The Hiring of Jacques Lemaire

By Glen Miller

Today the New Jersey Devils have announced the hiring of Jacques Lemaire to take over the reins of the club that he originally led to their first Stanley Cup, which was won in 1995. This was long rumored since Lemaire left the Wild organization after coaching that program since its inception in 2000 and also since Brent Sutter left his post as Devils head coach to ultimately take over the Flames. Lemaire would seem to be the perfect fit as he still advocates the same defensively responsible style of play that Lou Lamoriello favors. However, I have my doubts that Lemaire will be any more successful than the last several coaches in Jersey.

Over the last 15 years, few teams have enjoyed the type of success that the Devils have. They have qualified for the post-season in 14 of those seasons and won 3 Stanley Cups. They’ve done this while playing the same basic style of hockey; a variant of the infamous trap which helped institute the NHL’s increased crackdown on obstruction calls following the lock-out. Players and coaches have come and gone but 3 things have remained the same; the Devils make the playoffs, Lou Lamoriello has been the GM and Marty Brodeur has kept the Devils competitive with various levels of skill and talent surrounding him.

Lemaire helped to institute the trappin style of play during his first tenure in Jersey and took it with him to Minnesota where he enjoyed moderate success. The Wild were more competitive earlier on their existence than most expansion franchises with Lemaire leading the Wild to 3 playoff berths and 1 Conference Finals berth. Of course the trap has its detractors. Fans of course find it leads to boring hockey. Many UFA’s have expressed reservations about playing for teams that have employed that style for selfish reasons. The trap discourages goal scoring and we all know that goal scorers get paid on the UFA market.

Look, I think Lemaire will have success in his return to Jersey. He’ll almost assuredly guide them to another playoff berth. Let’s face it; as long as Marty Brodeur can still stop pucks then the Devils will be a playoff caliber team. The problem I see is that when Lemaire won the cup with Jersey, Brodeur was a kid. Now he is a grizzled vet that has seen his best years pass by. He may not be capable of carrying a team through the regular season and playoffs any more. He’s going to need more support than he needed in 1995.

Lemaire’s system may be hard for young players like Zach Parise to adjust to. Parise enjoyed a real breakout season with 45 goals and 94 points. Granted, Lamoriello has kept the same philosophy in place since Lemaire first left the organization. Patrik Elias has enjoyed some solid offensive years in the Devil’s/Lemaire system so it isn’t that Parise can’t have success.

The bottom line is that I don’t see Lemaire as an upgrade over Sutter. The Devils still lack depth especially up front; more specifically at Center. I’m not sure that Danis would be as effective as Clemmensen was in Brodeur’s absence last season. I’m convinced that while still being among the elite in the game, Brodeur is not the same goalie who has won three cups. I just don’t know what Lemaire can do to get the Devils playing better; especially during the playoffs.

Lemaire still has the cap space to add players. He has been very quiet so far this off-season only re-signing Johnny Oduya and Andy Greene and adding Yann Danis to back up Brodeur. In order for Lemaire to have a realistic chance at taking the Devils further in the post-season, Lou is going to have to open the pocket book to help his new/old coach.