"The most important are the fans. Fans in Minnesota, you guys are unbelievable. You start a new franchise – we travel a bit and go into other cities. And you know guys are playing hockey there and you look at the crowds, a lot of nights its half full. And we come here and you people came in game after game – exhibition games – for eight years it was packed. And you know it’s the best environment that we could get as coaches, as players and we got that here. And the lifestyle that we had here is – I feel that it was really close to Montreal in certain ways. And I felt really at home here and I don’t want to get into this. I just want to thank you again because I really felt your support. Thank you."

No Jacques, thank you.

“I learned more about the game of hockey from Jacques than from anybody else. Having him behind the bench, you always felt you were better prepared than the other team and because of that, you felt you could beat anyone. I was very fortunate to have played for him.” - Andrew Brunette

“Jacques, quite simply, is the best coach I have ever had. I am very lucky to have played for him not only when I was with the Wild, but earlier in my career. The lessons I learned from him remain invaluable to me today. I can only wish Jacques the very best in the future.” - Brian Rolston

Jacques Lemaire retrospective

Lemaire's last presser