Claude Lemieux, revered for his four Stanley Cup victories and infamous for his controversial playing style, has passed away at 60 years old.
The NHL Alumni Association confirmed Lemieux’s death on Thursday, though they did not disclose the cause. Subsequent reports from TMZ suggest that he died by suicide. Lemieux leaves behind his wife and four children.
His untimely death occurred just three days after he assumed the role of ceremonial ‘torch bearer’ for the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre, prior to their Eastern Conference Final Game 3 against the Carolina Hurricanes.
Born in Buckingham, Quebec, Canada, Lemieux enjoyed a prolific career stretching from 1983 to 2009. He ranks ninth in NHL history with 80 playoff goals and sixth with 234 playoff games.
However, Lemieux’s career was also characterized by his aggressive play, as evidenced by his 1,777 penalty minutes over 1,215 regular-season games, cementing his status as one of the league’s most polarizing figures.
While the four titles are perhaps his biggest accomplishment, he may be best remembered for a devastating hit he laid on Detroit Red Wings star Kris Draper that sparked a blood feud between Detroit and the Colorado Avalanche that lasted for years.
Claude Lemieux, a four-time Stanley Cup champion, has died at the age of 60
His passing comes just three days after he served as the ‘torch bearer’ for the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre before Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals against Carolina
Lemieux will be best remembered for his reputation as one of the NHL’s most hated players
‘The National Hockey League mourns the passing of Claude Lemieux, a four-time Stanley Cup champion and one of the greatest big-game Players in hockey history,’ read a statement from commissioner Gary Bettman.
‘Lemieux forged his postseason reputation and won the Cup for the first time as a rookie in 1986, when he scored 10 goals in the Playoffs for the Montreal Canadiens. He won the Conn Smythe Trophy as Playoffs MVP in 1995, scoring 13 goals in 20 postseason games with the New Jersey Devils. He also was an integral part of Cup-winning teams in Colorado, in 1996, and back with New Jersey in 2000.
‘Overall, his teams reached the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 15 straight seasons; his 234 postseason games played rank sixth in NHL history; and his 80 career Playoff goals rank ninth. In recent years, as a player agent, he has represented some of the top stars in the NHL.
‘We send our deepest condolences to Claude’s wife, Deborah, and his four children, Brendan, Claudia, Michael and Christopher.’
Born in 1965, Lemieux played in the QMJHL for Trois Rivieres before being drafted in the second round by his hometown Canadiens.
Lemieux made his NHL debut at 18 and was a major contributor to Montreal’s 1986 Stanley Cup winning team.
He became the first rookie in NHL history to score a Game 7 overtime winner, eliminating the Hartford Whalers in the Prince of Wales Division Finals. In those same playoffs, he scored the only goal in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals as the Habs won that year’s title in five games over the Calgary Flames.
He was traded to the New Jersey Devils in 1990 and won his second Stanley Cup with the team in 1995 – scoring goals in Games 1 and 3 of a series sweep and winning the Conn Smythe Trophy as MVP of the playoffs.
Lemieux scored the first Game 7 overtime winning goal by a rookie to beat the Hartford Whalers
Lemieux won the 1986 Stanley Cup with the Canadiens as a rookie – his first of four titles
Lemieux was traded to the New Jersey Devils in 1990 and won the Stanley Cup again in 1995
Lemieux won the Conn Smythe in that 1995 run before being traded to the Avalanche
Following that title-winning campaign, Lemieux was traded to the Colorado Avalanche for the 1995-96 season. It was in that year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs where Lemieux would lay the hit that defined his career.
In Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals against Detroit, Lemieux laid a check on Red Wings forward Kris Draper from behind that broke his jaw, nose and cheekbone while also giving him a concussion.
The hit sparked a rivalry between the teams that lasted for years and carried over to the next season after the Avalanche eliminated the Red Wings in that game en route to winning the 1996 Stanley Cup – giving Lemieux his third title.
Even though the NHL suspended Lemieux for two games, fans in Detroit anticipated the chance for revenge in a March 26, 1997 game in Michigan that kicked off one of the most infamous brawls in NHL history.
In what was the third fight of the night, Red Wings enforcer Darren McCarty sent Lemieux to the ice with the first of what would be many devastating blows before officials separated the two.
By game’s end, the Red Wings won 6-5 in an overtime game that featured 18 fighting major penalties and 144 penalty minutes combined.
The two teams met again in the 1997 Western Conference Finals, where the teams fought more before the Red Wings beat Colorado in six games en route to winning the Stanley Cup.
Lemieux won back-to-back titles when he took the Stanley Cup with Colorado in 1996
In those playoffs, Lemieux delivered a crushing hit – starting a feud with the Detroit Red Wings
Lemieux was traded back to New Jersey in November of 1999, just in time to win his fourth Stanley Cup with the Devils that season.
He eventually played three seasons with the Phoenix Coyotes and part of one season with the Dallas Stars before retiring in 2003.
Lemieux made a career comeback in 2008, playing 18 games with the San Jose Sharks before retiring for good in 2009.Â
He is survived by his brother, Jocelyn Lemieux – who also enjoyed a lengthy career in the NHL.Â
Lemieux also had a son, Brendan Lemieux, who played seven seasons in the NHL for five teams – the Winnipeg Jets, New York Rangers, Los Angeles Kings, Philadelphia Flyers and the Hurricanes.
Brendan currently plays in Switzerland with HC Davos. Brendan and Claude are the only father-son duo in NHL history to be punished by the league for biting other players.
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