As the Montreal Canadiens struggle to hang onto one of the last playoff spots in the East, some disgruntled and impatient Habs fans are expressing their frustration at GM Bob Gainey for not doing more at the trade deadline.

A recent post that caught my eye over at Hockeytraderumors.com ran a critique of Gainey's recent record as Canadiens general manager and found it lacking.

But is the criticism legitimate? Let's take a look:

"1) Lost Ron Hainsey, 13th overall pick, claimed off of waivers by Columbus. He is still young and leads Columbus defensemen is scoring with 28 points. We have nothing to show for him."

You can't blame Gainey, or any other general manager, for losing a call-up via waivers. That's not a fair criticism. It happens, and is not a sign of ineptness.

"2) Traded Mike Ribeiro for Janne Niinimaa. Ribeiro has 41 points and is +7. Niinimaa has played 31 games, is a -8 and spends most nights watching from the press box. He is an unrestriced free agent that we will gladly lose but will have nothing to show for the trade. I don't begrudge trading Ribeiro but we have to do better than Niinimaa."

Gainey took a chance on Niinimaa because, at the time, he had two regular blueliners out with injury and needed a replacement. Ribeiro, for all his skill, was perceived a dressing room cancer whose on-ice diving theatrics surely didn't sit well with management. Perhaps they could've received more, but it can be argued that retaining "Mickey Ribs" would've done little, if anything, to improve the Habs current lot. Indeed, most Habs fans that I've spoken with, or whose comments I've read regarding him, don't seem to miss Ribeiro.

"3) JP Dumont wanted to play in Montreal, was willing to accept a hometown discount, has 51 points and is a +9. Yet we were not interested. Instead we actively pursued the likes of Elias and Shanahan, neither of whom wanted to play in Montreal."

Dumont wasn't available until mid-August, and by that time Gainey had already committed his cap dollars. The Habs were interested but at that point couldn't afford his asking price. As for Elias, how do we know he wouldn't have considered Montreal if the Devils didn't re-sign him? As for Shanahan, he publicly stated the Habs were in contention for his services but ultimately he wanted to play in New York.

"4) Instead signed Sergei Samsonov to 3.5 million per season. He has 25 points in 60 games played. We can't even give him away and his 3.5 million will count against next years cap."

Samsonov was a bust, no question, but by the time Gainey signed him, Samsonov was one of the last decent "name" UFAs left on the market, after missing out on Shanahan, Elias and others. Gainey took a gamble that Samsonov would mesh with Kovalev, and lost.

"5) Held onto Sheldon Souray who will walk at seasons end. Once again we will have nothing to show for him. Souray's stock was at an all time high as he is playing for a new contract and big payday. There is no arguing he is having a tremendous season but he will not duplicate this season again productionwise and has always been injury prone. I know we need Souray if we are going to make a run at a playoff spot. However, the reality is that we are an average team at best and don't have the horses, combined with the injury to Huet, to do any real damage in the playoffs that is providing we actually make it in. (Andrei Markov is another unrestriced free agent at seasons end, wouldn't it be tragic to lose him as well!? I know he claims that he wants to remain in Montreal but nothing is guaranteed)."

I too believed Souray was a goner and that perhaps Gainey should've utilized his market value for a strong return for the future. However, a recent report in the Montreal Gazette suggests Souray may not leave Montreal after all. Granted, it'll probably take a deal similar to the Leafs' Bryan McCabe to do it, but the possibility now exists that he'll stay. As for Markov, every report about him has him wishing to remain in Montreal, so one shouldn't be too quick to assume that he'll be lost to the market.

"6) Traded Craig Rivet for Josh Gorges and a first round pick which seems like a good deal at the time as Rivet is an unrestricted free agent at seasons end. Unfortunately we lost some leadership and toughness in losing Rivet. Ironically we receive a "most sportsmanlike player" (Memorial Cup) in Gorges. Just what we need, another soft player."

If it comes down to Souray, Markov and Rivet, and the Habs can only retain two, which one would you keep? I think the majority of fans would retain the first two and wave bye-bye to Rivet. If so, then perhaps Gainey has dealt the expendable crew member in preparation of re-signing the other two. As for Gorges, let's give him a season or two before we write him off.

"When will Montreal's management realize that we need some size and toughness. We have too many European players and too many small, soft players. We must be the easiest team in the NHL to play against. We definitely don't intimidate anyone."

That's a fair assessment about too many small, soft players, and it needs to be addressed.

"Too many Europeans" have nothing to do with it. If the Habs had Mikka Kiprusoff, Alexander Ovechkin, Patrik Elias, Nicklas Lidstrom, Zdeno Chara, Ilya Kovalchuk, Marian Hossa, Olli Jokinen and Sergei Zubov, that would be a team with "too many Europeans"...and it would win the Stanley Cup this year.

"I hope Bob proves me wrong but thus far he has given us Habs fans little to cheer about."

I understand the impatience and frustration. This team has lacked a superstar since it ran Patrick Roy out of town 11 years ago. It's taken years to recover from the mismanagement of the mid-to-late 1990s. We've heard for years that the Canadiens have some great prospects but have yet to see them fully blossom. We believed that this season they'd finally turned the corner only to see them struggle and stumble once again.

But let's not forget what Gainey has done right.

He got Alexei Kovalev for a song, and while he can be frustrating at times, without him the Habs wouldn't even have a shot of making the playoffs.

He brought in Cristobal Huet, who saved the Habs season last year and was named to the All-Star team this year. He brought in Radek Bonk, who this season has been a pillar of strength centering the third line.

He acquired a good winger in Mike Johnson last year and dumped the fading Richard Zednik. He surprised everyone by dumping the overpaid underachiever Jose Theodore.

The Canadiens have continued to draft well under his watch.

Since 2003-04, young Habs like Michael Ryder, Mike Komisarek, Chris Higgins, Tomas Plekanec, Guilluame Latendresse and Maxim Lapierre have made the roster and shown various degrees of promise.

Maybe they'll turn into stars, maybe they won't, but their depth within their system is much better than it was several years ago.

How do we know that Gainey wasn't shopping for help leading up to the deadline? Odds are that he was, but the asking price for a quick fix was probably any combination of those young players, and Gainey simply wasn't willing to do it.

As a Canadiens fans, I'm frustrated too over the seeming lack of real progress, but I also understand that it takes time to build a winner. Given Gainey's track record as a GM in Dallas, where he built that team into a champion and perennial Cup contender, I'm willing to keep being patient.

Besides, there's not a heckuva whole lot we Habs fans can do about it, now can we? It's not as thought the fans won't turn out to support them.

In the words of Guns n Roses, "all we need is just a little patience".

UPDATE: As a follow-up, kudos to "parker" at Hockeytraderumor.com for this post.