Jacques Lemaire

First player to play at least ten seasons and record a 20-goal season each time; eight-time Stanley Cup champion.

Jacques Gérard Lemaire (born September 7, 1945) is a Canadian former ice hockey forward and head coach who was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1984. He spent his entire twelve-year National Hockey League (NHL) playing career with the Montreal Canadiens (1967–1979) and was a part of eight Stanley Cup championship teams in 1968, 1969, 1971, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1978 and 1979. When he retired, he was the first player to have played at least ten seasons and recorded a 20-goal season each time. In 2017, Lemaire was named one of the 100 Greatest NHL Players.

Quick Facts

Hall of Fame

1984

Born

7 September 1945

Birthplace

LaSalle, Quebec, Canada

Position

Centre

Shoots

Left

Played for

Montreal Canadiens

Draft

Undrafted

Coached for

Montreal Canadiens
New Jersey Devils
Minnesota Wild

Lore & Background

Lemaire is one of six NHL players to have scored two Stanley Cup-winning goals, achieving the feat in both 1977 and 1979. One of the two Cup-winners came at the 4:32 mark of the first overtime of game four in the 1977 Stanley Cup Final. Another famous goal by Lemaire was in the deciding game seven of the 1971 Final, when he scored with a shot from center ice to beat Tony Esposito to cut the Canadiens' deficit to 2-1; Lemaire then assisted on Henri Richard's game-tying goal. Lemaire's NHL playing career ended following the 1978–79 season when he surprisingly rejected the Canadiens' contract extension offer of $225,000 for each of five years. He left the NHL to become a playing coach in Switzerland.

Reader's Guide

Lemaire was an NHL head coach for seventeen seasons with the Canadiens (1983–1985), New Jersey Devils (1993–1998, 2009–2011) and Minnesota Wild (2000–2009). One of 24 coaches with 600 wins (as of 2025), Lemaire led the Devils to their first Stanley Cup in the 1994–95 season. He won the Jack Adams Award in 1994 and again in 2003. Lemaire is known for his unorthodox coaching style: he prefers a defensive-minded system, often using the neutral zone trap; he rarely uses permanent lines; and he never employed a permanent team captain during his tenure with the Wild, opting to rotate it on a monthly basis. After retiring at the end of the 2010–11 NHL season, Lemaire accepted a position as special assignment coach for the Devils. He most recently worked as a special assignment coach for the New York Islanders, a position he previously held with the Toronto Maple Leafs.