DETROIT -- Jacques Demers, who led the Detroit Red Wings to two Norris Division titles in the last three years, was fired as coach Friday and replaced with Bryan Murray who will also become the team's general manager.
'This is one of the most painful decisions I've ever had to make,' Red Wings owner Mike Ilitch said in a prepared statement. 'Jacques and I are very close, but I have to put the interests of the Detroit Red Wings before myself or Jacques.'
Demers, 45, held a news conference at his Southfield restuarant where he said of Ilitch, 'I think the four years I was here I served him well.'
'It's a sad day for me and I know for a lot of people in Detroit.'
He called Murray, 47, 'a good man.' Of his own plans, Demers said he would one day like to become a general manager 'and win a Stanley Cup for someone.'
Murray, the ninth general manager and 10th head coach of the Red Wings in the last 10 years, will appear at a news conference Monday at Joe Louis Arena. He is the first to hold both jobs since Alex Delvecchio in 1975-76 and only the fifth to peform the dual role in team history.
Murray spent seven full seasons and parts of two others as head coach of the Washington Capitals before he was replaced by his brother, Terry, last Jan. 15.
Bryan Murray won the Jack Adams Award as NHL Coach of the Year in 1983-84. He guided Washington to its only Patrick Division championship in 1988-89 and led the team to five second-place finishes. In his seven full seasons in Washington, the Capitals averaged 43 victories and 95 points -- second only to Glen Slather and the Edmondton Oilers for that period.
The hiring of Murray completes a management shakeup in the Red Wings organization. On Wednesday, Jimmy Devellano was promoted from general manager to senior vice president.
Demers has three years remaining on his contract worth $250,000 annually, which the team will honor.
When Demers came to Detroit, the Red Wings had just finished the 1985-86 season with 40 points and their worst record in decades. In Demers' first season, they finished with 78 points and advanced to the Campbell Conference Finals.
In the 1987-88 season, Detroit won the Norris Division with 93 points and again played Edmonton in the Campbell Conference Finals. He was named coach of the year in his first two seasons.
But things started to sour shortly after.
The 1988-89 season was marred by off-the-ice distractions involving Petr Klima and Bob Probert, and was capped when the Red Wings were upset by Chicago in the first round of the playoffs. A disastrous start last season, in which Detroit won only four of its first 20 games, doomed the Red Wings to a 28-38-14 record and prevented the team from making the playoffs for the first time in four years under Demers.
'Not making the playoffs this year obviously was not satisfactory,' Demers said of Ilitch's decision to fire him. 'That's something as a coach I have to accept. When you don't make the playoffs, the coach has to look at himself.'
Ilitch wished Demers 'all the best.'
'With him as coach, we put four banners in the rafters of Joe Louis Arena and enjoyed some tremendous success,' Ilitch said. 'He also has been an excellent goodwill ambassador in the community with all of his charity work and other endeavors.'
