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“That (2003) team and, in Ottawa, we had a some misfortune by losing some playoff series to Toronto. We had a veteran team and we had trouble getting out of it. You learn from those and I think it paid off after. It’s a long process. You need to have luck, have people healthy and it’s a combination of things to get here.”

Martin just missed getting to the final while working as an assistant to Crawford in 1995-96 in Colorado. Martin left to take the Ottawa job in late-January and the Avalanche went on to win the Stanley Cup that spring.

“No regrets,” Martin said. “I wanted to be a head coach and that was the time. It happened to be late January. I knew we had a great team in Colorado but there was no hesitation on my part.

“I wanted to be a head coach and that gave me a great opportunity. To be in Ottawa for nearly nine years, I had an opportunity to take a young team and build it up into a pretty good contender.”

Crawford said it wasn’t easy for Martin to leave then.

“It was tough decision for him to make that transition to go to Ottawa and I think it was absolutely the right decision, but that was a team that was learning and it was in the infancy of its development program. He was the perfect guy to go in there. He gave stability to the Senators and built them into a strong contender,” said Crawford.

Now, Martin has the chance to be a champ.



Martin likes Penguins’ chemistry

Jacques Martin isn’t making any plans for a Stanley Cup party just yet.

He’d like to win it first.

But you can be guaranteed the resident of St. Pascal, Ont. — located just outside of Ottawa — will bring the coveted Cup somewhere within the vicinity of his old neighbourhood if he gets the chance.

“I’d probably have something in the area,” Martin said with a laugh.

Right now, he just wants to get the title.

“It’d be great to win,” Martin said. “We have great chemistry on this team. A lot of respect for the players and I like our depth. We really have some good people.”

bgarrioch@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/sungarrioch