Claude Lemieux, feisty playoff icon and four-time Cup winner, dies at 60
Claude Lemieux, a four-time Stanley Cup champion and one of the NHL’s most feared playoff performers, died at age 60. Over 21 seasons he won Cups with the New Jersey Devils (twice), the Colorado Avalanche and the Montreal Canadiens, captured the 1995 Conn Smythe Trophy, and posted 80 playoff goals (ninth all-time) and 158 playoff points (tied for 27th), along with 529 playoff penalty minutes (third-most). In the regular season he played 1,215 games, with 379 goals, 786 points and 1,777 penalty minutes. A notorious physical agitator, he was suspended for two games in the 1996 Cup Final after a hit on Kris Draper. After retiring in 2009 he worked as an NHL agent and remained connected to hockey, including a recent playoff appearance carrying the Canadiens’ torch in Montreal. He is survived by four children, including Brendan and Jocelyn.
