Jacques Lemaire was born in LaSalle, Quebec and didn’t stray far from home during his entire junior and pro hockey career. In junior, Lemaire played for the Montreal Junior Canadiens in the Ontario Hockey Association. He then played his entire National Hockey League career with the Montreal Canadiens.
Jacques Lemaire – Junior and Minor Pro
Jacques Lemaire played three seasons with the Montreal Junior Canadiens from 1963-64 to 1965-66. In his first year, his numbers were great for a rookie with 25 goals and 30 assists for 55 points over 42 regular season games. Montreal reached the Robertson Cup finals before falling to the Toronto Marlboros. Over 17 playoff games, Lemaire scored ten goals and totalled 16 points.
In his final two years with the Junior Canadiens, the team was coached by Scotty Bowman. In 1965-66, Lemaire led the team with 41 goals and 52 assists for 93 points over 48 regular season games. Jacques tied Mickey Redmond of the Peterborough Petes, behind Redmond’s teammate Danny Grant, for second in the OHA for goals. He placed tied for third with Grant for assists, behind Andre Lacroix of the Petes and Bobby Orr of the Oshawa Generals. Lemaire’s 93 points placed him third in the race for the Eddie Powers Trophy.
However, it was in the middle season, 1964-65, that Jacques got his first taste of pro hockey. He played in one American Hockey League game with the Quebec Aces.
Lemaire played his first full season of pro hockey in 1966-67, exclusively with the Houston Apollos of the CPHL. The Apollos were packed with future NHL stars, including Andre Boudrias, Danny Grant, Serge Savard, Carol Vadnais, Pat Quinn and Rogie Vachon. Even Mickey Redmond played for Houston that year but only during the playoffs.
Jacques Lemaire – NHL
Jacques Lemaire had a relatively short career in the National Hockey League, appearing in 853 regular season games between 1967-68 and 1978-79. Despite his 1974-75 hockey card showing him as a member of the Buffalo Sabres, the trade never went through and Jacques spent his entire NHL career with Montreal.
Jacques Lemaire Collection
Over his 853 regular season games, Lemaire scored 366 and assisted on 469 for 835 points. Jacques played 145 additional games in the Stanley Cup playoffs, adding 139 points.
Despite being on a team offensively led by Guy Lafleur and Steve Shutt, Lemaire managed three years with more than 90 points. In 1972-73, he scored 44 and assisted on 51 for 95 points over 77 games. He placed fourth in the NHL for goals and fifth in the race for the Art Ross Trophy. Two years later, 1974-75, he scored 36 and assisted on 56 for 92 points while playing the full 80 game schedule. However, Jacques did not place in the top ten for any offensive category.
1977-78 was perhaps his best individual performance in the NHL. Lemaire scored 36 and assisted on 61 for 97 points over 76 games. He tied Terry O’Reilly of the Boston Bruins for assists and placed fourth in the Art Ross Trophy race behind teammate Lafleur, Bryan Trottier of the New York Islanders and Darryl Sittler of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The eight time Stanley Cup champion as a member of the Montreal Canadiens retired from the NHL after the 1978-79 season. He played two more years in Switzerland as player/coach of Sierre.
In 1984, Jacques Lemaire was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Entering alongside him were Phil Esposito and Bernie Parent.
Jacques Lemaire – Coaching
Jacques Lemaire has coached in Switzerland’s National League B, the NCAA, the QMJHL and the NHL. He was also General Manager in the AHL for two seasons.
Jacques got his first gig as a head coach in the NHL with the Montreal Canadiens. He was head coach with his old team for the 1983-84 and 1984-85 seasons. As a bench boss, Lemaire is best known for his time with the New Jersey Devils. He was head coach with the Devils from 1993-94 to 1997-98 then again for the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons. Jacques was awarded the Jack Adams Award as NHL coach of the year with the 1993-94 Devils. He won a Stanley Cup with New Jersey in 1994-95.
In addition, Lemaire was the first ever head coach of the Minnesota Wild and remained behind the bench from 2000-01 to 2008-09. In 2002-03 with the Wild, Jacques was awarded his second Jack Adams Award.
Lemaire was part of two more Stanley Cup championships with Montreal in 1985-86 and 1992-93 as assistant general manager. He was assistant coach for Canada at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, coming away with a gold medal. His latest gig was as a consultant with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Jacques Lemaire – Rookie Card
The Jacques Lemaire rookie card appears as number 3 in the 1967-68 Topps hockey card set. The first Lemaire card is valued at around 7.5 times that of a common card. Jacques’s RC is the third most valuable in the set behind Derek Sanderson of the Boston Bruins and Rogie Vachon of the Canadiens.
Jacques Lemaire 1967-68 Topps 3 [YouTube Shorts]
Jacques Lemaire Career Stats
| Season | Team | Lge | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
| 1963-64 | Montreal Junior Canadiens | OHA | 42 | 25 | 30 | 55 | 17 |
| 1964-65 | Montreal Junior Canadiens | OHA | 56 | 25 | 47 | 72 | 52 |
| 1964-65 | Quebec Aces | AHL | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1965-66 | Montreal Junior Canadiens | OHA | 48 | 41 | 52 | 93 | 69 |
| 1966-67 | Houston Apollos | CPHL | 69 | 19 | 30 | 49 | 19 |
| 1967-68 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 69 | 22 | 20 | 42 | 16 |
| 1968-69 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 75 | 29 | 34 | 63 | 29 |
| 1969-70 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 69 | 32 | 28 | 60 | 16 |
| 1970-71 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 78 | 28 | 28 | 56 | 18 |
| 1971-72 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 77 | 32 | 49 | 81 | 26 |
| 1972-73 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 77 | 44 | 51 | 95 | 16 |
| 1973-74 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 66 | 29 | 38 | 67 | 10 |
| 1974-75 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 80 | 36 | 56 | 92 | 20 |
| 1975-76 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 61 | 20 | 32 | 52 | 20 |
| 1976-77 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 75 | 34 | 41 | 75 | 22 |
| 1977-78 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 76 | 36 | 61 | 97 | 14 |
| 1978-79 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 50 | 24 | 31 | 55 | 10 |
| NHL Totals | 853 | 366 | 469 | 835 | 217 |