Montreal Canadiens to Buy Out Georges Laraque

The Montreal Canadiens announced on Thursday that they will buy out the contract of tough-guy right wing Georges Laraque at the end of the season. Even though he will not play another game with the Canadiens, the team will still pay his salary for the rest of the 2009-10 season. Laraque signed a three-year contract with the team back in July 2008 worth $4.5 million. He still has one more year remaining on that deal. According to tsn.ca, Laraque was told Thursday morning by Canadiens' General Manager Bob Gainey of the decision and that head coach Jacques Martin no longer had confidence in the forward. Laraque is reported to be very disappointed in the team's decision and has been dealing with recent emotional issues regarding the earthquake in Haiti and the impact of the disaster on his family. Back injuries have plagued Laraque throughout his time in Montreal, limiting him to just 61 games over two seasons. In those two seasons, he has one goal and four assists for five points and 89 penalty minutes. In 695 career games with the Edmonton Oilers, Phoenix Coyotes, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Montreal Canadiens, Laraque has 53 goals and 100 assists for 153 points and 1126 penalty minutes. Considering what Laraque is going through right now, this is extremely poor timing by the Canadiens to announce that they are buying him out. However, I don't disagree with Gainey's decision to buy out Laraque. While injuries have limited his playing time over the past two seasons, when he has played, his contributions have been minimal. He only plays a few minutes per game, does not contribute as much offensively as he used to, and his level of physicality has dropped the past two seasons. While the Canadiens could still trade Laraque sometime before the March 3 trade deadline, they will likely have a difficult time finding any takers. The best course of action for Laraque is to get himself back into game shape and hope he can sign with a new team once free agency begins on July 1.