-place finish in the conference during the 2007-08 season before a disappointing five-game series loss to Philadelphia in the second round.

In his two-plus seasons at the helm in Montreal, Carbonneau posted a 124-83-23 record in 230 games.