MONTREAL -- Montreal Canadiens general manager Pierre Gauthier continued his staff makeover Tuesday with the hiring of three new scouts, the promotion of another, a new strength and conditioning coach and a hockey information co-ordinator.
Most prominent among the moves was the hiring of Ryan Jankowski as an amateur scout. Jankowski had been let go as assistant general manager and director of amateur scouting for the New York Islanders, positions he held since 2006.
Former Canadien Serge Boisvert was named amateur scout, primarily for Quebec. A Stanley Cup winner with Montreal in 1986, he worked for the team last season as a consultant in player development.
Christer Rockstrom, who worked 21 years in the New York Rangers organization, the last five as director of player personnel for Europe, was hired to scout European leagues.
Vaughn Karpan, an amateur scout since 2005, was named professional scout replacing Gordie Roberts.
Roberts was let go after the season along with amateur scouts Michel Boucher, Denis Morel, Antonin Routa, Nikolai Vakourov and Dave Mayville. The Canadiens retained their other pro scout Doug Gibson.
Pierre Allard, who works with several NHL players in the off-season, was named strength and conditioning coach replacing Lorne Goldenberg, who lasted only one season in Montreal. Allard worked last season with Berlin and Hamburg in the German league as well as acting as consultant to the junior Rimouski Oceanic.
A new position of director of hockey information went to former McGill Redmen captain Ken Morin. His job will be to work in the team's hockey department -- not media relations -- gathering information for the club.
Gauthier took over as GM from Bob Gainey on Feb. 8 and is quickly putting his stamp on the club.
Although it was not his preference, he also had to hire new people for the Canadiens AHL team in Hamilton this month when coach Guy Boucher was named head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning and took his assistants with him. Randy Cunneyworth was named the new Bulldogs head coach with Randy Ladouceur as his assistant.
Julien Brisebois, Hamilton general manager and Canadiens salary cap specialist, also left on his own accord to join the Lightning as assistant to GM Steve Yzerman.
