“I never thought I would be a coach, because I didn’t like the coaches” – Jacques Lemaire

New Jersey’s legendary former Head Coach gave the above statement to Sam Kasan of the Devils’ digital media team and it’s an eye-opening one. 

Wednesday night, prior to New Jersey defeating the Boston Bruins 5-1 at Prudential Center, the Garden State franchise honored its Stanley Cup-winning Coach by inducting Jacques Lemaire into the team’s Ring of Honor. New Jersey’s Ring of Honor is a small, select group of individuals who have left an indelible mark on the franchise and Lemaire’s accomplishments – number one in franchise wins as a coach, 1995 Stanley Cup champion, etc. – are more than deserving of the honor. His legacy is also about more than just wins. He was also the mastermind behind the “neutral zone trap” system that endures to this day around The League and which still gives players fits.

“That probably was a strategy used even prior to us sort of making it a little more famous,” Scott Niedermayer said about Lemaire’s famous “neutral zone trap.” “What we had was our commitment to it. To play a certain way and not cheat at all defensively. Making it really hard on the other teams was really, I think, his main priority as a team and focus. I think all the teams are trying to do that now. Everybody recognizes how important defense is and the commitment to it to win. When you see teams who end up winning The Stanley Cup, that’s something they all have in common; the way they play the game and they’re committed to that side of the puck.”

Now, before we go any further, let’s quickly go back to Lemaire’s opening line about never wanting to be a coach. Jacques Lemaire spent 12 years playing for the Montreal Canadiens and won eight Stanley Cup championships. He was the ultimate winner. He was inducted into The Hockey Hall of Fame for his accomplishments as a player in 1984. And throughout everything, he always felt he was a player’s player. That’s arguably the biggest reason he didn’t want to coach. He felt the coaches did a lot of things that the players didn’t like, so why would he want to become something he did not like?

Well, thanks to the then Canadiens’ GM Serge Savard and the at-time-time Devils’ GM Lou Lamoriello, Lemaire eventually went against his instincts and became a coach in The NHL. First, he coached Montreal for one-and-a-half seasons as a begrudging favor to Savard. Then, he stepped away. 

“The first guy who is responsible for my coaching is Serge Savard,” Lemaire regaled. “Because, in Montreal, he just told me one day, he says, ‘you are coaching tonight.’ That was it. There was nothing else. He said, ‘I believe in the skill you have and I think you’ll be a great coach.'” And then, after a couple years, it was over.”

“(Then) there was this guy here (Lou Lamoriello) who kept calling,” Lemaire continued. “He kept calling Serge and asking him to talk to me. So, finally, after I don’t know how many months, how many calls, Serge came to me and said, ‘Hey, you want to call Lou? ’cause he doesn’t stop. He’s always asking to talk to you.’ And I said, ‘Did you tell him that I don’t want to coach?’ He said, ‘Yeah, but he doesn’t care.’ So, I met with Lou, I came down here and looked at the facility. And that was that.” 

Lamoriello’s persistence paid off in a big way as Lemaire turned out to be the exact coach the Devils needed. 

“When he came, that was really the start of us elevating what we thought we could do and what we were,” Scott Niedermayer said. “Personally, he taught me a lot as a young player. When he came here, I was 20, 21 years old and we definitely had our disagreements. I guess, he kind of knew it was more me with the disagreements. But I look back now and I’m pretty fortunate that I had him and Larry (Robinson) to sort of direct me as a young player. Personally, it was great. And obviously, for the franchise, it really gave us an identity that we carried forward for a long time and allowed us to have a lot of success.”

“What he’d been through as a player and the success he’d been a part of, I think you couldn’t question his knowledge and what it took to win a Stanley Cup,” Niedermayer continued. “He brought that with him and Larry. So, when he spoke, we listened and did our best. We were fortunate. We kind of were getting results pretty quick as a team. When you see that and you know his reputation, you start to believe and become better at doing those things.”

“He was tremendous,” Scott Stevens lauded. “We had some good years. We had some good teams, we had some good coaches. And then, we had the players and I think we just needed the direction. His pedigree was phenomenal. So he comes here and everyone’s just focused and listens to everything he said. And bringing Larry (Robinson) was important, obviously also, but he was a great teacher. Jacques taught us how to play the game and we were able to take that to the ice, learn and practice and it’s amazing. A lot of it was just little things. A foot here, a foot there and those little things all add to big things. We enjoyed it so much and we could put it to work in games and we saw how it worked and it was kind of exciting. It was like a breath of fresh air.”

In his first year behind New Jersey’s bench, Lemaire led the Devils to the Eastern Conference Final, where they fell to the Rangers in seven games. Then, the following year, once the lockout was resolved and the season finally began, Lemaire deftly guided New Jersey through the shortened season and the playoffs, before going up against the powerhouse Detroit Red Wings in The Stanley Cup Final. 

“The first year, we made it to the Conference Final,” Neidermayer explained, “losing overtime in Game Seven. You’re pretty darn close at that point to winning a Stanley Cup. And the next year we did it. So, yeah, pretty quick. I don’t know if you always could count on it being that quick, but Jacques knew what he wanted. He was very clear as a coach and there’s no questioning sort of what he wanted or what the results would be because we got them pretty quickly.” 

Nobody gave the Devils a snowball’s chance in h*ll of beating the Red Wings, with one hockey pundit going as far as to say that Detroit would sweep New Jersey in three games (even though it was a best-four-of-seven series). 

Turns out, it was Detroit who didn’t have a snowball’s chance in h*ll as the Devils swept the Red Wings and won their first Stanley Cup championship. And even though Lemaire wasn’t behind the bench for Cups two and three (2000 and 2003), his influence was still felt throughout the roster. 

“The fact is, as a player, you have one guy to take care of in a sense,” Jacques Lemaire explained in regards to how winning as a coach is different than as a player. “It’s you. You have to show up and be the best every night you play. That’s your goal. And you go through the playoffs with that. As a coach, you have 23, 24 guys who you have to manage, make them believe that they can make it. That’s why that’s the ring I wear (’95 Cup). It was incredible.”

Eventually, he did return for parts of the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons. That first season 2009-10, he led the Devils to an Atlantic Division title before falling to the Philadelphia Flyers in the Conference Quarter-Finals. He then retired from coaching in the off-season, only to be brought back – on an interim basis – midway through the 2010-11 season after John MacLean was fired. Lemaire and the Devils rode a roller coaster the rest of the way and finished outside of the playoffs. He then announced that he was done with coaching for good and would not return for the 2011-12 season. And Lemaire has stayed true to his word ever since. 

“The greatest thing, to me, I haven’t lost a game since 2011,” Lemaire quipped. “So, I don’t worry.” 

“I wouldn’t come back,” Lemaire continued. “I would be afraid to lose it and be sour for the rest of my life.” 

However, according to Scott Stevens, Lemaire could still give it a go if he wanted. “I’m sure he’d be successful. He’s well-seasoned and he’s an incredible coach. He still looks good. Looks like he’s still a coach.”

Now, on January 22, 2025, Lemaire has returned to the Devils one final time, without the potential of a loss, as an honored guest, becoming the third member of the Devils’ Ring of Honor. 

Merci Jacques pour tout. C’était vraiment un plaisir!