Toronto hires Jacques Lemaire as special assignment coach

TORONTO (AP) The Toronto Maple Leafs have added decades of hockey experience by hiring Jacques Lemaire as special assignment coach. Lemaire, who won the

TORONTO (AP) The Toronto Maple Leafs have added decades of hockey experience by hiring Jacques Lemaire as special assignment coach.

Lemaire, who won the Stanley Cup for new Leafs general manager Lou Lamoriello's New Jersey Devils in 1995, spent 16 full seasons and parts of two others as an NHL head coach.

He worked the past six seasons with Lamoriello in New Jersey in different capacities.

The 69-year-old Lemaire joins coach Mike Babcock's staff, along with assistants D.J. Smith, Jim Hiller and Andrew Brewer and goaltending coach Steve Briere.

Lemaire knew Babcock when he was an assistant and Canada won gold at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

Lemaire has 11 Stanley Cup rings - eight from his playing days with Montreal, two as an assistant GM and one as a coach.