The hockey world woke up to devastating news on Thursday. Claude Lemieux, a four-time Stanley Cup champion and one of the NHL's most memorable playoff performers, has passed away at the age of 60. 

His friends and family came in quickly with tributes, and one of them was Patrick Roy. Roy was lined up beside Lemieux on two different championship teams and knew him better than anyone in the game.

When Roy heard the news, he immediately gave a statement to TVA reporter Renaud Lavoie, saying, "I am deeply saddened to learn of Claude Lemieux's passing." 

He then adds, "Claude was an exceptional teammate, a fierce competitor, a key element in several of our greatest achievements, and a player who left his mark on our sport."

Roy and Lemieux were teammates for almost a decade in total. It started with the Montreal Canadiens from 1984 to 1990. They then reunited again with the Colorado Avalanche from 1996 until 2000. They together won two Stanley Cups, in 1986 in Montreal and then in 1996 in Colorado.

Claude Lemieux's Remarkable Career.

Lemieux played around 1,215 regular-season games across 21 NHL seasons with the Montreal Canadiens, New Jersey Devils, Colorado Avalanche, Phoenix Coyotes, Dallas Stars, and San Jose Sharks. He finished with 786 career points.

His teams have reached the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 15 straight seasons. And all his 234 postseason games played rank sixth in NHL history, and his 80 career playoff goals rank ninth in all-time. He won four Stanley Cups with Montreal in 1986, the New Jersey Devils in 1995, the Colorado Avalanche in 1996, and then with the Devils again in 2000.

His best individual playoff run came in 1995, when he scored 13 goals and recorded 16 points in 20 games for New Jersey and then went on to gain its first-ever Stanley Cup title. He earned himself the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP. 

His controversial hit on Detroit's Kris Draper in Game 6 of the 1996 Western Conference Final started one of hockey's iconic rivalries and made him the most disliked player in the league for many years. 

Lemieux still accepted it without an apology, saying that "to be the most hated man in hockey and have your name on the Conn Smythe Trophy, it's special."

Read more at NHL Fan Central!

Written by

Aadhya Nalla

Edited by

Ankita Yadav