ST. PAUL, Minn., June 19 -- Jacques Lemaire, who guided the New Jersey Devils to the Stanley Cup championship in 1995, Monday was named the first coach of the Minnesota Wild, where he will be reunited with former Montreal Canadiens teammate Doug Risebrough, who is Minnesota's general manager.
Lemaire has spent the last 18 months as a consultant to another former teammate -- Montreal GM Rejean Houle.
Before that, he served briefly as a consultant to the Devils after stepping down as coach following a first-round playoff loss to the Ottawa Senators in 1998.
"I'm very excited to start a new life," the 54-year-old Lemaire said at a news conference. "I say a new life because it's a new franchise, working with players, trying to make them better, make them understand how to play the game to win. That is a great challenge and that's why I accepted this job."
A member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, Lemaire won eight Stanley Cups as a player, two while in the Canadiens' front office and another as coach of the Devils. He spent his entire 12-year playing career with Montreal and served as assistant to the team's managing director for seven years.
The 1984 Hall of Fame inductee has a career record of 247-159-69. That includes two years behind the bench in Montreal and four with New Jersey. In 1993-94, his first season with the Devils, he led them to the Eastern Conference finals and won Coach of the Year honors.
"Jacques has won at all levels and I feel extremely happy that he has joined the organization," Risebrough said. "He will not only teach the players the fundamentals, he will teach them how to win."
The terms of Lemaire's contract were not disclosed.
