The 40-year-old native of Kanata, Ontario makes his return to Tayside for a second spell at the helm of the Stars after spending the past six seasons coaching in North America and Europe.
Following the departure of GM and Head Coach, Jeff Mason, the club moved swiftly to find a replacement and were excited by the opportunity to bring Marc back to Dundee, with it being an easy decision for all parties.
Last time Lefebvre was behind the bench in the Dundee Ice Arena, he led the Stars to back-to-back seventh place finishes in the Elite League, with an overall regular season record of 42-45-17 (Wins-Losses-Overtime Losses).
He also led the Stars to a playoff quarter-final in his first year before taking the team to their first semi-finals and appearance at the Elite League Playoff Weekend in Nottingham, on the second attempt.
After confirming the move back to Scotland, LeFebvre commented: “I am extremely pleased to be back.
“It has been a surreal 24 hours here after I talked to Steve Ward and we reminisced about some old times in the two season that I was previously in Dundee, and we talked about how we want things to work going forward.
“I jumped at the opportunity to take control of the Stars again and I am looking forward to getting things going.
“For me hockey is about the playoffs, so our goal is to get in the top eight again, qualify for the playoffs and then go from there, and obviously we want to win as many trophies as possible.”
Marc continued: “I have learned a lot, in terms of others things I did not have before my first time around in Dundee, so I am excited to bring those experiences with me back to Dundee now and building a team off of that.
“It was two of the best seasons of my coaching career as I have so many good memories from both on and off the ice in Dundee, with being so close to the playoff weekend in the first year then when we made it in the second season.
“I am looking froward to creating more memories back in Dundee and I cannot wait to get things started.
“I had a very good relationship with the Ward Family when I was here the first time and I am looking forward to seeing them and working with them again.”
Returning for a third stint of coaching in the Elite League, Marc added: “I have been keeping a close eye on the Elite League and I am always looking at players whether it is in the Elite League or other leagues.
“The Elite League compared to other leagues is a completely different animal, you can just go by the social media because you do not see a lot of that in France or Denmark or even the ECHL.
“I think the league is in a very good place right now, so again I am excited to get back and one thing is, you can always go home and the Elite League feels like a home for me, especially in Dundee.”
LeFebvre is well known in British hockey after playing for Sheffield Steelers, Coventry Blaze and Edinburgh Capitals throughout the 2000’s, where he won both the league and playoff titles with the Steelers and he then stepped behind the bench in Sheffield as Assistant Coach in 2013, before becoming the Head Coach of the Blaze.
Marc had also been a coach in the United States’ Federal Hockey League, Hungary’s MOL Liga and Under 20’s League prior to his first move to Tayside.
Then after his success in Dundee, he departed to join the ECHL’s Cincinnati Cyclones, an affiliate club of the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres, where as an Assistant Coach, he was able to work with the Sabres talent pool of future NHL players.
A year later he was doing the same job but with Orlando Solar Bears and working with the NHL talents from Tampa Bay Lightning and San Jose Sharks.
In 2019, LeFebvre then made the move to Denmark to become Head Coach of the Odense Bulldogs for two seasons and he then took charge of Chamonix Pioneers in the French top flight in 2021.
Marc has already begun his work to recruit a team for the 2023-2024 Elite League season and plenty more exciting news will follow in the coming weeks.
