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Two months after suffering a stroke, a long road ahead for former Habs' head coach Jacques Demers

Stephanie Myles

The original reports on longtime NHL coach Jacques Demers following a stroke he suffered April 6 were cautiously optimistic.

"He still has some weakness on the right side and difficulty with speech but is alert. He smiles and says hello and puts out his hand and greets you. He's perfectly aware of who you are," Dr. Angela Genge of the Montreal Neurological Institute said at a news conference the following day. "Every day he is brighter and looking better, is interacting quite well, is very aware of his situation and, as of (April 14), has begun to eat."

There has been almost no news since then, but in the French-language Journal de Montréal today, columnist Michel Beaudry paints a desolate picture.

"He has lost a lot of weight, his right side remains paralyzed, he doesn't speak, doesn't walk," Beaudry wrote. "Jacques' eyes are full of hope, he still smiles and he's drawing upon everything he has left to become Jacques once again. But progress has been very slow, and you need an iron will to get through this terrible ordeal," Beaudry added. "It's not a man, but a world that has crumbled. And barring a surprising acceleration in the rehabilitation process, it's going to take a long time."

Demers was the coach the last time the Montreal Canadiens won the Stanley Cup in 1993.
Demers was the coach the last time the Montreal Canadiens won the Stanley Cup in 1993.

Beaudry added that family visits are being kept to a minimum because Demers gets tired too quickly, and that as soon as the visitors leave his room, he collapses from exhaustion.

Demers has been following the NHL playoffs on television, Beaudry said, but still isn't able to watch a full game. It's hoped what within a month, he might be able to go home – just for a day or two, with a lot of assistance.

It's a tough blow for a man who, after his NHL coaching career came to an end, remained in the public eye both as a Senator (first appointed by former prime minister Stephen Harper as a member of the Conservative caucus in 2009, he has sat as an independand since last December), and a hockey analyst on French-language sports network RDS.