MONTREAL - Montreal Canadiens owner Geoff Molson is denying speculation that his embattled team's general manager has been fired.
Rumours spread like wildfire on Saturday night that GM Pierre Gauthier had been removed. Speaking earlier in the evening on CTV News, TSN 990's Tony Marinaro reported that a shift in power was taking place at the Bell Centre.
According to Marinaro, Gauthier was being slowly pushed from his duties as Molson took a bigger role at the head of the team.
Marinaro never said that Gauthier had been fired, however as the story spread some social media users described the move as a "firing." At that point, Molson weighed in, responded on Twitter that "Rumours of Pierre Gauthier's firing are false."
When the Molson family reacquired the franchise in 2009, Gauthier and other senior executives were given nearly full control of the team.
An eight-year veteran with the Habs, most of which was spent recruiting new talent, Gauthier has been GM for the past two seasons.
The Canadiens are last in the Eastern Conference and expected to be sellers at the trade deadline Monday.
