For those in NHL circles who dealt with Claude Lemieux as a player agent, there were no apparent signs of what was to come.Just two days before Lemieux was found dead this week, he helped put the finishing touches on an entry-level contract for client Gregor Biber with the Utah Mammoth.The signing was announced by the Mammoth at 12:01 p.m. ET on Thursday — 73 minutes before the NHL Alumni Association shared news of Lemieux’s shocking death at age 60.“It was business as usual,” Mammoth general manager Bill Armstrong told The Athletic of his final dealings with Lemieux, a man he considered a friend.“I didn’t feel anything was out of the ordinary when I dealt with him.”Their last communication came on Tuesday via text message. They were buttoning down the arrangements on a contract for the 19-year-old.“Just a text to say, ‘Hey we’re going to release Biber,'” Armstrong said. “He said, ‘Yup, absolutely.'”
We have signed 2024 fourth round draft choice, defenseman Gregor Biber, to an entry-level contract. ✍️ pic.twitter.com/pMnYBa1svn
— Utah Mammoth (@utahmammoth) May 28, 2026It was routine business for a man who threw himself headfirst into the world of representing players following a 21-year NHL career.Lemieux was a prominent figure throughout his first act in hockey, a four-time Stanley Cup champion who would stop at nothing to win, but often showed a more human side after retreating from the spotlight to help guide the careers of several dozen players over 16 years, with a client list including Hampus Lindholm, Frederik Andersen, Timo Meier, Rasmus Andersson, Moritz Seider and Joel Eriksson Ek.His “aura” was a huge asset in his second act, according to Daniel Giger, co-owner of the Switzerland-based 4Sports Hockey agency Lemieux worked for. His clients knew him for his “kindness” and calm approach.There was no semblance of the man who once bit Jim Peplinski’s finger during the Stanley Cup Final or set off a years-long blood feud between the Colorado Avalanche and Detroit Red Wings by driving Kris Draper’s face into the boards.“Everybody that was around him or everybody that knew Claude, you felt, OK, you’re in great hands,” Giger said. “He was super caring. Guys knew, ‘OK, we can call up Claude whenever we need him.’ He was there.”To his clients, he was a father figure, equal parts adviser, mentor and friend.And savvy. He had been so comfortable with the business side of hockey by the end of his playing career that he negotiated some of his own contracts. That led to joining the agency run by Giger, a former teammate from the partial season with EV Zug in Switzerland, after hanging up his skates.Lemieux played a critical role for 4Sports, which recruits hockey clients exclusively from European countries. When players made their way to North America, he became their main touchpoint, going as far as to open his doors to teenagers to help ease their transition.“He was so tough on the ice, but I never understood that part,” said Lindholm, a longtime client and Boston Bruins defenseman. “I only knew the part of the guy that let me live with his family and drove me around and just had my best interest and tried to help me start my NHL career.”Each of those clients received the grim news of Lemieux’s death with a personal phone call from the agency on Thursday. They were promised that the 18 remaining employees would continue to work as a team to deliver the same level of service and focus they received previously. Giger was on the phone until around midnight, when he was finally able to reach Meier following the New Jersey Devils forward’s quarterfinal game for Switzerland at the IIHF World Championship.“He didn’t know,” Giger said. “I had to wait until the end of the game, and then I informed him about the tragedy.”On the ice, Lemieux was one of the most ferocious competitors in NHL history — a clutch playoff performer, often the villain to combatants and opposing fans and somebody who would do anything imaginable to win.Tom Fitzgerald played briefly with Lemieux during the 1997-98 season after being traded to the Colorado Avalanche. He didn’t know what to expect after years of battles.“He really was a great teammate, highly competitive,” Fitzgerald said Friday. “He expected a lot out of himself. In return, he expected a lot of his teammates as well. So he was — I don’t wanna say demanding, but he had high standards for himself, and he held everybody else to those standards, and that’s why he’s such a winner.”And at the negotiating table?“Completely different,” Fitzgerald said. “Not intense. Very calm. Very cool. Like, ‘Alright, we can talk about that.’ His demeanor was so level. It didn’t go up. It didn’t go down.”Fitzgerald spent more than a decade in the Devils’ front office, the past seven as GM, before departing in April. He negotiated a number of contracts with Lemieux, including Meier’s eight-year, $70.4 million deal, signed in June 2023.The Devils took a risk on Meier, acquiring him from the San Jose Sharks earlier that year with a $10 million qualifying offer as a restricted free agent that summer. Meier could have just taken his QO and become an unrestricted free agent the following summer.“But we bet on New Jersey — we bet that he would come in and really enjoy it,” Fitzgerald said. “Claude was great because he said, ‘You know what? You’re right. He loves it there. He wants to stay. He wants long-term.’ He still had some leverage because he could have just taken his QO, stayed in New Jersey and I would have traded him.“But we didn’t want that, Claude didn’t want that, Timo didn’t want that. Claude was great to work with, and we really had no problems coming to that number. We talked about different structures, but with Claude, he did what was in the best interest of his clients.”In July of 2021, Minnesota Wild GM Bill Guerin was having trouble signing stars Kirill Kaprizov and Kevin Fiala. So he decided to turn his attention to restricted free agent Eriksson Ek, whom he hoped would be the simplest negotiation. He called up Lemieux, his friend and former Devils Cup champion teammate, and two phone calls later, Lemieux and Guerin agreed to the first eight-year deal in Wild history, a $42 million contract.“Took three days,” Guerin said at the time. “It just shows how much Joel wants to be here (to make) this commitment to the team.”Asked if that timeline and ease of negotiations were accurate, Lemieux said: “True story.”This isn’t to say Lemieux was a pushover at the bargaining table.Armstrong said he had “that same competitive spirit” as an agent that he had as a player.“He had that fight in him,” Armstrong said. “On my end, he was good to deal with. He was professional. He always called you on his clients on a regular basis. He was definitely an agent. I never thought of him as a part-time guy. He was always in.”Daniel Briere joked that he was glad he never had to go toe-to-toe with Lemieux as an agent. The Philadelphia Flyers GM saw how competitive Lemieux was as teammates in Phoenix early in Briere’s playing career. That was a thrill for Briere, who grew up idolizing Lemieux as a Montreal Canadiens legend and 1986 Stanley Cup champ.“We didn’t have any negotiations, but we had some conversations on players,” Briere said. “Luckily, I didn’t have to battle with him because if he’s negotiating the way he was playing the game, it’d be pretty scary.”When Lindholm was preparing for the 2012 NHL Draft, the teenager from a small Swedish town barely knew the league he hoped to enter.He didn’t watch YouTube or social media highlights. The only NHLers he knew of were from Sweden. And his Swedish agents didn’t have a North American footprint until they found Lemieux.Soon, Lemieux was flying to Sweden to meet Lindholm. After being drafted, Lindholm found himself in the Lemieux household instead of checking into a hotel room, left to navigate a foreign country alone.Lindholm called Lemieux the “bridge” that helped him grow accustomed to the NHL and life in the United States.“When I came over to the U.S. before the draft and stuff, he had me live with him and his family,” an emotional Lindholm said from Sweden on Friday. “I did that multiple times. I would come and have a base and stay with him.”“It made it very easy for me to transition into the U.S. culture. They just treated me like their own son.”Over the years, Lindholm came to know Lemieux’s wife, Deborah, as well as son Brendan and daughter Claudia. He watched the family grow while growing up himself.“I’ve known Claude for my whole adult life in the U.S.,” Lindholm said. “He was like an extra father in some ways when I came over at 18 to a totally different country.“I felt like I really knew the human side of Claude, which I don’t think many people really think of first when they think of Claude Lemieux.”Hampus Lindholm and Claude Lemieux pose together after Lindholm was drafted by the Ducks at No. 6 in the 2012 NHL Draft. (Photo courtesy of Hampus Lindholm)Lindholm said many of the most important relationships in his North American life can be traced back to Lemieux’s guidance. At Lemieux’s urging, he lived with a billet family despite already being accustomed to living on his own from age 16.“The little seeds that he planted when I was 18, they’ve grown into relationships,” Lindholm said. “They’ve grown into lifelong friends. He’s done so much for me that it’s kind of grown into this really big spiderweb of family and people that I love and have around me that support me. He’s kind of the start of all that.”Lindholm and Andersen were Lemieux’s first clients. Both arrived in North America as young Europeans searching for their footing. Both found an agent who cared as much about their lives as their careers.“He really loved helping people like me,” Lindholm said. “I don’t think people always understand how hard it is for people to move (across) countries. You have no one, and then you have people like that who just open up their arms for you.”Andersen had a game to play Friday night, hoping to close out the Montreal Canadiens and help lift the Carolina Hurricanes into the Stanley Cup Final. Lindholm couldn’t get Andersen out of his mind, wondering how he was going to play that game.“I know he’s chasing something that is the biggest thing for us as hockey players to play for. So he’s in his little bubble,” said Lindholm, who was waiting until after the Eastern Conference final to reach out to his good friend. “I don’t want to get into his mojo. But, of course, he’s just like me. He’s known Claude from the start, so without me even talking to him, I can tell you that he’s obviously really saddened by this. It’s really sad for everyone that’s been around him. I think Freddie can just go out and try to be the best version of himself. But, yeah, it’s so hard.”The news of Lemieux’s death caused Lindholm to reflect on all those moments — the rides, the conversations, the introductions, the doors opened without expectation of anything in return.“He was crucial for me,” Lindholm said. “His whole family, really. They’ve been so open and loving for me.”For all the Stanley Cup titles, playoff goals and infamous moments attached to Lemieux’s name, Lindholm will remember something else.“He always smiled and always lived the most out of every day,” Lindholm said.The agent business isn’t the same magnet for retiring players as coaching, scouting and management.But it always suited Lemieux.“Away from the rink, he’s a very personable guy,” said Brendan Shanahan, a former teammate who became Toronto Maple Leafs president after his playing days. “He cares about people. He was a very sensitive, emotional guy, and so the idea of working for players doesn’t surprise me at all. When you’re taken away from a dressing room, you want to feel somehow a part of the brotherhood. Being an agent and looking after players probably satisfied something very important to Claude.”In Lemieux, longtime NHL GM Lou Lamoriello saw a man who never lost his love for the game.Lamoriello both traded Lemieux from the Devils and brought him back, winning the Cup twice in the process. He went on to negotiate a number of contracts with Lemieux, including the five-year, $25 million deal Andersen signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs in June 2016.“The players that we had over the years that he represented, he took care of them,” Lamoriello said. “He worked hard for them. Maybe before he took the job, I would have (been) surprised that he wanted to do it, but once he took it, he engaged himself in it. He traveled. He kept in contact.”Lemieux left a lasting impression on those he worked with. The shock of his death produced an outpouring of emotion for the 30 clients who got a call they never imagined taking this week.“You don’t wish anybody to be in that situation,” Giger said. “It’s super sad for us. And imagine how sad it is for the family.”
