Remembering four-time Stanley Cup champion Claude Lemieux
The hockey world lost one of its most prominent and singular characters on Thursday, as NHL legend Claude Lemiuex passed away at the age of 60. From the start of his career with the Montreal Canadiens in the late 1980s through his time with the New Jersey Devils and Colorado Avalanche in the ’90s, Lemieux always found himself central to the major storylines of the NHL.
It was no accident that Lemieux played an important role on some of the best teams of his era, as his combination of offensive ability, agitation, and grit was a rare and winning skillset. A forebearer to the likes of Brad Marchand in today’s game, the Mont-Laurier, Quebec native had a style that both led to success and invited controversy, whether it be the biting incident involving Jim Peplinski in 1986, or his infamous hit on Kris Draper in 1996.
On Thursday’s episode of The Sheet, hosts Jeff Marek and Greg Wyshynski discussed the fascinating legacy of Claude Lemieux.
Jeff Marek: “I know we all just saw Claude Lemieux on Saturday, torchbearer for the Montreal Canadiens before Game 3… The first time I saw Claude Lemieux play, and you would have watched him a ton as a New Jersey Devils fan, watched him win a couple of Stanley Cups for your team, would have been on CBC Sports, 1985 on the World Junior Team. And I know that he kept in touch with a lot of guys from that team as well. I would imagine they would be absolutely devastated, to say nothing of the number of clients that Claude Lemieux has in the NHL, which does include Carolina Hurricanes netminder Freddy Andersen, Rasmus Andersson, a defenseman for the Vegas Golden Knights. He’s a very accomplished agent and one that is highly respected as well.
“You know, Greg, we had Sergio Momesso on the program a couple of days ago, and we talked about Claude Lemieux because him and Claude were drafted back-to-back in 1983 in the second round. And he talked about how Claude looked so happy, and his family was there, And he was in a good mood and smiling and happy. And I kind of look back on it now and wonder if Sergio was saying, like he was, it was good to see him that happy, perhaps intimating that at certain points he hadn’t been happy. I want to go over some of the highlights of Claude Lemieux’s career and draw out some thoughts about him. Maybe he was your favorite or at least one of your favorite hockey players growing up as a Devils fan.”
Greg Wyshynski: “He was the first name on the back of a jersey I ever got as a kid. The reason why I actually got it before 1995 when he led the playoffs and goals and won the Conn Smythe and the Devils’ first Stanley Cup.
“When I was a kid, and learning hockey, I didn’t really know how it all worked, and I saw this guy who had the knack to get under the skin of opposing players, in particular, opposing players who were star players. And I learned about shadowing. I wasn’t an Oilers fan, I didn’t know who Esa Tikkanen was. So I learned about shadowing with Claude. I learned about the little dirty tricks that he pulled to get under players’ skin. But what i learned most about him as a young fan was he was special because it wasn’t simply just his ability to goad players into penalties or to make players mental because of the way that he was playing. He would then score on you, too.
“Like, the idea that he could do the things he did and then like get the game-winning goal to give the Devils the win is something that I found to be immediately attractive. It’s not just that he was a troll – he was a successful troll.”
You can catch the full discussion and the rest of Thursday’s episode here…