I once asked Cup-winning Devils center Bobby Holik to name the best five coaches in National Hockey League annals.
"I'll make it easier for you," Holik shot back. "Jacques Lemaire is the first best." Then a pause: "And there are no runners-up!"
I once asked hockey magazine publisher Bob Stampleman to name the most underrated NHL player he'd ever seen.
"I have to go with the Habs' Jacques Lemaire," he replied. "I can't think of anyone else because no one ever did more good things - offensively, defensively - as well as winning eight Cups."
Now you have an idea why Lemaire, one of the Garden State's most popular sports figures, will be inducted into the Devils Ring of Honor on January 22nd.
"Jacques Lemaire played an integral role in establishing the championship culture synonymous with the New Jersey Devils that we still strive for today," said Devils Managing Partner David Blitzer. "He was the consummate winner who had the ability to teach his players what it took to get to the next level."
Lemaire did it all as a Stanley Cup-winning Montreal Canadiens center and the winningest head coach in Devils history.
As a print journalist, The Maven had the good fortune to cover Lemaire's entire playing career. And even better luck - if such a feat is possible - also to be a TV reporter covering Jacques' illustrious coaching career in New Jersey.
"Lemaire was two of one kind," says Devils' radio analyst Glenn "Chico" Resch. "As a goalie, I could testify to his greatness as a shooter and playmaker. And, as an analyst, I can cite what he did in 1995 when it came to top-notch coaching."
I covered the 1994-95 season for SportsChannel and can assure you that the Devils' run to their first Stanley Cup was all about Lemaire's magic touch.
"It was a combination of things," said current Devils executive Martin Brodeur, who shared the 1995 Cup with Lemaire. "Start with smarts and go to his enthusiasm which was palpable. He demanded respect and he got it because of who he was - and who he is!"
Nobody expected Devils General Manager Lou Lamoriello to pick Lemaire for the club's head coaching job that morning in late June 1993. It came as a stunning surprise - made public at a press conference in the old Meadowlands Arena. From that point on, Jacques built a team that almost upset the heavily-favored Rangers in the1994 third playoff round.
It was impossible at the time to forecast all the good things that would come, but for sheer melodramatic tension, the seven-game 1994 "Battle Of The Hudson" between the Devils and Rangers was a tremendous series in many ways.
"One thing about it," says Bobby Holik, who centered New Jersey's Crash Line, "was that Lemaire's genius as a coach was there to see over a long series."
The fans knew it, the media knew it and, most of all, New Jersey's players were experiencing it, especially team captain Scott Stevens.
"I've never been on a team before where, when the coach is talking, everybody looks at him and listens," Stevens recalled.
Goalie Chris Terreri was blunt: "Jacques was so good that - at times - it was just scary."