Lemaire: "nothing is moving" on coaching situation; Dineen plans "right now" to stay in Portland

Jacques Lemaire appears to waiting for the Devils to make a move with their head coaching position before deciding on his future.

Lemaire, who coached the Devils to their first Stanley Cup in 1995 and worked for the Minnesota Wild for the last nine years, said today that he doesn't expect anything to happen, however, before the NHL Entry Draft on Friday and Saturday in Montreal, "for sure."

""Nothing is moving, so I'm going to wait," Lemaire told me today.

Lemaire, who will turn 64 in September, said previously he had an opportunity to be a consultant with a team  -- believed to be the Montreal Canadiens -- but said today that it's not the consulting position that is delaying his decision right now.

"It's the coaching situation that's not moving, yet," Lemaire said.

He said he is unsure how long it will take for the "coaching situation" to begin moving.

"I don't know," he said."It depends on a lot of things there."

Lemaire still would not comment when asked if he had had any discussions with the Devils or whether he plans to meet with general manager Lou Lamoriello while Lamoriello in Montreal for the draft.

"I can't talk about that," he said.

The Devils are the only NHL team currently without a head coach, though.

Lemaire is also in Montreal right now and reportedly will be introduced as an assistant coach on the 2010 Canadian Olympic team (along with Lindy Ruff and Ken Hitchcock) Thursday morning (Mike Babcock will be the head coach) on Thursday morning. To clarify, Lemaire told me on June 12 that he would only coach in the NHL next season as a head coach, so this spot as an assistant coach with Team Canada appears to be unrelated to the "coaching situation" he is talking about.

Lemaire is unsure at this point whether he will attend the draft because, though he is still under contract with Minnesota until July 1, he doesn't have any working purpose to be at the draft.

Lemaire said he is willing to patient.

"If I don't coach, I'll do something else," he said.

Another candidate for the Devils' job, Portland Pirates coach Kevin Dineen, told the Portland Press Herald Tuesday that he has been approached this off-season by some NHL teams, but would not say which ones and what they discussed. Dineen was also rumored to be a candidate for the jobs in Edmonton, Colorado and Calgary before they were filled.

"You get excited and flattered when your name is brought up," Dineen told the Press Herald. "(But) right now I'm coach of the Portland Pirates. That's my focus. That's what my plans are now."

Dineen just completed the first-year of a two-year contract with Buffalo to coach the Pirates, the Sabres' AHL affliliate, and sounds comfortable with the idea of staying in Portland -- if that's what happens.

"We're extremely happy and entrenched in Portland," Dineen said Tuesday. "In saying that, you're always evaluating to see what's a good fit for you, what kind of people you might be working with."

Sabres general manager Darcy Regier told the Press Herald that the team would not hold Dineen back from talking to NHL teams that are interested in him. In fact, Dineen has a clause in his contract that allows him to listen to NHL teams.

"Right now, obviously, we'd love to have him back in Portland," Regier told the Press Herald. "At this point, that's the direction we're going in. That is the plan. If someone comes forward and asks permission to speak to him about a head coach job, we'd certainly allow him to talk to them."

Dineen will be in Montreal for the draft, so it is possible he will bump into Lamoriello while there.

Next month, he scheduled to work at the Sabres' prospects conditioning camp at Niagara University.

Here's a link to the full article in today's Press Herald.

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=264132

Comments

[Kelly]

I am safely assuming that Lou is gonna chat with Lemaire in Montreal. I have a lot of respect for Lemaire and trust that he would be able to pick up what Brent started. He's still my favorite coach of all time.

If Lemaire isn't the choice, I hope Lou would have someone by the weekend.

TG, is Burns able to head up to Montreal? How is he doing these days??? It would be so nice to see him.

[TG]

Pat was in Las Vegas for the NHL Awards last week and presented the Jack Adams Award to the winner Claude Julien. He appeared very thin, but actually pretty good otherwise. He had definitely lost more weight since I last saw him in Tampa Bay in mid February.

[Pat D]

Hey TG, I don't know if you addressed this already but there are rumors going around that Haviland has been seen in Newark the past couple of days. I understand he's from NJ so seeing him in Newark might not be the craziest thing that has ever happened but I was just wondering if you heard anything.

[mikeschoenf]

since its a new post..

http://www.nj.com/devils/index.ssf/2009/06/free_agent_brian_gionta_wants.html

There goes Gionta. Same as Rafalski. I guess Lou just cant initiate talks. Its against his policy. And then Gio will get an offer that he cant resist when all Lou had to do was talk to him and sign him before July. I am starting to get very frustrated. I dont care that he is not signed but no contact whatsoever? Its just very wrong.

Tippet with Johnny Mac and Dinneen as Assistants would be nice!

[Keith]

who the hell is haviland

if u meant havlat hes good friends with elias and maybe patty could be talking to him about coming to nj cuz hes a ufa idk if he resigned with chicago

if u meant havlid or whatever i hope he isnt coming back i thought he was going to sweden

[modnarm]

Whats the story with Burns. I guess i'll just be blunt- Is it Definite that hes going to die, and only a matter of time.. or is he still being treated in hopes for a full recovery?

Lemaire is starting to grow on me only because the idea of ANOTHER rookie NHL coach.. combined with all the young players and 1 or 2 rookie players just doesn't sound like a recipe for success.

[Keith]

oh my bad i didnt see that last post im more concered about free agency then a coach right now

[A Local Fan]

Why do you guys want to sign players that aren't that good and can't get us out of the 1st round? Gionta has to go and so does Madden. Bergfors has been told that he won't play for the Devils unless it's a top 6 forward. It's time he gets his shot, with Gionta around that won't happen. Gionta is going to want 4 mill and he's a guy who isn't even a 20 goal scorer. Let's move on.

If we sign all these guys then we will have essentially the same team that ccouldn't get past the 1st round the last 2 years. Madden and Pando's time is over and Gionta no longer has Gomez so he isn't worth resigning.

[nnjrules]

@tom
my question about being a gm and being able to spend $6.5 mill on any player is open for all. My thing is you can only spend it on ONE player, via trade or free agent. I love gaborik, hurt not hurt, he would be our best game breaker since Elmo was chalking up goals. Guys get hurt all the time, doesnt mean he will be hurt in the future, doesnt mea he will be healthy either. If i could i would want him or Pronger. Although I think Pronger fills way more needs.

[Zorin]

Haviland = Coach
Havlid = Chicago Blackhawk UFA fwd.
Keith = Blog nub.

Pwned.

[Zorin]

Err.

havlat = Blackhawk
havlid = out of the NHL (for you Europe).

JK, Keith..haha

[dp]

funny cuz i live no more than 5 mins away from niagara university so i'll see dineen at the prospect camp for the sabres cuz i will prolly check out a little bit of it

[TG]

Mikeschoenf: That's what Gionta told me and I posted here yesterday.

http://njmg.typepad.com/devilsblog/2009/06/martin-players-want-a-coach-who-wants-to-be-here.html#more

[Zorin]

Hey ALF...Gio's scored 20+ goals 5 straight seasons. I know a lot of guys score 20 goals in the league now, but don't say he's not a 20 Goal Scorer.

Madden is a UFA and Pando is still under contract. He's stuck here until that 2.5 per year runs out, which is the 2011-12 season.

You haven't been around in a while, but I see things haven't changed. You still drop pointless posts that have no credit or accuracy whatsoever. Go play in the basement and let the heat get to you so more, noob.

[HeyNow]

2001-04 Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies - ECHL - head Coach - Won Kelly Cup in 2003
2004-05 Trenton Titans - ECHL - head Coach - Won Kelly Cup
2005-08 Head coach of the Norfolk Admirals and Rockford Ice dogs
2008-09 Assistant Coach to the Chicago Blackhawks
is From NJ and drafted by the devils in 1990 (Supplemental Draft)
(all info from Hockey.db.com

[JJ]

Let's not go crazy over this whole Gionta thing just yet. If you read Gionta's comments in TG's post he said his agent may have spoken to LL & he said he understands that the cap numbers haven't come out yet and he knows LL is working on getting a coach and getting the draft done. He sounds sincere and patient. But it doesn't really matter what he says or if he actually IS sincere. If he wants to be back he'll wait and he'll get a fair offer that's within what the team can do, if he doesn't want to be back and just wants to go for the biggest dollar amount then all of his comments about how he wants to be back are just posturing to keep the Devils in the bidding. No agent of a UFA wants to eliminate a team from the bidding war so of course he's gonna tell his client to say that he wants to return, it would be stupid to do otherwise.

[Cory]

TG, I know it's been mentioned that this is it as far as MacLean's shot at (head) coaching here, but what about the possibility of Lemaire grooming him for the position while they're both behind the bench? I can't say this would be my pick for ideal situation, but is it entirely off-base to think it's possible?

[mikeschoenf]

JJ,

It just sounds like a frustrating theme. Why is he making these guys wait. Atleast tell him: We really want you, but i want to see whats going on with the cap and any draft day trades and then we can talk.. OR.. I dont think you are in our plans for next season (madden). It just seems like Lou cant talk to these guys who really want to come back. Lou should have never let Rafalski get that offer, because he was saying the same exact thing Gio is saying.. how badly he wants to return.. but he hears nothing from Lou. We got eliminated in the first round two years in a row. If we loose Gio/Oduya, and our coach who was top 5 in the Jack Adams for coach of the year, how can we reasonably expect to be a better team? I love Lou, I really do, but this is been a recurring theme. He loses these guys, then panicks and sign replacements to terrible contracts. malakov, Mogilny, Zubrus, Mcgill....

[TG]

I think MacLean has been an NHL assistant long enough that he shouldn't have to be groomed by now. He's worked under Pat Burns, Larry Robinson, Claude Julien, Lou Lamoriello and Brent Sutter.

The Devils apparently don't feel he's the right guy to be their head coach. (This will be the third time they've passed over him.) A couple of years under Lemaire isn't going to change that.

[Erik]

Lou's not going to offer Gionta $4 million+ so why would he make an initial offer? It's just going to offend him and probably sour him from wanting to come back to Jersey. Lou's going to wait and see how the market plays out regardless of the new cap number and than make Gio or Maddog an offer. IMHO Madden and Gionta were overpaid last season.

[Dan]

Lemaire will be the assistant for team Canada at Vancouver 2010.

[Falcone]

Gio needs to go as does Madden. And why would we bring up Bergfors? He's awful.

I hope we get a solid coach that can work with young guys. We don't have too many young guys and we need them.

[A Local Fan]

Bergfors is awful? You are simple minded.

[Jim B]

Bergfors is never going to be a 25-40 goal scorer that Gionta is. The guys has never done anything more then around the average anyway, I really don;t understand why everyone is in love with this guy. He is an average prospect, nothing more, nothing less

[Pearl Jammed]

Gionta is certainly more proven than Bergfors, and when Gionta wasn't scoring much he was still very defensivly responisible, ie his role in 2003's cup championship. Bergfors.... well not so much on either side of the puck when given his chances so far with the team. And Gionta started with the same limited role and minutes and he actually EARNED more playing time, something Bergfors has yet to do. You can't just give a guy 15-20 mins of PT based on his draft position or reputation alone, they have to earn it.