Hockey Legend Passes

Being an enforcer, or a pest depending on how you want to look at things, came with the territory of playing in the National Hockey League. That's the way the game was throughout the 80s and early to mid 90s. One of those guys who was at the top of the list of agitators at that time was Claude Lemieux. Having played 21 seasons in the NHL, Lemieux could get under your skin and then beat you with a big goal or a great pass. The four-time Cup winner passed away on Thursday at the age of 60.

Lemieux was a second round pick of the Montreal Canadiens in 1983. After playing sparingly over the first three years of his career, he joined the Habs full time in 1986. He played there till 1990 when he went to New Jersey. He then played for Colorado (1995-2000), New Jersey again (2000), Phoenix, Dallas and a brief stop in San Jose to finish his career in 2008. By the time he was done, he played 1,215 regular season games, totaling 379 goals, 407 assists for 786 points. All this while racking up 1,777 career penalty minutes. He found another gear come playoff time. He has his name on the Cup four times: 1986 with Montreal, 1995 and 2000 with New Jersey and 1996 with Colorado. He played in 234 career playoff games, scoring 80 goals 76 assists for 158 points and 529 more penalty minutes.

When people think of Lemieux two things come to mind. One is his clutch goal scoring in the playoffs, as the Devils found out twice in both 1995 and 2000. He knows how to hit the back of the net in the biggest moments come springtime. But when people think of Lemieux, most think of 1996., The hit that started it all. Game six, Western Conference Finals, Red Wings and Avalanche. Lemieux threw a hit on Red Wings forward Kris Draper, a nasty hit from behind that messed up Drapers face. It was the hit that sparked the big rivalry between the Avs and Wings at that time. And that, famously, lead to what became fight night at the Joe. March of 1997, Colorado made a trip to Detroit to play the Wings and that night saw one of the most memorable line brawls in the history of the game. And that all stemmed from Lemieux hit in the previous year's playoffs.

Lemieux knew what his role was when he played, and he did it to perfection. Sure, not all of his hits were clean or legal. Most teams knew that and tried their best to prepare for what was coming. That was just Claude being Claude. He did his job and he did it well. When his career ended, he went on to become a very well represented player agent around the league.

Even in his passing, Claude is becoming an agent of change in the game. After it was revealed that he had passed, Lemieux's brain was donated to Boston University's CTE Center to be able to research the long-term effects of repetitive brain injury that stems from the way he played and the way the game was played back in the day.

Even in passing, Lemieux is still effecting change in the game!