Long before he was coaching the New Jersey Devils to their first Stanley Cup in 1995, then taking over an expansion team in Minnesota five years later and coaching the Wild to what was their greatest playoff success in the franchise’s first 25 years, Jacques Lemaire was a player of some note.

Now 80, retired and living in Florida, Lemaire spent a dozen seasons playing center for his hometown Montreal Canadiens, winning a whopping eight Stanley Cups in the process.

In eight seasons behind the bench in Minnesota, he took the Wild from a bunch of castoffs looking to reestablish the NHL in a community still stinging from the 1993 loss of the North Stars, to the third round of the 2003 playoffs, and in 2007 to their first (and so far only) division title.

With the team celebrating 25 years,

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