The Toronto Maple Leafs have added another member of the New Jersey Devils.
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Lemaire, 70, has been a special assignment coach for the Devils since he retired as a head coach in 2011.
“What I do is I look at the team, I bring suggestions on players”, Lemaire said on a conference call Friday. “I carry tips on everything I understand”.
Devils beat reporter Tom Gulitti reported Thursday that Lemaire, who led New Jersey to their first Cup victory in 1995 and remained part of the organization in an advisory role after retiring in 2011, had spoken with other National Hockey League clubs about a potential job because he did not know what whether new Devils GM Ray Shero wanted him back.
The 69-year-old also served as an assistant coach on Mike Babcock’s staff when Canada won gold at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
Lemaire joins Babcock’s staff, which includes assistants D.J. Smith, Jim Hiller and Andrew Brewer, goaltending coach Steve Briere and video analyst Adam Jancelewicz.
“I feel he’s the best coach around”, Lemaire said.
“Obviously Jacques Lemaire has a wealth of experience”, Babcock said in a press release. “It’ll be a thrill to be able to assist him”.
The most critical of those reasons is that Lemaire is a superb coach. It’s hard to say how many times I’ll be (in Toronto).
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Brodeur told NHL.com, “I would have liked to go back to New Jersey”, but was never offered a suitable position within the team’s front office while Lou Lamoriello was still running the show. Lemaire had just wrapped up his playing career, which ended with a stint in Switzerland as a player-coach, and was earning a comparative pittance as an assistant coach with Plattsburgh State College.
