Michael Russo's Sunday Insider: In defense of ... Jacques

The Wild's new system hasn't been a winner early, so one Lemaire defender scolds the media for getting it wrong.

By MICHAEL RUSSO, Star Tribune

Last update: October 25, 2009 - 12:41 AM

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E-mail after e-mail has come in the past few weeks from Wild fans reminding me of my one-on-one with Jacques Lemaire before draft weekend in Montreal.

"He called it," said one reader.

These readers have great memories, and to rehash what they're talking about, Lemaire gave Wild coach Todd Richards a matter of weeks, maybe a month, into this season before he'd be forced to pull back the reins on the more aggressive, more up-tempo Wild.

Lemaire reminded me of the Wild's early-season sweep in Atlanta, Florida and Tampa Bay last season and how all three of those new coaches were also pimping their more aggressive systems.

"I said, 'They're going to have a hard time if they keep playing that way and don't start to reduce the pressure,'" Lemaire told me in June. "They're saying [the Wild's] a defensive team and I'm a defensive coach and this and that. We'll see what they'll do if they play all offense and you guys can compare."

Before the weekend, the Wild was 2-6 and, at times, as untidy as a 5-year-old's playroom.

But before you start screaming that Lemaire's the best forecaster since Al Roker, Richards maintains the Wild's chances against aren't because defensemen are trying to skate coast-to-coast.

Richards still preaches simplification, and in reality, it's only the left defenseman joining the attack on the breakout. And on the occasions the defensemen do pinch, the forwards have actually done a decent job covering for them.

"There were times early on where maybe me talking about being aggressive got them out of position, but the D have been much better in that area since," Richards said. "Now, we're just turning pucks over because of mistakes.

"But I still think you can play an aggressive style, and pretty much everybody plays it. Everybody does. We're asking our D to jump up the ice and be part of the play. We have good skating defensemen, so to me, we have to use it and we will continue to use it."

So, no, Richards does not plan to pull back the reins.

Richards hasn't been given a fair shake yet because of all the injuries in training camp and the first month. But he says the Wild's slow start also has to do with transitioning to not so much a new system as a new philosophy: If you lose the puck, be aggressive and go get it rather than retreating and waiting for the puck to come to you.

But Blues coach Andy Murray, who has a great deal of respect for Lemaire, says: "I've coached against Jacques Lemaire for years. He came at us. He wanted his team to forecheck."

Murray, who lives in Faribault during the offseason, believes Richards is selling the same message in a different way, and it's the media that have taken the "more aggressive" credo and given it a life of its own.

"I'm sure Todd must have just cringed at all this talk that 'we're going to be exciting offensively' and everybody in Minnesota's thinking they're going to score five or six goals. You can't do it in this league. I don't care who you are," Murray said.

"I almost thought that the media was disrespecting Jacques Lemaire ... and the interpretations were a disservice to Todd and a disservice to Jacques because I don't think Todd meant it to come out that way.

"I just didn't like it. When I was reading this, I was thinking, 'Ooof, this is dangerous because a lot of things are being interpreted as promises.' If you're not good on the defensive side of the game, you're not going to win."

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