IS LEMAIRE COACHING TO WIN EVERY NIGHT?
by The Mask

Wednesday November 13, 2002

Hello hockey fans,

First, let me follow up on last week's article: Manny's new roommate is Pascal Dupuis.

Thank you all very much for your responses. I had a few emails asking me questions on different subjects.

I will address one now. This will create controversy, but hey...it's my opinion.

THE COACH
Everyone likes Jacques Lemaire. His reputation precedes him. Lemaire is without a doubt one of the best teachers in hockey. Every player that played for him will tell you this. They respect him and accept his system (some may call it the trap, others zone defense).

My question is simple: IS LEMAIRE COACHING TO WIN EVERY NIGHT?

Follow me here. The Wild are playing well and are winning right now, and this is exactly my point.

First : The goalie controversy...WE have one of the best goalies in the league right now and he is not playing every night. Forget the team unity "BS" thing. "We will win as a team, so every body should play in a team, and as a team," Lemaire said.

JACQUES, THEN WHY DID BRODEUR PLAY 65 GAMES A YEAR IN NEW JERSEY???

Another point that caught my attention: Against Colorado last week, Willie Mitchell took two stupid penalties and was back on the ice right after. Matt Johnson was on the ice with less than 3 minutes left in the game. If you want to win you will shorten your bench, meaning that only your best players will be on the ice in crunch time. Usually the two first lines. Do you really want to win Lemaire?

But of course if a reporter (a guy on the beat) would dare to ask you about it he would be in the dog house for a long time!!!

Another example is the loss in Phoenix. With 1.11seconds left in the game Lemaire did not pull his goalie out with a faceoff in the offensive zone. UNBELIEVABLE!!! That shows a lack of respect for the team and the goalie. What exactly does it say? Well it basically means that you do not have any confidence in your players.

Hey coach... players are getting the message even if you don’t say a word. Why do we give the puck away so easily to the other team? I don’t know why, but our defense is simply giving the puck to the opponent. Perhaps it is because our winger are too high in our zone, instead of being in the faceoff circle, guys are almost at the blue line!

DON'T TELL ME THAT MARSHALL IS BETTER THAN BOUCHARD
Even if Bouchard is a rookie, he is much better than Jason Marshall. Especially when he his playing foward. Come on... send Marshall to Hong Kong or whatever and play guys with TALENT. But hey, it’s Lemaire who played for Bowman...so rookies do not play and old timers have all the ice.

We don’t want to burn Lemaire. It wouldn't be so easy if you would be coaching in Detroit, Toronto or even worst Montreal. He quit his coaching job there due to the daily pressure of reporters. The beat guys were questioning his decisions. "Why this" and "why not that?" Of course you can ignore one reporter but when you have 4 or 5 reporters from the same newspaper it is much more difficult. The Toronto reporters would have cooked Lemaire when he played Johnson on the ice with less than three minutes to go in the game.

So do you really want to win Jacques ?? I certainly don’t think so.

No players will say anything against Lemaire. Afterall he gave most of them another shot at the NHL. But in the 3rd year it's about time for you to coach to win and put your best players on the ice. We are not stupid please, we can clearly see that Lemaire is coaching to do just ok. Why would he do this ...Simple

Better draft picks
The team is improving yearly and this is the objective. Nothing more. Also the team is making tons of money with those sellout crowds.

People from Minnesota are not expecting or demanding a lot from their team so there is no pressure to win and whatever Lemaire is saying is taken for granted.

No urge to win, so why panic? After all, Lemaire's job is not at stake. Coaching jobs in the NHL are very insecure, but certainly not in Minnesota, otherwise you would see the best skater on our PK, the best player for a faceoff in our zone, the hottest goalie in the net, and a shortened bench at the end of a game. A player having a bad night would be on the bench, not on the ice.

Don’t get me wrong it happens to every athlete in the league to have an off night. I guess that Lemaire can be the best teacher in the league but as for winning...

There are too many little details like this that tell me Lemaire is not coaching to win. Obviously he will never admit it and obviously will deny it, but deep down inside I know that we can expect more from him.

Who will be the coach next year? Is Lemaire coming back?
If Lemaire is not coming back I would expect to see Ramsey in the coaching job. I heard that he is a little more ready for the job than Tremblay, who did more than a fair job in Montreal a few years back.

I will end this by saying to you, the day that you guys will have a #1 goalie… then and only then the coach is going to be in a position to WIN.

Take care and enjoy hockey season.

I will try to personally answer all the e-mail. Please be patient.

The Mask is a new writer for WildOnIce.net who wll be providing hockey insights and knowledge on a weekly basis. His experience and connections make him a valuable addition to our staff. "The Mask" would love feedback, so you can e-mail him at "IHBTM@YAHOO.COM", or leave a comment addressed to him on the message board.