Lemieux, Claude

NHL

He was selected in the 1983 draft in the 2nd round under the 26th number by the Montreal Canadiens club, in which he played from 1983 to 1990 and won the Stanley Cup in the 1985/86 season .

In September 1990, Montreal traded Lemieux at the New Jersey Devils for Sylvain Tarjon . In the 1994/95 season, he won his second Stanley Cup with the Devils and won the Conn Smyth Trophy as an MVP playoff with 13 goals.

In 1995, was exchanged at Colorado Avalanche . In the 1995/96 season, he won the third Stanley Cup of his career, becoming the fifth player in NHL history to win the Stanley Cup with three different teams.

In November 1999, Lemieux returned to the New Jersey Devils after an exchange for Brian Rolston , with whom he won his fourth and final Stanley Cup. At the end of this season, he signed a contract with Phoenix Coyotes as a free agent.

In January 2003, he moved to the Dallas Stars in exchange for Scott Pellerin and a draft pick. At the end of the 2002/03 season, Claude completed his career in the NHL. The following season he spent in the Swiss National League (NLA) for the Zug club .

Since the playoffs of the 1985/86 season, only the 2001 playoffs have been missed. He played 234 matches in the playoffs, which is the fourth result in the NHL ^[3] . Three times Lemieux scored more goals in the playoff matches than in the games of the regular season (1985/86, 1994/95 and 1996/97). In total, during his career he scored 80 goals in the playoffs, which today is the 9th result in the NHL ^[4] . In November 2008, at the age of 43, after a five-year hiatus, he returned to the NHL by signing a contract with San Jose Sharks with the support of his longtime comrade Doug Wilson, general manager of Sharks. As a result, he played 18 games in the season and gave one assist, after which he finally ended his career.

Claude Lemieux had a reputation as one of the “dirtiest” league players. According to the list of "Top 10 most hated players of all time", compiled by ESPN , ranked second after Sean Avery . During a fight in the playoff match of his “Montreal” against “ Calgary Flames ”, Claude Lemieux bit his finger forward Jim Peplinsky , after the match Jim said: “I never thought that the NHL would allow cannibalism in the league.” Lemieux secured a reputation as a dirty player in the match for Colorado vs. Detroit Red Wings in the 1996 playoffs. In the sixth game of the Western Conference finals, Claude pushed Chris Draper face to the side, which led to a fracture of the jaw, nose, cheekbone and concussion and, as a result, plastic surgery , and Lemieux was suspended for only two games. This incident is believed by many to spark enmity between the two teams. Tensions between the teams continued to grow and reached their climax the following season, when the Wings forward Darren McCarthy began a massive fight. Around McCarthy, beating the recumbent Lemieux, several more fights were formed, including a goalkeeper fight.

International Career

Lemieux represented Canada three times at international competitions. In 1985, he won gold at the Youth World Championships in Helsinki , gaining 5 points (3 + 2) in 6 matches. In 1987, he played for the first team in the Canada Cup , where he also won gold (2 points in 6 games). In 1996, he won silver at the World Cup (19 minutes of a fine in 8 games).

Career Break

In 2005, he became president of the Phoenix Road Runners Hockey League East Coast Club.

In 2007, he took part in the second season of the television show Pros vs. Joes. "

In October 2009, he participated in the CBC television reality show “Battle of the Blades” as a skater, playing in tandem with She-Lynn Bourne . In one of the performances, the couple skated to Leonard Cohen’s song “ Hallelujah ”, which he sang in a duet with Catherine Rose .

Return in 2008

In September 2008, Lemieux expressed interest in returning to the NHL on RDS. He started the season in the Asian Hockey League at China Dragon before signing a contract with Worcester Sharks , San Jose Sharks Farm Club ^[5] . After 14 games (2 + 6) in the American Hockey League , Lemieux signed a bilateral contract with San Jose on December 29, 2008 ^[6] .

Lemieux was born in Buckingham, now lives in Toronto . Claude has a younger brother, Joslen (born 1967), who spent 598 matches in the NHL and scored 164 points (80 + 84) for the Montreal Canadiens, Chicago Blackhawks, Hartford Whalers, Calgary Flames, New Jersey Devils, Phoenix Coyotes. Zhoslen's most successful season is 1992/93 in the Chicago squad, when he scored 31 points (10 + 21) in 81 matches.

Claude is not a relative of the legendary player and his peer Mario Lemieux . Claude Lemieux has two sons from his first marriage: Christopher (born 1989) and Michael (born 1992), and son Brendan and daughter Claudia from their second wife. Brendan, like his father, a hockey player, plays in the Ontario Hockey League for Barry Colts . June 26, 2009 Claude Lemieux became an American citizen ^[7] .

Lemieux is known for his appearance on the Howard Stern Show in 1995, where he demonstrated the Stanley Cup. During the program, the main screenwriter of the show, Jackie Joker Mertling, took the Cup to the bathroom, where he defecated. However, it later turned out that it was falsification for comic purposes ^[8] .

• Stanley Cup Winner (4): 1986, 1995, 1996, 2000.
• Winner Conn Smythe Trophy : 1995.
• Winner of the World Youth Championship 1985.
• Canada Cup Winner 1987.
• Second place at the 1996 World Cup.
• MVP playoffs QMJHL : 1985.
• The first team of the QMJHL All-Star Game: 1985.
• Second Team All-Star Match QMJHL: 1984.
• Winner John Horman Trophy : 1992.
• In 2005, he was inducted into the QMJHL Hall of Fame .
• 9th place in the number of goals scored in the NHL playoffs - 80.

• List of NHL hockey players who played 1000 or more matches

• Lemieux, Claude - statistics on The Internet Hockey Database
• Claude Lemieux discusses his career at The Hockey Writers