View: Previous | Next
| 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 |
Team | League |
GP | G |
A | TP |
PIM | | 1981-82 |
Richelieu | Que. AAA |
48 | 24 |
48 | 72 |
96 | | 1982-83 |
Trois-Rivieres | QMJHL |
62 | 28 |
38 | 66 |
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 |
| Years | Teams |
GP | G |
A | TP |
PIM | |
1983-2003 | Montreal, N.J.,
Colo., Pho., Dallas | 1,197 |
379 | 406 |
785 | 1,756 |
|
| CAREER NHL PLAYOFF STATISTICS | | Years |
Teams | GP |
G | A |
TP | PIM | | 1986-2003 |
Montreal, N.J.,
Colo., Pho., Dallas | 233 |
80 | 78 |
158 | 529 |
|
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. |
|
|
Visit the new
Hockey Draft Central |
HockeyDraftCentral.com is in the middle of rebuilding. You are looking at a page
that is not yet updated but is still part of the old site. Check out the new look.
• New Home Page
|
|
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 |
|
| 