Lefebvre, 53, joins the Blue Jackets after serving as an assistant coach with the American Hockey League's San Diego Gulls for the past three seasons. Prior to his tenure in San Diego, he was a head coach in the AHL for six seasons with the Hamilton Bulldogs (2012-15), St. John's IceCaps (2015-17) and Laval Rocket (2017-18). He began his coaching career as an assistant coach with the Lake Erie Monsters from 2007-09 and was an assistant coach with the Colorado Avalanche from 2009-12.
"Sylvain was an honest, hard-working defenseman who was undrafted out of junior, but turned himself into a player with over 1,000 NHL regular season and playoff games and a leader on a Stanley Cup championship team," said Larsen. "He brings that same dedication and work ethic to coaching and will be a great asset for our players and our coaching staff."
The Richmond, Quebec native appeared in 945 career NHL games as a defenseman over 14 seasons from 1989-2003, registering 30 goals and 154 assists for 184 points with 674 penalty minutes and a cumulative +108 plus/minus rating with the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Quebec Nordiques/Colorado Avalanche and New York Rangers. He played three seasons with Laval in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League from 1984-87 and was signed by Montreal as an undrafted free agent.
Lefebvre (pronounced luh-FAYV) also tallied 4-14-18, 101 penalty minutes and was +16 in 129 career Stanley Cup Playoffs appearances with the Canadiens, Nordiques/Avalanche and Rangers. His teams competed in the postseason in each of his first 10 NHL campaigns and he won a Stanley Cup with Colorado in 1996 while serving as one of the team's alternate captains. He played his final professional season in Switzerland with Bern SC in 2003-04 and helped the club capture the NLA championship.
