Claude Lemieux dies at 60, was 4-time Stanley Cup champion

MONTREAL -- Claude Lemieux, a 21-year NHL veteran and four-time Stanley Cup winner, has died at the age of 60, the Montreal Canadiens announced Thursday. 

He was in Montreal this week, serving as the Montreal Canadiens’ Bell Centre torchbearer on Monday for Game 3 of his former team’s Eastern Conference Final against the Carolina Hurricanes, a 3-2 overtime win for the visitor.

The 60-year-old native of Buckingham, Quebec, won the Stanley Cup four times for his first three NHL teams -- the Canadiens in 1986, the New Jersey Devils in 1995, the Colorado Avalanche in 1996 and the Devils again in 2000.

“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," NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement.

“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.”

Lemieux was both a tremendous clutch performer and an irritant who made many enemies in the game because of a style of play that went to the edge of the rules and beyond them.

But there is no denying that he was a champion and a valued teammate, awarded the 1995 Conn Smythe Trophy with the Devils as the most valuable player of the postseason.

“Today is a dark day for the Canadiens family and the entire hockey community," team owner Geoff Molson said. "I wish to express my most sincere and deepest condolences to Claude’s family and loved ones. A fierce competitor who rose to the occasion in big moments, Claude was a relentless, courageous, and tenacious player who led the team to the highest honors. He embodied the very essence of being a Montreal Canadiens player. Today we mourn the untimely passing of one of our champions. Our thoughts are with his family on this difficult day.”

The Canadiens selected Lemieux in the second round (No. 26) of the 1983 NHL Draft, bringing him up from Montreal-district Verdun junior in 1983-84 and 1984-85, then Sherbrooke of the American Hockey League in 1985-86.

Lemieux would play only 10 games in the 1985-86 season, scoring once with two assists, but he was dazzling in the playoffs, scoring 10 goals with six assists in the Canadiens’ 20-game run to their 23rd of 24 Stanley Cup titles won to date. Two of his 10 goals came in overtime.

He would join the Canadiens full-time in 1986-87, scoring 27 goals with 31 and 29 the next two seasons. In so doing, Lemieux became the sixth player in franchise history to begin his career with three straight seasons of at least 20 goals.

He also racked up between 105 and 156 penalty minutes in his first seven full seasons from 1986-93, "friendships" developed with penalty-box attendants around the League.

Lemieux's personality, as much as a decline in production, played a large part in his being traded to the Devils on Sept. 4, 1990, a simmering feud with Canadiens coach Pat Burns having reached a full boil.

He would rediscover his scoring touch in New Jersey, scoring 30 goals in 1990-91 and an NHL career-high 41 in 1991-92. Lemieux was a 30-goal scorer again in 1992-93, finishing with his NHL career-high 81 points (30 goals, 51 assists).

The 6-foot-1, 215-pound right wing slipped to 18 goals and 44 points in 1993-94, then had just six goals and 19 points in 45 games in 1994-95. But his magic in the postseason was rekindled; he led all skaters with 13 goals to be voted winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy, the Devils sweeping the Detroit Red Wings in the Stanley Cup Final to win their first title.

“I think it’s just unbelievable,” Lemieux said, having gotten under the skin of virtually every NHL opponent by then. “I look at some of the names on this trophy and on the Stanley Cup, it’s incredible. To be a part of the team that won the first Stanley Cup for the New Jersey Devils, who would have thought it?

“I played well,” he added of his own playoff performance. “It's very special. The Stanley Cup is what we play for. To be the most hated man in hockey and have your name on the Conn Smythe Trophy, it’s special.”

But Lemieux was on the move again, dealt to Colorado on Sept. 3, 1995, as part of a three-team trade. He scored 39 goals for the Avalanche in 1995-96, their first season in Denver after having relocated from Quebec, then became the 10th player to win the Cup in consecutive years with different teams when he helped Colorado to its first title, scoring 12 points (five goals, seven assists) in 19 games.

He forever cemented his reputation as Public Enemy No. 1 in Game 6 of the Western Conference Final, hitting Detroit Red Wings forward Kris Draper from behind, hard into the boards. Draper suffered facial injuries that would require surgery, Lemieux receiving a major, game misconduct and two-game suspension.

The Red Wings exacted their revenge the following March in a wild night between two heated opponents whose rivalry reached dramatic heights.

Lemieux scored 26 goals in 1997-98 and 27 in 1998-99, but early in the 1999-2000 season was traded back to New Jersey. He scored 17 goals in 70 games for the Devils, then had 10 points (four goals, six assists) in 23 playoff games to become a four-time Cup-winner when they defeated the Dallas Stars in a six-game Final.

As a free agent, Lemieux was lured to the Phoenix Coyotes on Dec. 5, 2000 by his old friend Wayne Gretzky, playing 2½ seasons there before he was traded to Dallas on Jan. 16, 2003. Lemieux retired after playing in Switzerland in 2003-04.

But his hockey career wasn’t done. He was back on skates in 2008-09 at age 43, playing briefly in China, then signing with Worcester of the AHL and earning an 18-game stint with the San Jose Sharks, though he managed just one assist. He also played one playoff game before retiring for good, finishing his NHL career with 786 points (379 goals, 407 assists) and 1,777 penalty minutes in 1,215 games.

He was also a player agent with 4sports Hockey, his clients including Hurricanes goalie Frederik Andersen, Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Rasmus Andersson, Devils forward Timo Meier and Red Wings defenseman Moritz Seider.

Lemieux had 158 points (78 goals, 80 assists), including 19 game-winning goals, in 234 playoff games, failing to qualify for the postseason once in his final 19 NHL seasons.

He is renowned for his performance in the playoffs, a clutch player sometimes referred to as “King of Spring.” On a less savory note, he is infamous for a style that was that of abrasive agitator at best, sometimes worse than that.

Lemieux embraced all of it, four Stanley Cup titles and a Conn Smythe Trophy to his name. On Monday, one of hockey’s most polarizing figures was given a champion’s welcome by a raucous Bell Centre crowd when he emerged into the arena bowl with the Canadiens' famous flaming torch held aloft.