Detroit — Claude Lemieux, one of the NHL’s fiercest and agitating players of his era, has died at the age of 60, the NHL Players Association confirmed Thursday.
Lemieux had memorable run-ins with the Red Wings that live on as pivotal points in the Wings’ drive to becoming a Stanley Cup champion.
Lemieux drilled Kris Draper into the boards during Game 6 of the 1996 Western Conference Finals, causing a broken jaw, broken orbital bone, broken nose and several teeth lost. The Wings lost that game, and the series to Colorado, who would go on to win the Stanley Cup.
All that carried over to March 26, 1997, when the Wings and Avalanche engaged in one of the sport’s most memorable brawls, with Lemieux and Darren McCarty as the center piece. Lemieux “turtled” after McCarty landed several clean blows, forcing Lemieux to cover his head.
“It brought the whole team together,” Kirk Maltby, Draper and McCarty’s linemate, said. “It wasn’t like we were playing poorly, but we were just going about our business. That night just ignited us as a team. The camaraderie of it, we just became that much more of a team.
“It was season-turning for us.”
The Wings would go on to win two consecutive Stanley Cups.
McCarty posted on X on Thursday: “Just heard the news on #ClaudeLemieux This is extremely sad no matter what feelings from past or present you hold. My thoughts and prayers to his family and friends and people who got to see the person off the ice wasn’t the person on. As I’ve said and will always call it as I see it.”
Lemieux was a four-time Stanley Cup champion — two with New Jersey (including 1995 over the Wings, Lemieux winning the Conn Smythe Trophy), and one each with Colorado and Montreal (1993). Lemieux’s 80 playoff goals rank ninth in NHL history.
During a 21-career NHL career, Lemieux played 1,215 regular season games and scored 379 goals and 786 points, while earning 1,777 penalty minutes.
After his player career, Lemieux became an NHL player agent.
No cause of death was given, and the NHLPA didn’t say when or where Lemieux died.
Lemieux was at Montreal’s Bell Centre Monday for Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals between Montreal and Carolina. Lemieux, wearing a Canadiens’ sweater, carried a torch into the arena to ignite a roaring crowd.
Lemieux is survived by his four children, including former NHL player Brendan Lemieux. Claude Lemieux’s younger brother, Jocelyn Lemieux, also played in the NHL.
tkulfan@detroitnews.com
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This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Claude Lemieux, dead at age 60, was fierce Red Wings rival
Reporting by Ted Kulfan, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
