Wild's Lemaire waiting to decide on future

David Brewster, Star Tribune

Jacques Lemaire says he will have a better idea if he wants to return to the Wild after the team management's meeting in Florida, which begins today.

By KENT YOUNGBLOOD, Star Tribune

Last update: May 7, 2008 - 7:08 AM

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Wild will pick 24th in June draft

The Wild will draft 24th in the first round of the 2008 entry draft, according to an order of selection released Tuesday. The draft will take place June 20-21 at Scotiabank Place in Ottawa, Canada. Picks 1-14 are the result of the draft drawing held April 7. Picks 15-22 are for teams eliminated in the first two rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs that didn't win a regular-season division title, in inverse order of points. Picks 23-26 are for teams that won division titles but were eliminated in the first two rounds of the playoffs, in inverse order of points. The final four picks will be decided as the playoffs progress.

• NHL draft first-round order: Scoreboard, C7

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Jacques Lemaire still hasn't decided if he will return for another season as the Wild's coach. But a decision should be coming soon.

Wild management and coaches are in Tampa, Fla., for three days of meetings, which start today. On the agenda: analyzing the season, which included a division title but also a first-round playoff exit; assessing the roster and the organization as it moves forward.

Lemaire? "I have to talk to [GM Doug Risebrough] and then there will be a decision made," the only coach in the team's history said Tuesday. "We talk about all kinds of stuff at these meetings. We talk about the players, about how to improve the team. We talk about the coaching staff. Doug wants to know about every guy that works around the group. He wants to know everything about everybody. After that we talk about ourselves, how we see things."

So how does Lemaire see things? He admitted to frustration during the season. But after the season ended, he talked about how much he liked the team's selfless play in the playoffs.

Lemaire, who has two seasons remaining on his contract, has not decided whether to return for his eighth season as coach. He has spent a lot of time since the season's end with his daughter, Magalie, who just gave birth to a daughter, Lemaire's fourth grandchild.

Lemaire has walked away from coaching jobs before. In 1985, after one-plus season coaching in Montreal, he left his position as head coach to move into management after the division-champion Canadiens lost to the Quebec Nordiques in seven games in the conference finals.

Lemaire spent five seasons coaching in New Jersey starting in 1993. The Devils won the Stanley Cup in the spring of 1995. But he left New Jersey after the 1997-98 season when the top-seeded Devils were upset by Washington in the first round of the playoffs.

As he mentioned at the end of the season, this process is not new for him.

"When you're younger and you really want to coach no matter what, your decision is always yes. Now I've been coaching for many years. I want to talk to my boss and there are a lot of things I want to ask. Probably, after the meetings, I'll have an answer. Maybe by next week, or in two weeks."

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