Jacques Demers, who won one Stanley Cup and two Jack Adams Awards as best NHL coach, earned around $US 7.6M ($US 13.8M in today’s dollar) throughout his career as coach, assistant-coach and general manager, for 21 seasons, in the National Hockey League (NHL), World Hockey Association (WHA), and American Hockey League (AHL), according to HockeyZonePlus’ research. Interestingly enough, nearly half of it, $US 3.7M, was paid while he was actually not coaching, after being fired, thanks to guaranteed contracts.
In 1990-91 and 1991-92, he was paid $US 200,000 and $US 250,000 by the Detroit Red Wings after being fired at the end of the 1989-90 season despite having 3 years left on his contract. Although he was legally entitled to another $US 250,000 from the Red Wings in 1992-93, while being the new coach of the Montreal Canadiens, Demers declined to be paid, in recognition to the team being so generous to him during his tenure in Detroit.
After being fired as coach of the Canadiens only 4 games into the 1995-96 season, with 2 years left on the 4-year contract he signed after winning the 1992-93 Stanley Cup, he was paid $800,000 for the remaining of the season and for 1996-97.
In 1997, he was hired by the Tampa Bay Lightning general manager Phil Esposito for $US 350,000 per year, an amount that made some NHL coaches unhappy, as they felt it was a below market-rate salary for a coach of his caliber at the time. Scotty Bowman and Jacques Lemaire were earning $US 970,000 and $US 850,000 respectively while Pat Burns, Marc Crawford, and Colin Campbell made $US 750,000. Only 9 coaches were earning less that Demers.
At the end of 1998-99, as he was now also general manager of the Tampa Bay Lighting after Phil Esposito’s dismissal, he was fired with 3 years left on a 4-year contract and was paid $US 550,000 for the next 3 seasons.
Popularity Led to Significant Non-Hockey Income in Detroit
During his 4-year stay in Detroit, because of his popularity, he reportedly also earned an estimated $US 100,000/year with motivational speeches and ads for multiple firms including Chrysler, Sherwin-Williams, Ford, a restaurant, a cleaner, and a hardware store. When he was fired as coach, team owner Mike Ilitch promised that he would respect his contract and pay him for the years left even if he found another job. He also offered him two Little Caesars franchises worth $US 80,000 each to thank him for his services. Demers never took him up on the opportunity and has always been thankful to the organization.
Media Work and Canadian Senate
From 1999 to 2010, he worked as a hockey analyst at RDS, a French sports TV network, and was a collaborator for various radio stations in Montreal. In the summer of 2009, he was nominated to the Canadian Senate and held the position until leaving in 2019 when he reached the age at which Senators must retire, 75. The annual salary of a Senator was $C 132,000 in 2009 and $150,600 in 2019.