Hockey author and historian Liam Maguire has poignantly recalled a direct conversation he had with the late NHL great Claude Lemieux days before his death by suicide.
“I said, ‘Hey, you look amazing. I can’t believe you’re five pounds over competition weight,'” Maguire told the Daily Mail. “He just laughed and said he was running a business in Florida, doing stuff, living his life. And it’s so ironic to say that now that he’s gone.”
Maguire and Lemieux’s conversation took place before Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals in Montreal on May 25, when Lemieux was a torchbearer for his former team.
Three days later, Lemieux’s body was found in the warehouse of his family’s Florida furniture company. The Palm Beach Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed to Us Weekly that Lemieux died by suicide. He was 60 years old.
Veteran hockey writer Rejean Tremblay told the New York Post last week that Lemieux may have been “triggered” by attending a game in Montreal, and claimed Lemieux was “terribly hurt” by not being inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Maguire felt the same way.
“It’s ridiculous that he’s not (participating) because the Hall of Fame is a political organization,” McGuire said. The people who vote first are the ones who have a rubber stamp and everyone says it’s easy. When you get to the next level, you have to check the boxes, and Claude didn’t check all the boxes because he didn’t play well. ”
Lemieux, a four-time Stanley Cup champion, was also known for his gritty, hard-nosed brand of hockey.
NHL official Pierre LeBrun also recently reflected on his last discussion with Lemieux and revealed that he is considering a major career change.
“I am still very saddened by the death of Claude Lemieux,” LeBlanc said on Sunday, May 31, via X. “He was someone I talked to about the game and the business of the game. He loved our conversations because we learned so much. Over the past year, he had told me about his desire to one day run a team. He would have made a great GM.”
LeBlanc added, “Actually, he was talking to me about tossing his hat at the Maple Leafs’ opening. He didn’t do it.”
On May 4, the Maple Leafs announced the hiring of new general manager John Chayka.
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