George Gillett Jr., who owned the Canadiens for eight years, dies at 87

George Gillett Jr., the Wisconsin businessman who owned the Montreal Canadiens for most of a decade, died Tuesday at 87. The Canadiens announced his passing Wednesday, and TSN reported he had been living in Vail, Colorado.

Gillett bought 80.1 percent of the Canadiens and the Molson Centre in January 2001, then sold it all back to the Molson family in June 2009. In between, he ran the most scrutinized franchise in hockey as an American outsider, and he left on good terms.

"George immersed himself in the Montreal community and was appreciated by everyone in the organization," Canadiens owner Geoff Molson said in the team's statement. "We sincerely appreciate his contributions to the Montreal Canadiens during his time as owner."

What he walked into

The buyer who stepped forward for Canada's most famous team in 2001 was a ski-resort owner from Racine, Wisconsin. TSN reported he'd been born there, and the Canadiens' release lists the purchase date as Jan. 31, 2001.

CBC and The Hockey News put the 2001 price at $275 million for the team and the building. The Hockey News reported that Quebec's pension fund manager put in $75 million of it and two banks loaned $140 million.

Gillett's era included a few of the moments Habs fans still talk about. Saku Koivu's return on April 9, 2002, after his cancer treatment, and the building's renaming to the Bell Centre that September, both happened on his watch, per the team's release.

He also started the planning for the 2009-10 centennial season, though he was gone by the time it started.

The exit

Gillett hired financial advisers in March 2009 to weigh a sale, per The Hockey News, with Forbes valuing the club at $334 million U.S. at the time. By June, he had a deal with the Molson brothers for a package CBC, citing La Presse, put at well over $500 million.

"I am fully confident that the Molson brothers … will ensure the preservation and development of this great sports institution," Gillett said then, per CBC.

He turned $275 million into a sale that nearly doubled it in eight years. Whatever else you say about the hockey, the business worked.

Beyond hockey

Gillett's portfolio was never just the Habs. TSN noted he co-owned Liverpool FC with Tom Hicks from 2007 until the club was sold in 2010, held stakes in the Miami Dolphins and the Harlem Globetrotters, and controlled NASCAR's Evernham Motorsports. He bought Vail Associates in the mid-1980s and built it into a premier winter sports company, per TSN.

Ferda take

Montreal is the hardest room in hockey to own. Every trade is a referendum and every losing streak is a language debate. Gillett walked in from Wisconsin, kept his head down, let the hockey people work, and handed the team back to the family whose name is on the beer.

That's a rare exit. Most owners leave a city angry. Gillett left Montreal with the arena renamed, the centennial planned, and the current owner calling him appreciated. For an American who bought the Canadiens, that's a legacy.

Molson's statement extended the organization's condolences to Gillett's family.