Robert Michael Gainey (born December 13, 1953) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played for the Montreal Canadiens from 1973 until 1989.

After retiring from active play, he became a hockey coach and later an executive with the Minnesota North Stars/Dallas Stars organization before returning to Montreal as general manager from 2003 to 2010.

Currently, Gainey serves as a team consultant for the St. Louis Blues as well as a volunteer senior advisor for the Peterborough Petes of the Ontario Hockey League.

Gainey lifted his last Stanley Cup as a player in 1986 against the Calgary Flames, and scored a playoff total of 5 goals and 10 points.

After his retirement, Gainey moved to France where he was player-coach for the Epinal Écureuils (Squirrels) of the French Nationale 1B division.

His unexpected appearance on the French hockey scene created quite a stir as curious fans attended games to see the famous star in action for Epinal.

Gainey turned the franchise into a powerhouse by acquiring players such as Joe Nieuwendyk, Brett Hull, Ed Belfour and Sergei Zubov.

Along with Bobby Clarke and Pierre Gauthier, Gainey was given the responsibility of selecting Canada's men's ice hockey squad for the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.

[18][19] Gainey's daughter, Laura, died at age 25 in December 2006, when she was swept overboard while sailing in the North Atlantic on the barque Picton Castle, a sail-training tall ship based out of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, registered in the Cook Islands and destined for Grenada.

On January 3, 2007, officials in the Cook Islands named Captain Andrew Scheer to head an investigation into Laura's death.

Laura's death and the subsequent investigations received considerable press attention in Canada, including a documentary produced by the CBC News program The Fifth Estate, which was highly critical of safety standards on the Picton Castle.