Friends of former NHL star Claude Lemieux are sharing new details about the personal challenges he faced in the period leading up to his death, offering a clearer picture of what those closest to the Stanley Cup champion describe as a difficult final chapter, according to a new report by The New York Post.
Lemieux was found dead early Thursday inside the warehouse of Andros Home, his family’s furniture business in Lake Park, Florida. He was 60. The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office confirmed the death was suicide by hanging, as first reported by The New York Post. One of his sons found him at 3:32 a.m. after the family grew concerned he had not come home. While the official cause of death has drawn widespread attention, friends told the Post the story of Lemieux’s final months included a series of personal struggles that weighed heavily on the NHL great.
The death stunned the hockey world, arriving days after Lemieux received a standing ovation from 21,000 fans at Montreal’s Bell Centre, where he carried the torch before Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Final on May 25.
Lemieux’s Close Friends Reveal Two Sources of Pain
Rejean Tremblay, a Montreal hockey columnist who knew Lemieux for 30 years, told The New York Post that two long-running wounds defined the final chapter of his life.
The first was his exclusion from the Hockey Hall of Fame. Lemieux won four Stanley Cups â Montreal in 1986, New Jersey in 1995 and 2000, Colorado in 1996 â and totaled 80 goals and 158 points in 234 postseason games. The selection committee never called after he retired in 2009.
“He always lived this as an injustice, a heavy burden to bear,” Tremblay told The Post. “The sense of rejection ran deeper than one might have imagined. He took it very hard.”
The second wound was a years-long estrangement from his children.
“It hurt him tremendously,” Tremblay said.
Tremblay also offered a painful theory about Lemieux’s final public appearance, saying that the enormous outpouring of affection in Montreal may have inadvertently reopened old wounds.
“It’s possible that surge of love, that wave of love on Monday evening, triggered an emotion that was too intense,” he said. “It might have reawakened old pains, old suffering.”
Claude Lemieux’s Death Rocks the Hockey World
Colombe Lacroix, a close family friend and the widow of former Colorado Avalanche general manager Pierre Lacroix, told The Post that Lemieux had been struggling before his death, though his family saw nothing that signaled what was coming.
“They didn’t expect that at all, they never saw it coming,” Lacroix said. “He’s been going through a difficult time, he was depressed.”
Lemieux’s son Brendan, a former NHL forward, found his father’s body, according to the Post report on Saturday.
“Brendan is completely destroyed,” Lacroix said, as quoted by The Post.
The Carolina Hurricanes honored Lemieux before Game 5 on Friday night. Goalie Frederik Andersen, a client of Lemieux’s player agency, fought back tears after Carolina’s 6-1 win sent the Hurricanes to the Stanley Cup Final. He told reporters his mentor left him simple parting words.
“Just go get it,” Lemieux told Andersen, as quoted by TMZ Sports.
Lemieux is survived by his wife, Deborah, and four children: Brendan, Claudia, Michael and Christopher.
If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts or a mental health crisis, free and confidential support is available. Call or text 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org.
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