Lefebvre brings experience, family vibe to round out CBJ coaching staff

Having each spent years in the Colorado Avalanche organization as players in the late 1990s, Brad Larsen and Sylvain Lefebvre are no strangers to one another.

But the new CBJ head coach and the assistant coach he hired Wednesday are not quite as familiar on the ice as one might think.

Lefebvre was a staple of the Colorado Avalanche’s early success, as the rugged blueliner was on the Avs’ Stanley Cup-winning team in 1996, all part of a successful four-year run from 1996-99 in which he played 303 contests in the team’s first four seasons in the Rocky Mountains. 

Larsen, meanwhile, was drafted by the Avs in the fourth round of the 1997 draft and didn’t become a regular until 2001-02, spending most of his time with the organization’s AHL affiliate in Hershey, Pa.

But Larsen did make his NHL debut March 21, 1998, at San Jose, skating for just over six minutes in a game Lefebvre played more than 20, a 2-0 win against the Sharks for a Colorado team that would go on to win its division for the fourth straight season. 

A check of the box scores confirms it to be true — that was the only NHL game the two played together, and it remains a thread that connects the two Blue Jackets coaches who have maintained a relationship with one another over the years. 

In fact, that Lefebvre could hardly believe it when it was brought up to him Wednesday that the two skated together in a game only once. And that connection has remained strong enough through the years that it should be an easy transition when the two begin working officially together — along with associate coach Pascal Vincent, another friend of Lefebvre’s — this upcoming season in Columbus. 

“You say one game — I thought I played more with him because it feels like I know him more than that,” Lefebvre said after being named to the staff yesterday. “We connected after that at coaches clinics since I was coaching and he was coaching. I reached out when I heard he was looking for a D coach, and it started from there.  

“We had a bunch of chats, and things worked out. In the meantime, while we were talking, the announcement for Pascal was made, and I was more than happy for Pascal but at the same time I was so excited about the opportunities that if it worked out that I could be working with Brad and Pascal.” 

It’s also not hard to see how the three will mesh as the leaders of a CBJ coaching staff that will also include skills coach Kenny McCudden and goalie coach Manny Legace. Larsen, Vincent and Lefebvre are all relatively young — at 53, Lefebvre is the oldest of the trio — and bring equal parts passion and personality to the job. 

All are also coaching veterans, having served as both AHL head coaches and AHL assistants with valuable time as assistant coaches in the NHL under their belts as well. It’s also clear relationships are important to all three, with the key to the job being able to relate to players to unlock their potential. 

“I think what I can bring is some enthusiasm,” said Lefebvre, who skated in 945 NHL regular-season games and 129 more playoff contests. “I like to keep learning. I like to build relationships with the players, especially with the D corps. I want to build relationships where they can trust me and learn from me, and I can bring what I lived for many years playing in the NHL. You know, I wasn’t the most talented guy, but I had a role to play and I thrived on playing my role and also knowing that my role was important on the bigger scale with the team. 

“I have four kids — (ages) 32, 31, 30 and 25 — and they are right in the same age (as the players). My four kids are different. I can’t do the same things, act the same way with one that I do with the other. They won’t react the same way, so I think being a parent and being a father with kids that age, I think it helps me a lot in my job right now.” 

That family vibe is strong, as evidenced by the fact Lefebvre did the interview yesterday while driving from RImouski, Quebec, where his in-laws live, to his home of Sherbrooke after a family vacation. It’s clear that forging connections is in his eyes perhaps the most important part of his job, making it gratifying that so many formers players have reached out since the news broke of his new role in Columbus. 

“(Building relationships) takes a little bit of time at the beginning, but you know what?” he said. “Once the players get to know you and you get their trust, it’s the greatest feeling. It’s so important nowadays. I can’t be coaching the same way I was coached back then. You have to evolve with the game, and that’s where it’s really interesting and really challenging, but at the same time it’s very rewarding when you see that the players respect you. 

“That to me is the most important thing. Yeah, the X’s and O’s are important, but at the same time, for me, the human side of it is what I get rewarded with.” 

Working with the CBJ defensemen should be a natural fit for Lefebvre, who wasn’t drafted out of junior hockey but carved out a 14-year career on NHL blue lines with Montreal, Toronto, Quebec/Colorado and the New York Rangers. He was a stay-at-home defensemen who finished with just 30 goals and 154 assists but was plus-108 in his career while routinely playing 20-plus minutes per game on contending teams. 

His coaching career actually started in Ohio, as he was an assistant coach with Lake Erie — then a Colorado farm team — for two seasons in 2008 and ’09 (he still has friends in the state, partly because of his kids’ days playing junior hockey in the Cleveland area). He then spent three years as an assistant coach with the Avalanche, then moved on to the Montreal organization, where he was head coach of the franchise’s AHL teams in Hamilton, St. John’s and Laval for six seasons. 

Lefebvre credits that experience for rounding out his coaching résumé, and spending the past two seasons on former CBJ player Kevin Dineen’s staff with the AHL outfit in San Diego was the icing on the cake. It wasn’t a hard decision to come to Columbus — he’s heard nothing but good things about the team and city from those in the game he’s talked to — and now he’s ready to get to work with the Blue Jackets. 

“It’s really exciting,” he said. “(Larsen and Vincent) are tremendous human beings and great people. It’s all about who you work with, for me anyway, and I couldn’t be more excited to work with those two guys. Their knowledge of the game, the way they think the game and how they manage people, just from talking and the interviews and stuff, we connected on many levels. 

“I’m trying to make the most of family time right now, but I’m excited to get going and start talking hockey and getting to training camp and getting ready for the season.”