Jacques Martin never wanted to be the centre of attention during his National Hockey League career.
On Saturday night at the Canadian Tire Centre, he won’t be able to avoid it.
Thirty years after he made his debut behind the Ottawa Senators bench, he’ll become the fourth member to be installed in the club’s Ring of Honour in a ceremony before the club hosts the Carolina Hurricanes.
The winningest coach in franchise history, Martin, 73, spent eight years behind the club’s bench from 1996 to 2004 and had a second stint at the end of the 2023-24 campaign, coaching 748 games with Ottawa and is now in a senior advisor role.
He compiled a 367-261-96-24 record while coaching the team. Martin joined the late Bryan Murray, defenceman Wade Redden and longtime team doctor Don Chow in the Ring. It was an honour that was long overdue.
What made Martin, a native of nearby St. Pascal, a great coach?
“Structure in everything he did,” said former Senators’ captain Daniel Alfredsson, an assistant on coach Travis Green’s staff. “He’s an extremely organized person. He really used video as a good coaching tool. He had a system that he believed in.
“The way he was able to get all of us to buy in helped to change the direction of the franchise.”
Martin coached some of the best players who have suited up for this organization, not just Alfredsson. There was Marian Hossa and Zdeno Chara, who went on to Hockey Hall of Fame careers, along with Martin Havlat, Alexei Yashin and Patrick Lalime.
Those who have played for Martin have the utmost respect for him.
“He was a teacher before he started coaching and he always had a game plan to deal with people,” former Senators winger Shawn McEachern said from his home in Boston this week. “It was never personal. He would always say, ‘I really like you guys, but I make decisions based on hockey.’
“He was always very pleasant and nice, but he was always very professional and wasn’t always like that everywhere else.”
McEachern, 56, the head coach of the men’s hockey team at Boston-based NCAA Div. III school Suffolk University, called Martin “the best coach he’s ever had.”
“I was just talking to a paper in my area today, and I just quoted Jacques,” McEachern said. “I had a coach in Ottawa who used to tell us every day that, ‘You guys have the best job in the world, and I coach because it’s the second-best job in the world.’”
Martin an inspiration to others
McEachern has used some of Martin’s approaches in his role as a coach. He recalled sitting down with Martin monthly with the Senators. The meetings would be held at a hotel on the road and they’d just talk about what was happening on or off the ice.
“He was never emotional,” McEachern said. “He wouldn’t go crazy on anybody. Back then, coaches used to go crazy on people. We used to meet with Jacques once a month, just a check-in, which wasn’t normal back then. I do that with my players now, once a month, because of that.
“That was the first time I’d ever done something like that. He’d have written down what he wanted to say because he wasn’t always a conversationalist, but if you didn’t say what he expected back then, he’d start giggling because he didn’t know what to say back.”
Alfredsson had the pleasure of working with Martin during the 2024-25 campaign after he took over when D.J. Smith was fired.
Martin had gone on to win two Stanley Cup rings with head coach Mike Sullivan, superstar Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins after leaving Ottawa.
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“He had evolved as a coach since he left us,” Alfredsson said. “All of the different stops, he was a little more offensively aware of how to implement offensive strategies. Also, it was the same with his preparation. He doesn’t leave anything to chance, and with continuity.
“Our schedule was always the same. You didn’t have to worry about what each day was going to look like. He was just very organized.”
Sharing this moment with Martin means a lot to Alfredsson.
“It will be really special to be part of it,” Alfredsson said. “We had such a long stretch together and went through from being the worst team in the league to making the playoffs every year he was there.
“We won a lot of games together, we had a lot of good times together, and to share that with him, not only as a player, but working with him as a coach as well, I really respect him. I admire him. I’m super-happy for him to get this recognition.”