May 28 (Reuters) - Claude Lemieux, a four-times Stanley Cup winner and clutch scorer who was renowned for his role as an agitator on the ice, has died at the age of 60, the NHL Alumni Association said on Thursday.
The association did not give a cause of death or say when Lemieux died.
Lemieux appeared at the Bell Centre in Montreal on Monday, serving as a torch bearer ahead of Game Three between the Montreal Canadiens and Carolina Hurricanes in the NHL Eastern Conference finals.
"The National Hockey
League mourns the passing of Claude Lemieux, a four-time Stanley Cup champion and one of the greatest big-game players in hockey history," NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement.
Born in Buckingham, Quebec, Lemieux was drafted by the Canadiens in 1983 and in the 1986 playoffs scored a team-leading 10 goals in 20 games to help Montreal win the Stanley Cup.
He later joined the New Jersey Devils and played an integral role in their 1995 Stanley Cup win, scoring 13 goals in 20 postseason games to earn the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.
Lemieux went on to win the Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche in 1996 and again with the Devils in 2000.
He registered 379 goals and 407 assists in 1,215 career NHL regular-season games, adding 80 goals and 78 assists in 234 playoff games.
Internationally, Lemieux represented Canada on several occasions, including capturing a gold medal at the 1985 world junior hockey championships and winning the 1987 Canada Cup.
(Reporting by Nicole Fernandes in Toronto; editing by Clare Fallon)
