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Jacques Lemaire
Jacques Lemaire
Position Centre
Shot Left
Height
Weight
5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
180 lb (82 kg)
Teams Montreal Canadiens
Nationality Flag of Canada Canadian
Born September 7, 1945,
Ville Lasalle, QC, CAN
Pro Career 1967 – 1979
Hall of Fame, 1984

Jacques Gerard Lemaire (born September 7, 1945, in Ville Lasalle, Quebec) is a former centre and former coach of the Minnesota Wild in the National Hockey League.

Career[]

Playing Career[]

Playing his entire NHL career with the Montreal Canadiens, Lemaire won the Stanley Cup a remarkable eight times 1968, 1969, 1971, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979. He is one of only six players to have scored two Stanley Cup winning goals, achieving the feat in both 1977 and 1979. (The five other players are Mike Bossy in 1982 and 1983, Bobby Orr in 1970 and 1972, Henri Richard in 1966 and 1971, Jean Béliveau in 1960 and 1965 and Toe Blake in 1944 and 1946.) A model of consistency, Lemaire scored at least 20 goals in each of his 12 seasons. He retired from the NHL after the 1978–79 season. In 853 career NHL games, he recorded 366 goals and 469 assists for a total of 835 points.He is also probably one of the best players never to have been an All Star.

He also won two more Stanley Cups as assistant general manager with Montreal in 1986 and 1993.

Coaching Career[]

After retiring as a player in 1979, Lemaire traveled to Switzerland to begin a career in coaching. Lemaire was head coach of the Canadiens from 1983–1985 and the New Jersey Devils from 1993 to 1998, winning the Stanley Cup in 1995 for 11th time, and the Jack Adams Award in 1994 and 2003. Lemaire was head coach of the Minnesota Wild from June 19, 2000 until April 11, 2009, the first head coach of the organization.

Lemaire is known to be an unorthodox NHL hockey coach for several reasons. First, he plays a defensive-minded hockey system often using a strategy called the neutral zone trap, Lemaire rarely posts permanent lines and is known to shift players up and down lines, often within games. Moreover, unique to NHL teams, the Wild under Lemaire's tenure has never named a permanent team captain, choosing instead to rotate the captaincy between players on a month-to-month basis.

Lemaire is also known to be one of the best coaches for working with and meshing both young players and veterans. He spends much time in evolving young rookies to reach potential and demands adaptation from veterans to perfect his hockey system.

Lemaire is the uncle of Boston Bruins goaltender and former Wild player, Manny Fernandez.

There is a hockey arena in Ville Lasalle named after Lemaire.

Career Statistics[]

Playing Record[]

    Regular Season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1963–64 Montreal Junior Canadiens OHA 42 25 30 55 0 0 0 0 0 0
1964–65 Quebec Aces AHL 1 0 0 0 0 -- -- -- -- --
1964–65 Montreal Junior Canadiens OHA 56 25 47 72 0 0 0 0 0 0
1965–66 Montreal Junior Canadiens OHA 48 41 52 93 69 0 0 0 0 0
1966–67 Houston Apollos CPHL 69 19 30 49 19 6 0 1 1 0
1967–68 Montreal Canadiens NHL 69 22 20 42 16 13 7 6 13 6
1968–69 Montreal Canadiens NHL 75 29 34 63 29 14 4 2 6 6
1969–70 Montreal Canadiens NHL 69 32 28 60 16 -- -- -- -- --
1970–71 Montreal Canadiens NHL 78 28 28 56 18 20 9 10 19 17
1971–72 Montreal Canadiens NHL 77 32 49 81 26 6 2 1 3 2
1972–73 Montreal Canadiens NHL 77 44 51 95 16 17 7 13 20 2
1973–74 Montreal Canadiens NHL 66 29 38 67 10 6 0 4 4 2
1974–75 Montreal Canadiens NHL 80 36 56 92 20 11 5 7 12 4
1975–76 Montreal Canadiens NHL 61 20 32 52 20 13 3 3 6 2
1976–77 Montreal Canadiens NHL 75 34 41 75 22 14 7 12 19 6
1977–78 Montreal Canadiens NHL 76 36 61 97 14 15 6 8 14 10
1978–79 Montreal Canadiens NHL 50 24 31 55 10 16 11 12 23 6
12 Seasons NHL total 853 366 469 835 217 145 61 78 139 63

Coaching Record[]

Team Year Regular season Post season
G W L T OTL Pts Finish Result
MTL 1983–84 17 7 10 0 - (75) 4th in Adams Lost in Conf. champ
MTL 1984–85 80 41 27 12 - 94 1st in Adams Lost in second round
NJ 1993–94 84 47 25 12 - 106 2nd in Atlantic Lost in Conf. champ
NJ 1994–95 48 22 18 8 - 52 2nd in Atlantic Won Stanley Cup
NJ 1995–96 82 37 33 12 - 86 6th in Atlantic Missed playoffs
NJ 1996–97 82 45 23 14 - 104 1st in Atlantic Lost in second round
NJ 1997–98 82 48 23 11 - 107 1st in Atlantic Lost in first round
MIN 2000–01 82 25 39 13 5 68 5th in Northwest Missed playoffs
MIN 2001–02 82 26 35 12 9 73 5th in Northwest Missed playoffs
MIN 2002–03 82 42 29 10 1 95 3rd in Northwest Lost in Conf. champ
MIN 2003–04 82 30 29 20 3 83 5th in Northwest Missed playoffs
MIN 2005–06 82 38 36 - 8 84 5th in Northwest Missed playoffs
MIN 2006–07 82 48 26 - 8 104 2nd in Northwest Lost in first round
MIN 2007–08 82 44 28 - 10 98 1st in Northwest Lost in first round
MIN 2008–09 82 40 33 - 9 89 3rd in Northwest Missed playoffs (stepped down at the end of the season)
Total 1131 540 414 124 53

External Links[]

Preceded by
Bob Berry
Head coach of the Montreal Canadiens
1984–1985
Succeeded by
Jean Perron
Preceded by
Herb Brooks
Head coach of the New Jersey Devils
1993–1998
Succeeded by
Robbie Ftorek
Preceded by
Pat Burns
Winner of the Jack Adams Award
1994
Succeeded by
Marc Crawford
Preceded by
first coach
Head coach of the Minnesota Wild
2000-2009
Succeeded by
Todd Richards
Preceded by
Bob Francis
Winner of the Jack Adams Award
2003
Succeeded by
John Tortorella


New Jersey Devils Head Coaches
MacMillanMcVieCarpenterSchoenfeldCunniff • McVie • BrooksLemaireFtorekRobinsonConstantineBurns • Robinson • LamorielloJulien • Lamoriello • Sutter • Lemaire • MacLean • Lemaire • DeBoerOatsStevensHynesRuff
Minnesota Wild Head Coaches
LemaireRichardsYeoTorchettiBoudreauEvason


This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Jacques Lemaire. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Ice Hockey Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License 3.0 (Unported) (CC-BY-SA).


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