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Claude Lemieux a four-time Stanley Cup champion and once one of the NHL’s most infamous antagonists, has died at the age of 60, the NHL Alumni Association said Thursday.
Born in Buckingham, Que., Lemieux broke into the NHL with the Montreal Canadiens in 1983 and helped the club win the Stanley Cup in 1986.
The gritty winger later captured championships with the New Jersey Devils in 1995 and 2000, and the Colorado Avalanche in 1996.
He was honoured at Montreal’s Bell Centre on Monday, carrying a ceremonial torch onto the ice before the Canadiens’ Game 3 playoff matchup against the Carolina Hurricanes.
The Canadiens said Thursday that “the entire Canadiens organization is saddened to learn of the passing of Claude Lemieux.”
“Today is a dark day for the Canadiens family and the entire hockey community,” Canadiens owner and CEO Geoff Molson said in a statement. “I wish to express my most sincere and deepest condolences to Claude’s family and loved ones.”
Molson described Lemieux as a fierce competitor who consistently delivered in big moments and said he “embodied the very essence of being a Montreal Canadiens player.”
The cause of death was not released.
The San Jose Sharks said on X that “the entire Sharks organization is saddened to learn of the passing of Sharks alum and NHL legend Claude Lemieux.”
Lemieux finished his career with San Jose after coming out of a five-and-a-half-year retirement at age 43 during the 2008-09 season. He had one assist in 18 games before retiring for good in July 2009.
In a statement, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman called Lemieux “one of the greatest big-game players in hockey history.”
A playoff performer and an agitator
Lemieux was known for stepping up his game in the playoffs and for playing close to the edge — and sometimes crossing it.
In the 1986 Stanley Cup final, Lemieux bit Calgary Flames winger Jim Peplinski’s finger as they tussled in a brawl following the fourth game.
“I didn’t know they allowed cannibalism in the NHL,” Peplinski quipped after the game.
Ten years later, Lemieux once again made headlines while playing for Colorado when he rammed Detroit Red Wings forward Kris Draper into the boards from behind in Game 6 of the Western Conference final.
Draper sustained a broken jaw, cheek and orbital bone, while Lemieux escaped serious discipline when he was suspended by the NHL for two games.
The Avalanche went on to sweep Florida in the Cup final, with Lemieux returning from suspension to score the first goal in Game 3.
Lemieux’s bite came up again in 2021 when his son Brendan, then a forward with the Los Angeles Kings, was suspended five games for biting Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk during a game in 2021.
Drafted by Montreal in the second round in 1983, Lemieux recorded 97 goals and 92 assists in 281 regular-season games with the Canadiens.
He added 23 goals and 22 assists in 77 playoff games and won the Stanley Cup as a rookie in 1986.
Lemieux finished with 379 goals, 407 assists and 1,777 penalty minutes in 1,215 regular-season games with Montreal, New Jersey, Colorado, Phoenix, Dallas and San Jose.
He also represented Canada internationally, winning gold at the 1985 world junior championship and the 1987 Canada Cup.
