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1983
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1983 NHL DRAFT PICK
Claude Lemieux
Selected in second round
No. 26 overall by Montreal Canadiens

Born July 16, 1965
Position: Right Wing
Height: 6-1   Weight: 215
Shoots: Right
BEFORE THE DRAFT
Last Team: Trois-Rivieres (QMJHL)                     
Birthplace: Buckingham, Quebec (Canada)
Hometown: Montreal, Quebec
PRE-DRAFT STATISTICS
Year TeamLeague GPG ATP PIM
1981-82 RichelieuQue. AAA 4824 4872 96
1982-83 Trois-RivieresQMJHL 6228 3866 187

PRE-DRAFT AWARDS AND HONORS
Miscellaneous:
Was Trois-Riviere's first-round pick, No. 6 overall, in 1982 QMJHL midget draft.
NHL CAREER
Debut: October 13, 1983 (Montreal at Boston)
Numbers:  32 (Mont.); 22 (N.J.); 22 (Colo.); 22 (Phoenix); 32 (Dallas)
Stanley Cup: 1986, 1995, 1996, 2000
Playing Status:
Retired December 2003
CAREER NHL STATISTICS
YearsTeams GPG ATP PIM
1983-2003Montreal, N.J.,
Colo., Pho., Dallas
1,197 379406 7851,756
CAREER NHL PLAYOFF STATISTICS
Years TeamsGP GA TPPIM
1986-2003 Montreal, N.J.,
Colo., Pho., Dallas
233 8078 158529

NHL AWARDS AND HONORS
Conn Smythe Trophy:
1995 (New Jersey)
Stanley Cup Finals (Lost): 1989 (Montreal)
New Jersey MVP: 1991-92
New Jersey Fan Club Player of Year: 1991-92
NHL Records: Most consecutive seasons with at least one playoff goal (15 from 1986 through 2000)
New Jersey Records: Most shots on goal in one game (14 at Ottawa on Dec. 3, 1992), most assists by a right wing in one season (51 in 1992-93)
Colorado Records: Most shots on goal in one playoff game (11 at Chicago on May 8, 1996, and vs. Edmonton on May 9, 1997)
NHL Playoffs Goals Leader: 1995 (N.J.) (13), 1997 (Colo.) (13, tie)
NHL Playoffs Game-Winning Goals Leader: 1997 (Colorado) (4)
Montreal Playoffs Goals Leader: 1986 (10)
Montreal Playoffs Penalty-Minutes Leader: 1990 (38)
New Jersey Points Leader: 1991-92 (68), 1992-93 (81)
New Jersey Goals Leader: 1991-92 (41)
New Jersey Assists Leader: 1992-93 (51)
New Jersey Playoffs Points Leader: 1994 (18)
N.J. Playoffs Goals Leader: 1992 (4), 1993 (2, tie), 1995 (13)
New Jersey Playoffs Assists Leader: 1994 (11)
N.J. Playoffs PIM Leader: 1991 (34), 1993 (19), 1994 (7t), 2000 (28)
Colorado Playoffs Goals Leader: 1997 (13)
Colorado Playoffs Penalty-Minutes Leader: 1996 (55)
Miscellaneous: Scored at 5:55 of overtime for Montreal in Game 7 of Adams Division finals series vs. Hartford on April 29, 1986. ... Missed part of Montreal's 1987 training camp with torn ligaments in ankle, an injury suffered at Canada Cup tourney in September 1987. ... Missed part of 1987-88 season with broken orbital bone above right eye, an injury suffered when he was elbowed by Gord Kluzak during Montreal's Jan. 14, 1988, game at Boston. ... Suspended one game by Montreal coach Pat Burns as punishment for receiving unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, misconduct and game misconduct when he lost his temper in argument with referee Bill McCreary during Montreal's Oct. 8, 1988, game vs. Minnesota. ... Suspended by NHL for one game (automatic suspension) during 1988-89 season for receiving second stick-related major penalty of season during Montreal's Dec. 12, 1988, game vs. Boston. ... Fined an undisclosed amount by Montreal on Feb. 20, 1989, for having violated team curfew on night before Feb. 18, 1989, game at St. Louis. ... Missed part of 1988-89 season with pulled groin, an injury suffered during Montreal's March 4, 1989, game at Hartford. He did not return to action until Montreal's March 18, 1989, game at Pittsburgh. ... Missed Montreal's entire 1989 training camp and start of 1989-90 regular season with adbominal wall tear, an injury left over from the 1988-89 season. Initially diagnosed as a pulled groin, the injury caused Lemieux severe pain when he made his 1989-90 season debut in Montreal's Oct. 9, 1989, game vs. Boston. After the game, doctors discovered the true nature of the injury, which required surgery on Nov. 1, 1989. Lemieux did not return to action until Montreal's Jan. 6, 1990, game vs. Buffalo. ... Refused to report to Montreal's 1990 training camp because he refused to play for head coach Pat Burns. He demanded a trade, which he had been asking for since the 1988-89 season, and his request was granted when he was dealt to New Jersey on Sept. 4, 1990. ... Missed part of 1990-91 season with slight contusion of retina in his right eye, an injury suffered when he was hit by a stick during New Jersey's Feb. 25, 1991, game vs. Washington. ... Missed parts of 1991-92 season with back injury, suffered during New Jersey's Nov. 30, 1991, game at Los Angeles, and with left ankle injury, originally suffered during New Jersey's Feb. 16, 1992, game vs. N.Y. Rangers. He continued to play with ankle injury until the pain forced him to sit out games from March 12-14, 1992. ... Played on line with Valeri Zelepukin and Peter Stastny for New Jersey in 1991-92. ... Led New Jersey with 296 shots on goal, 13 power-play goals and eight game-winning goals in 1991-92. ... Played on line with Valeri Zelepukin and Alexander Semak for New Jersey in 1992-93. ... Missed parts of 1992-93 season with back spasms, an injury suffered during New Jersey's Oct. 24, 1992, game vs. Pittsburgh, and with right elbow injury, suffered in New Jersey's March 20, 1993, game vs. Quebec. ... Named NHL Player of Week for the week ending Nov. 24, 1992. ... Led New Jersey with 311 shots on goal and 13 power-play goals in 1992-93. ... Suspended by NHL for three games during 1995 season and fined $500 for sucker-punching Brett Lindros while sitting on the Devils bench during New Jersey's March 26, 1995, game at N.Y. Islanders. ...  Played on line with Peter Forsberg and Valeri Kamensky for Colorado in 1995-96. ... Missed part of 1995-96 season with broken left pinkie, an injury suffered when he was slashed by Kevin Hatcher during Colorado's Dec. 3, 1995, game vs. Dallas. ... Finished third in NHL with 10 game-winning goals in 1995-96. ... Suspended one playoff game and fined $1,000 for sucker-punching Viacheslav Kozlov during Game 3 of Colorado's Western Conference finals series vs. Detroit on May 23, 1996. The incident led to a heavily publicized post-game parking-lot confrontation with Detroit coach Scotty Bowman, in which Bowman cursed out Lemieux. ... Ranked No. 2 in shots on goal (81) among all players in 1996 Stanley Cup playoffs. ... Became fourth player in NHL history to win Stanley Cup with three different teams and the fifth to win it in back-to-back seasons with different teams when he achieved feat in 1996. ... Missed half of 1996-97 season with torn abdominal muscle, an injury suffered when his skate got caught in a rut on the ice during Colorado's Oct. 5, 1996, game at Dallas. The injury was first thought to be a pulled groin, but Lemieux experienced severe pain when he resumed practicing with Colorado on Oct. 13, 1996. Doctors then determined the injury was a tear of the lower left abdominal region, the same area he had injured seven years earlier. Lemieux underwent surgery on Oct. 30, 1996, in Boston, and did not return to action until Colorado's Jan. 4, 1997, game vs. Philadelphia. ... Named NHL Player of Week for week ending Nov. 23, 1997. ... Missed part of 1997-98 season with back injury, suffered during Colorado's March 2, 1998, game vs. Edmonton. ... Scored his 300th NHL goal for Colorado on Oct. 24, 1998, vs. Edmonton. ... Finished third in NHL and led Colorado with eight game-winning goals in 1998-99. ... Played his 1,000th NHL game for New Jersey on April 6, 2000, vs. Buffalo. ... Led NHL with 83 games played in 1999-00. ... Signed with Phoenix as a Group III unrestricted free agent on Dec. 5, 2000. He had delayed signing with any team at the start of the 2000-01 season because he wanted to play for Phoenix where his good friend Wayne Gretzky was to be team's part owner. By December, he decided to stop waiting and sign a one-year contract for the NHL minimum salary of $150,000. His contract was immediately redrawn to a 3-year, $9 million deal after Gretzky's ownership group took control of the Coyotes on Dec. 11, 2000. The three-year deal had been agreed upon earlier in the season, contingent on the sale of the team to Gretzky and Steve Ellman. ... Played on line with Jeremy Roenick and Keith Tkachuk for Phoenix in 2000-01. ... Won Phoenix's accuracy-shooting title in NHL SuperSkills competition by hitting four targets on four shots on Dec. 7, 2000. ... Missed part of 2000-01 season with sprained ankle, an injury suffered in Phoenix's March 4, 2001, game vs. Colorado. He did not return to action until Phoenix's March 24, 2001, game vs. Edmonton. ... Missed remainder of 2000-01 season with re-aggravation of ankle injury, suffered in Phoenix's April 5, 2001, game at San Jose. ... Scored first goal of Phoenix's 2001-02 season on Oct. 4, 2001, at Los Angeles, and final goal of regular season on April 14, 2002, vs. Nashville. ...Only Phoenix player to play in all 82 games during 2001-02 season. ... Missed part of 2002-03 season with broken left foot, an injury suffered during Phoenix's Nov. 25, 2002, game at Dallas. He did not return to action until Phoenix's Dec. 15, 2002, game vs. Los Angeles. ... Had groin surgery in July 2003. ... Missed part of Dallas' 2003 training camp with groin injury. ... Left unprotected by Dallas for 2003 NHL Waiver Draft, but was not claimed by any other team. ... Released by Dallas after Stars bought out his contract on Oct. 7, 2003. He had four years remaining on his contract at the time of the buyout. Lemieux became a Group III unrestricted free agent, but was unable to catch on with another NHL team and retired from NHL in December 2003. He left with the No. 8 ranking on career NHL playoff goals list (80 goals).
Goodbye, New Jersey: Claude Lemieux's first of two stints with the New Jersey Devils came to a sudden and rather bizarre end at the start of the 1995-96 season -- just months after he had won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the MVP of the Devils' Stanley Cup championship run. During the summer of 1995, while he was on his honeymoon in the Bahamas, Lemieux said he would not report to New Jersey's 1995 training camp because he felt the four-year, $5.2 million contract he had signed on March 22, 1995, was not valid and he deserved to be a free agent. As a show of his anger over the contract, he fired agent Steve Freyer on July 5, 1995, and later hired agent Howard Silber, his second wife's brother-in-law. Lemieux complained that he had only signed a faxed copy of the contract, and not an actual contract, but the Devils refused to renegotiate. Lemieux and Silber insisted the contract was not legal, and Lemieux took the Devils to arbitration on Sept. 19, 1995, in what turned into a two-day hearing with league arbitrator George Nicolau. On Sept. 29, 1995, Nicolau sided with the Devils, saying Lemieux had no right to free agency. The Devils then told Lemieux they would not allow him to return to the team, and promptly began engineering a three-way trade with the New York Islanders and Colorado. The deal, completed on Oct. 3, 1995, saw New Jersey send Lemieux to the Islanders in exchange for Steve Thomas. The Islanders then traded Lemieux to Colorado in exchange for Wendel Clark, who had been in a contract dispute with the Avs.
The Draper Incident: Perhaps more than anything else, Claude Lemieux's NHL career will be remembered for a vicious hit against Detroit's Kris Draper during Game 6 of Colorado's Western Conference finals series vs. Detroit on May 30, 1996. At 14:07 of the first period, Lemieux checked Draper from behind as Draper was playing the puck along the boards near center ice. Draper's face crashed into the boards, leaving him with a fractured upper jaw, a fractured cheekbone, a broken nose, a 30-stitch cut on the inside of his mouth and five displaced teeth. Lemieux received a major and game misconduct for the hit, but Colorado went on to win the game 4-1, thereby wrapping up the series in six games. Although the Red Wings scored on the ensuing power-play, Detroit players, coaches and fans were livid over the Lemieux hit, which they deemed a clear intent to injure. Draper said Lemieux never gave him a chance to protect himself, but that wasn't surprising "because that's the kind of player he (Lemieux) is and we all know that." Lemieux argued that the hit was clean shoulder-to-shoulder contact, and that the injury was an unfortunate accident. As a result of the hit, the NHL suspended Lemieux for the first two games of the 1996 Stanley Cup Finals and fined him $1,000. The suspension and fine were announced three days after the incident on June 2, 1996. That wasn't enough for the Wings, who vowed to take revenge on Lemieux during the following season, thereby igniting what became the most bitter rivalry in hockey throughout the late 1990s. In addition, a Michigan legislator named Kirk Profft tried to introduce a bill asking the Colorado attorney general to charge Lemieux with assault.
NON-NHL CAREER
Post-Draft Teams: Verdun (QMJHL); Nova Scotia (AHL); Sherbrooke (AHL); Zug (Switzerland)
NHL-USSR Rendez-vous Series: 1987
Canada Cup: 1987 (first place)
World Cup of Hockey: 1996 (second place)
World Junior Championships: 1985 (gold medal)
NON-NHL AWARDS AND HONORS
QMJHL Lafleur Trophy (Playoffs MVP):
1985 (Verdun)
QMJHL All-Star First Team: 1984-85 (Verdun)
QMJHL All-Star Second Team: 1983-84 (Verdun)
Miscellaneous: Traded by Trois-Rivieres to Longueuil and then to Verdun in October 1983 in three-way deal. Trois-Rivieres received Derrick Ivall and a fourth-round pick in 984 QMJHL midget draft, while Longueuil received Jean Bourgeois. ... Joined Nova Scotia for last two games of its 1984 AHL playoff run after playing 1983-84 season, QMJHL playoffs and Memorial Cup tournament with Verdun. ... Played in Oilers-Canadiens outdoor alumni game on Nov. 22, 2003 in Edmonton. ... Ended brief retirement to sign with Zug (Switzerland) in February 2004. ... The annual Pee-Wee tournament in Mont Laurier, Quebec, named its MVP award Claude Lemieux Trophy in his honor.
Personal: Nicknamed "Pepe." ... Full name is Claude Percy Lemieux. ... Older brother of former NHL player Jocelyn Lemieux.
HOW HE GOT AWAY
TRADE: Montreal traded Lemieux to New Jersey in exchange for Sylvain Turgeon on September 4, 1990.

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SNAPSHOT '83
Total Selected: 242
Forwards: 134
Defense: 86
Goaltenders: 22
Major Junior: 122
Tier II/Jr. B: 19/5
College Players: 15
High School: 47
Canadian: 148
Euro-Canadian: 0
USA Citizens: 60
U.S.-Born: 60
European: 34
Reached NHL: 113
Stanley Cup: 21
Hall of Fame: 4
All-Star Game: 20
Year-end All-Star: 7
Olympians: 34
Picks Traded: 41
 
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