'Relentless' Claude Lemieux Dies at 60

Claude Lemieux, a four-time Stanley Cup champion whose hockey career was built on playing on the edge with ferocity and physicality, has died. He was 60. The NHL Alumni Association announced his death without providing details, the AP reports. His death is being investigated as a possible suicide, per USA Today. On Monday night, Lemieux served as the Canadiens' torchbearer prior to Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Final at Bell Centre in Montreal. "A fierce competitor who rose to the occasion in big moments, Claude was a relentless, courageous, and tenacious player who led the team to the highest honors," Canadiens owner Geoff Molson said.

As a player, Lemieux was a mix of skill and abrasiveness, not afraid to cross the line in the name of competition. The winger won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP for his role in helping the New Jersey Devils win their first championship in 1995. A year later with the Colorado Avalanche, he was suspended for two games for a hit from behind on Detroit's Kris Draper on the way to the team hoisting the Stanley Cup for the first time in its first season since moving from his native Quebec. Darren McCarty, a truculent member of the Red Wings during the heyday of their rivalry with the Avalanche that was sparked by Lemieux's hit on Draper, posted a broken heart emoji on social media after his former adversary's death. "This is extremely sad no matter what feelings from past or present you hold," McCarty wrote.

Lemieux also won the Cup with Montreal in 1986 and returned to the Devils to be a part of their title run in 2000. He played 1,449 regular-season and playoff games with six different teams from 1983-2009. Lemieux was recognized for stepping up his game in the playoffs, per ESPN, finishing with a 0.68 career points per game in the 234 postseason games. Commissioner Gary Bettman called Lemieux "one of the greatest big-game players in hockey history." Lemieux later became an agent, representing more than a dozen clients in the NHL, per the AP. At a gathering in December to celebrate the 30-year anniversary of Colorado's 1995 Stanley Cup championship, Lemieux said of winning, "When it's happening, when you're in the middle of it, you don't quite appreciate it as much as you should."