Reflective, reliable, renewed ... Lemaire

Sunk deep into the leather couch inside the Wild's players' lounge this week, Jacques Lemaire talked about his frustrations last season, a year in which the Wild won its first Northwest Division title, but one in which it seemed Lemaire was endlessly pulling teeth. ¶ Things came to a head in early March during a Raleigh- Atlanta swing. After a loss to Carolina, Lemaire's angry voice echoed in the halls of RBC Center. Round 2 came the next morning during a mandatory team meeting at Philips Arena.

He accused the players of "cheating," not playing as a team. But privately, Lemaire, a Hall of Fame center who won eight Stanley Cups with the Montreal Canadiens and guided the New Jersey Devils to a Cup as coach, also began questioning himself.

Lemaire wondered if he still was reaching the players, so much so that he said this week he truly had "no idea," after the Wild's abrupt first-round playoff exit to Colorado, whether he would return for his eighth season behind the Wild bench.

Still sunk in that couch, Lemaire suddenly stopped talking, perked up and smiled, entranced by three framed pictures on the wall.

They're photos of Wild players celebrating goals. It's not clear who scored. It's just clear the hugging teammates are ecstatic for each other.

"See, this is why I coach. I want the guys to be like this," Lemaire said. "I love these pictures. I just love them. I love when they're happy and when they have fun. I don't know if it's because I've been there and I get flashes. But it's a good time, man.

"It's a great time when you score a goal, when you win. You get all the guys together, you're having fun, practices are fun. And when I see them like this, it's like I'm not a player again, but I can be a part of it again. I love watching them have fun.

"Last year, there were times they were not having fun. I could see them in the room. They weren't playing as a team. It was going on and on, for like two or three weeks, and that's my job. That's my job! I can't take that personally, but I do. It's my job to get them together, to make them better, to get them to play like a team. I put it on myself. It's my responsibility. And when they're not, I'm not doing my job."

Lemaire is 63. This could very well be his final year as coach. Or, it might not.

You see, Lemaire's future all depends on what he just said.

If the Wild succeeds, plays like a team this season -- if the players get better and have fun, Lemaire probably will reach Year 9 with the Wild. If this season goes poorly, if the players flounder and hate life, you can bet Lemaire will take that personally and hang it up.

Asked if this will be his final season, Lemaire said, "I don't know. I don't know. Let's say it doesn't work this year here, I don't know if I would like to coach again."

'You're doing wonderful'

After last season's disappointing playoff finish, Lemaire just knew he had to get away, think ... and eventually meet with his boss, Doug Risebrough.

"It's amazing how much time you can spend with somebody and think you know them," said Risebrough, the Wild's general manager. "I think I know Jacques as well as anybody. But I had a big misread last year. When he was talking about his frustrations, I thought it was with the players. It wasn't. It was, how was he doing as a coach, that maybe he wasn't reaching some of the guys.

"He didn't know how he was doing, and I wasn't supporting him much in that. I was supporting him in the sense of 'whatever you want to do, I'm fine with it,' but he was looking for a little bit more help and yet I wasn't picking up on it. He wanted to know how I thought he was doing. My misread was, I didn't think he needed to hear that."

So Risebrough flew to Florida with the objective of convincing Lemaire to return.

"It was, 'Do you still think I'm doing a good job?' and I was like, 'I think you're doing wonderful. You're the only coach we've ever had, we've got a history of winning here that rivals if not tops any expansion team, we've ended up with 100-point seasons, we've had playoff runs, we've won the division, we've managed through problems. You've got to keep doing this.'"

Or the abbreviated version, according to Lemaire, "'You're doing a fine job. We need you.' And I needed to hear that."

Answering the critics

The 253 victories Lemaire has guided the Wild to in its first seven years is the most of any of the nine expansion teams since 1991. The Wild made the playoffs in three of the past five seasons.

Still, there are critics who question whether the game has passed Lemaire by or if his stifling defensive system impedes the Wild's ability to lure top free agents, specifically centermen.

Risebrough blows a gasket when asked such questions.

"I've never had anybody tell me ever they don't want to play for Jacques Lemaire," Risebrough said. "In fact, players tell me all the time, 'Jacques Lemaire made me the player I am today, Jacques Lemaire resurrected my career.'"

Risebrough said Lemaire's defensive reputation is unfair when one considers most NHL teams play the same way.

"I mean, look at the results," Risebrough said. "Our best player [Marian Gaborik] is in the top of the league as best players in the league. Our youngest players are getting through the system faster than most players are in their systems and coming out as accomplished players. Players that are coming in from organizations are having their best years here. Brian Rolston had his best years in the NHL here.

"When people are making comments about Jacques Lemaire, they're making very ill-informed comments because they don't know or don't spend time looking at what they see.

"Jacques Lemaire is doing fine and working as hard and is as motivated as he's ever been. I haven't gotten him to do a blog yet, but that's my next thing."

A 'winner all his life'

By the way, Lemaire's outburst last season was credited for turning the season around. The Wild went 7-2-5 in its final 14 to clinch the Northwest title.

"He knew it was an emergency and he did it his own way. ... He shook the room," assistant coach Mario Tremblay said. "I don't know how long he's going to coach -- one year, two years, three years, who knows? But he's a proud competitor, and he loves to win. This year won't change. He's been winner all his life. The man is made like this."

Still, because of the way last season ended, because Risebrough had to reassure Lemaire he was doing a good job, because Lemaire admitted he never had a more difficult time as coach, every Lemaire remark or facial expression will be scrutinized this year.

Is he happy? Is he angry? Is he coming back? Is he done?

"It would be this way for anybody his age, but the one thing I'm going to talk to him about before the start of the season is to make sure we're not talking about this for the rest of the year," Risebrough said, laughing. "So, don't think every month we're going to get a 10-game update about how much fun Jacques Lemaire is having."