Jacques Lemaire made it official after tonight’s 6-3 Wild win over Columbus. He will not be coaching the Wild next season. For the first time ever, the Wild will not have Jacques behind the bench.

This is a sad day. While I would enjoy a more offensive style of play, I absolutely loved Coach Lemaire’s French accent, his willingness to actually coach his superstars, and I will very much miss his post game pressers.

Obviously this brings up a ton of questions: Who will Doug Reisbrough hire to replace him? Will the style of play change? Will Jacques coach somewhere else next season? Will a team with little talent bottom out without a good coach? How long into free agency will Marian Gaborik take to find a new team? These things I’ll cover in future posts.

For now, reflect a bit on the Wild’s first 8 seasons of hockey that included a before-their-time run to the Conference Finals, two other appearances in the playoffs, and a Northwest Division title. Appreciate the foundation that a legendary coach has built.

Thank you Coach Lemaire.