The Colorado Avalanche, and the entire NHL are mourning the loss of one of the league’s greatest playoff performer in the history of of hockey. It was announced on Thursday that Claude Lemiuex passed away at the age of 60.
The Avalanche shared two posts on X about Lemieux’s passing: A general one and one with a quote from Joe Sakic, who played with Lemieux.
News like this really hits hard for fans because a lot of people today got to watch Lemiuex dominate in the postseason. Heck, he was even part of festivities with the Canadiensdays ago.
Lemiuex joined the Avalanche shortly before the 1995-96 season via a three-team trade involving Colorado, the New Jersey Devils sent Lemiuex to the New York Islanders for forward Steve Thomas. The Islanders then sent Lemiuex to the Avalanche for forward Wendel Clark.
Lemiuex joined the Avalanche having already won the Stanley Cup two times—one in 1986 with the Montreal Canadiens, and 1995 with the New Jersey Devils. Colorado acquired Lemiuex because of his previous playoff and Stanley Cup experience, as well as his physical nature to the game. They wanted to add onto a team that already boasted stars such as Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg.
In his first season with the organization, Lemiuex put on quite a show for Avs Faithful. He played in 79 games, recording 39 goals and 32 assists. Nine of those goals were on the power play while he also delivered 10 game-winners.
Overall, Lemiuex played in 297 regular season games, recording 106 goals and 106 assists.
In the postseason for Colorado, he played in 62 games, putting up 24 goals and 31 assists. His second season in Colorado, he put up 13 goals and 10 assists in 17 postseason games, 1.35 points per game in that stretch, which is pretty darn awesome.
The Avalanche organization was fortunate to be able to say that Lemiuex put on their sweater during a portion of his career. In fact, all of the city he played in get to think back into his history with their franchise.
We send our condolences to Lemiuex’s family and friends, as well as every organization who is mourning the loss of a legend.
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