Claude Lemieux: Just Win Baby!

Age wrinkles the body.  Quitting wrinkles the soul.  -General Douglas MacArthur

Public Service Announcement: Ok, here we go!  Guess who’s back, back again, Shady’s back, tell a friend.  Tell a friend Claude Lemieux, who hadn’t played in the NHL since 2003, is back.  Back again with the San Jose Sharks.  Tell a friend the once most hated man in all of hockey is back again to do what he does best, win in the post season.       

Claude Lemieux was once hockey’s most hated.  Think Sean Avery.  Think Chris Simon.  Think Kenny Linseman.  Now triple that. In a recent ESPN special, “The Top 10 Most Hated NHL Players of All Time” Claude was ranked first.  Hannibal the Cannibal.  Before we ever knew who Jarkko Ruutu was, during a playoff game against the Calgary Flames, Lemieux bit Calgary’s Jim Peplinski on the finger.  Peplinski:  ”I didn’t know they allowed cannibalism in the NHL.”  They didn’t call him Pepe Le Pew for nothin’.

For all of Lemieux’s foibles, and there are a lot of them, all this cat ever did was win.  He won with the Canadiens.  He won the Devils.  He won with the Avalanche.  Back to back with the Devils and Avalanche.  He won with the Devils again.  Four Cups in all.  His Cup runneth over.

He wasn’t just an impartial observer on this teams.  Oh, no.  He was very partial.  He was the brightest starcial.  The victory cigarcial.  More valuable than the Yougoslavian dinarcial.  Claude Lemieux was the NHL’s ultimate playoff overachiever.

Like my main man Izzy Mendelbaum, he’ll show you.  It’s go time!  He’s gonna take it up a notch.  Although Claude ranks only 95th in league history with 379 regular-season goals, his total of 80 postseason goals ranks ninth.  Three times he scored more goals during the playoffs than he did during the regular season.  Played so well during 1995 post season, he earned himself the Conn Smythe Trophy.  Everybody like a Conn Smythe Trophy.

And that’s just why the Sharks brought this guy back.  They’re thinking post season.  They’re thinking beyond.  They want their cup to runneth over.  They want to just win baby!

Public Spectacle:

Peace out homies. Six two and Even!

Need More? NHL, San Jose Sharks