Gainey

**Updated**
The Canadiens will honour two more of their greats this season as they continue preparations for the club's centennial celebration in 2009. In the coming months, the organization will retire the No. 19 of Larry Robinson and the No. 23 of general manager Bob Gainey.

The Gazette's Red Fisher calls it a fitting honour for the Hall of Famers and recounts some fond moments about the two players. Read his article here. The Gazette's Jack Todd also gives his take on these two legends, describing the special aura the two have as they enter a room.

The ceremony for Robinson will take place on Nov. 19 against the Ottawa Senators and Gainey will see his jersey raised to the rafters on Feb. 23 against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Continue reading to view Robinson's and Gainey's career stats.

Canadiens collector Erle Schneidman, he of the fine www.canadiensmemorabilia.com, shares these official Canadiens picture postcard images of Larry Robinson and Bob Gainey from 1973-74 and 1974-75.

In his Standing Pat column, The Gazette's Pat Hickey writes that Canadiens captain Saku Koivu was the centre of attention at the team's golf tournament for the wrong reasons. Koivu spent some of the time clarifying comments he made this summer saying the Canadiens were good enough to make the playoffs, but couldn't be considered a Stanley Cup contender.

Koivu said he was merely offering the opinion that after failing to make a big splash on the free-agent market this summer, the Canadiens didn't look like a Stanley Cup favourite on paper. But he pointed to the example of the Buffalo Sabres, who have become contenders by developing young players and working together as a team.

As Pat Hickey said in Friday's Gazette, you can forget about seeing Patrick Marleau in a Canadiens uniform.

Marleau signed a two-year contract extension worth $12.6 million Friday, tying him to the team through 2010.

Throughout the summer, there had been rumours that Canadiens GM Bob Gainey was trying to acquire Marleau, but Gainey downplayed those rumours on Thursday, telling Hickey that he had taken some time off to relax before the season gets started.

Read an article on Marleau's contract extension here.

Canadiens general manager Bob Gainey's NHL journey was put on the rails by the late Sam Pollock, who drafted him as the Habs' first pick (No. 8 overall) in the 1973 amateur draft held in Montreal.

I spoke a half-hour with Gainey on Thursday afternoon about Pollock – always "Mr. Pollock" to Gainey – and his relationship with one of pro hockey's greatest minds, a man he has followed into the Canadiens' GM chair. What follows is that feature, which appears in Friday's Gazette:

Gainey meets the media today.

Canadiens general manager Bob Gainey told the Montreal media this morning in a wide-ranging talk at the Bell Centre that even with $2-3 million left in his salary budget, his free-agent shopping is pretty much done – no Alexei Yashin or Brendan Shanahan, thank you very much – though he'll keep an open mind should something stupendous fall into his lap.

Gainey also added that defenceman Sheldon Souray is no longer in talks with the club, those discussions having ended yesterday, and that forward Michael Ryder has filed for salary arbitration and fellow forward Tomas Plekanec might soon follow suit.

Here is Gainey in his own voice, in English and French interviews.

The Gazette's Pat Hickey summarizes Gainey's address here, and in the paper today writes that May's four-year, $23-million signing of defenceman Andrei Markov was a bargain.