NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — The New Jersey Devils honored former coach Jacques Lemaire, inducting the 11-time Stanley Cup champion into the team's Ring of Honor.
The 79-year-old Lemaire, who coached the Devils to their first championship in 1995, was celebrated during a pregame ceremony before New Jersey's game against the Boston Bruins on Wednesday night.
He was joined at center ice by former players including goaltender Martin Brodeur, defensemen Scott Stevens, Scott Niedermayer and Larry Robinson.
“I wouldn't have missed this for anything,'' said Robinson, who was Lemaire's teammate on the Montreal Canadiens for five Cup wins, served as an assistant on Devils in their 1995 title run and was head coach for their second championship team in 2000. ”We both came up in a pretty successful organization in Montreal."
Lemaire won the Stanley Cup eight times with the Canadiens as a player and twice more as Montreal's assistant general manager. He was hired by the Devils before the 1993-94 season, almost a decade after he coached Montreal for a one-season plus in the mid 1980s.
New Jersey lost a seven-game conference final series to the Rangers in the 1994 playoffs before winning the Cup a year later with a four-game sweep of the Detroit Red Wings in the Final.
Lemaire said he was thrilled to see former players as well as Lamoriello, with whom he still works. Lamoriello is president of hockey operations for the New York Islanders, where Lemaire is a special assignment coach.
Lemaire nodded towards Lamoriello during his short and emotional acceptance speech surrounded by his family.
“All the meetings we had, the hours we spent together, talking about players, the game and everything was for one goal only — to get the team better so we could win a Stanley Cup,” Lemaire said after he donned a bright red Devils jacket at center ice to mark the occasion.
Lemaire also coached the Minnesota Wild for the franchise’s first eight seasons, then returned to the Devils for 2009-10 and the second half of the 2010-11 campaign. He finished his coaching career with 617 wins.
Lemaire emphasized he certainly doesn't miss the daily grind and stress of coaching.
“I haven’t lost a game since 2011,’’ he said. “So I don’t worry as much.”
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Former New Jersey Devils head coach Jacques Lemaire, center, speaks during a ceremony inducting him into the Devils' 'Ring of Honor' before an NHL hockey game against the Boston Bruins, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
Former New Jersey Devils head coach Jacques Lemaire, center, speaks during a ceremony inducting him into the Devils' 'Ring of Honor' before an NHL hockey game against the Boston Bruins Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
Former New Jersey Devils head coach Jacques Lemaire shakes hands with Devils' Nico Hischier during a ceremony inducting him into the Devils' 'Ring of Honor' before an NHL hockey game against the Boston Bruins, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.
Iran had no immediate reaction to the news, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, speaking to foreign diplomats in Tehran, insisted “the situation has come under total control” in fiery remarks that blamed Israel and the U.S. for the violence, without offering evidence.
“That’s why the demonstrations turned violent and bloody to give an excuse to the American president to intervene,” Araghchi said, in comments carried by the Qatar-funded Al Jazeera satellite news network. Al Jazeera has been allowed to report from inside the country live despite the internet being shut off.
Meanwhile Monday, Iran called for pro-government demonstrators to head to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”
Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”
Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.
“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”
He added: “The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”
Iran through country's parliamentary speaker warned Sunday that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.
More than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.
With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.
Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.
In Tehran, a witness told the AP that the streets of the capital empty at the sunset call to prayers each night. By the Isha, or nighttime prayer, the streets are deserted.
Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”
Another text, which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.
“Dear parents, in view of the enemy’s plan to increase the level of naked violence and the decision to kill people, ... refrain from being on the streets and gathering in places involved in violence, and inform your children about the consequences of cooperating with terrorist mercenaries, which is an example of treason against the country,” the text warned.
The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.
The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.
Nikhinson reported from aboard Air Force One.
In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)
In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran shows protesters taking to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)
In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)
