Retired NHL great Claude Lemieux allegedly admitted to relapsing after 12 years of sobriety the night he died by suicide, according to TMZ Sports.
Lemieux’s family had noticed a change in his behavior over the past year, leaving his wife of 30 years, Deborah, to confront him.
After he allegedly acknowledged that he had relapsed, Deborah told him to leave the house, according to the outlet.
Lemieux then was found hanging in the family’s furniture store May 28, roughly five hours later by his son, Brendan.
Deborah had called Brendan after confronting her husband, and Brendan went to the home to discuss how they could support Lemieux.
Brendan then checked his father’s location and saw he was at the business.
He drove there, spotted his father’s Ford truck in the parking lot and removed a gun he knew Claude kept in the glove box due to the “emotional aspect of the situation.”
Lemieux broke into the pros with the Montreal Canadiens and was part of their Stanley Cup-winning team 20 years ago.
He won four Stanley Cups in his career and, in 1995 and 1996, became the 10th player in NHL history to win back-to-back Stanley Cups with different teams, first with the New Jersey Devils and then with the Colorado Avalanche.
After the 1995 Stanley Cup Final, Lemieux was also awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy.
In his postseason career, Lemieux had 158 points.
He last played in the NHL with the San Jose Sharks and retired in 2009.In all, Lemieux appeared in 1,215 NHL games with the Montreal Canadiens, New Jersey Devils, Colorado Avalanche, Phoenix Coyotes, Dallas Stars and San Jose Sharks.
He went on to become a player agent.
Despite four Stanley Cups and remarkable puck handling, Lemieux wasn’t nominated to the Hall of Fame, his exclusion reportedly remaining a heavy personal burden that demonized him until his death.
