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Mario Lemieux

Mario Lemieux

Mario Lemieux (born October 5, 1965 in Montreal, Quebec) is a professional hockey player. Nicknamed "Le Magnifique" and "Super Mario", his surname literally means "the best". He was born on the same day as fellow legend Patrick Roy. Lemieux is 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) and weighs 230 lb (104 kg). He plays as a centre.

Contents

Playing career

Lemieux was selected first overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the in the 1984 NHL Entry Draft . He won the Calder Memorial Trophy as best rookie, scoring 100 points. He has won the Art Ross Memorial Trophy six times as the league's leading scorer, the Hart Memorial Trophy three times as the league's MVP, and has been named to the NHL First All-Star Team five times. Lemieux has topped the 100-point mark in a season 10 times, including a 199-point season in 1988-89. He currently plays for, and owns, the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Lemieux led the Penguins to both of their Stanley Cup titles in 1990-91 and 1991-92 and was named the Conn Smythe Trophy winner in both of those years.

Mario Lemieux

Lemieux was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease in 1993. Amazingly, he returned to play two months after his diagnosis. However, he was retired during the 1997-98, 1998-99 and 1999-00 seasons due to various injuries.

On September 3, 1999, a U.S. Bankruptcy Court approved Lemieux's reorganization plan to save the Penguins from bankruptcy, making the then-retired star, who deferred millions in salary he was owed, the first former player to become majority owner of his former team. He is also chairman of the board, CEO, and president.

He returned to the NHL on December 27, 2000. In his first game, he got an assist 33 seconds into his first shift. Despite playing in little more than half the Penguins' games in 2000-01, he was one of the three finalists for the Hart Memorial Trophy. A member of the Canadian men's Olympic gold-medal hockey team in 2002, Lemieux was second in scoring on the team with six points in six games.

Lemieux's unique status as player and owner has placed him in a potential conflict of interest with respect to ongoing NHL labour negotiations. Because he is also an owner, Lemieux is no longer a member of the National Hockey League Players Association, although he still pays union dues to maintain his pension. By agreement with the NHLPA, Lemieux is paid the average league salary of about $1.4 million and it is from this amount that his union dues are calculated and deducted. By agreement with the league's other owners, he does not vote in owners' meetings, delegating this role to a Penguins vice president. Lemieux appears to have sided with the league on key CBA issues and has suggested that the NHL adopt a salary structure similar to the National Football League, which has a salary cap the union currently says is unacceptable (as of August 2004).

Lemieux is widely considered to be one of the greatest players of all time. After his sudden retirement in 1997, he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, as the usual three-year waiting period was waived.

Lemieux married teenage sweetheart Nathalie Asselin on June 26, 1993. They have 4 children, Lauren, Stephanie, Austin, and Alexa.

Awards

Records

  • Ranked 10th in all-time NHL assists (1018)
  • Ranked 8th in all-time NHL goals (683)
  • Ranked 7th in all-time NHL points (1701)


Career statistics

    Regular Season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1981-82 Laval QMJHL 64 30 66 96 22 -- -- -- -- --
1982-83 Laval QMJHL 66 84 100 184 76 12 14 18 32 18
1983-84 Laval QMJHL 70 133 149 282 92 14 29 23 52 29
1984-85 Pittsburgh NHL 73 43 57 100 54 -- -- -- -- --
1985-86 Pittsburgh NHL 79 48 93 141 43 -- -- -- -- --
1986-87 Pittsburgh NHL 63 54 53 107 57 -- -- -- -- --
1987-88 Pittsburgh NHL 77 70 98 168 92 -- -- -- -- --
1988-89 Pittsburgh NHL 76 85 114 199 100 11 12 7 19 16
1989-90 Pittsburgh NHL 59 45 78 123 78 -- -- -- -- --
1990-91 Pittsburgh NHL 26 19 26 45 30 23 16 28 44 16
1991-92 Pittsburgh NHL 64 44 87 131 94 15 16 18 34 2
1992-93 Pittsburgh NHL 60 69 91 160 38 11 8 10 18 10
1993-94 Pittsburgh NHL 22 17 20 37 32 6 4 3 7 2
1995-96 Pittsburgh NHL 70 69 92 161 54 18 11 16 27 33
1996-97 Pittsburgh NHL 76 50 72 122 65 5 3 3 6 4
2000-01 Pittsburgh NHL 43 35 41 76 18 18 6 11 17 4
2001-02 Pittsburgh NHL 24 6 25 31 14 -- -- -- -- --
2002-03 Pittsburgh NHL 67 28 63 91 43 -- -- -- -- --
2003-04 Pittsburgh NHL 10 1 8 9 6 -- -- -- -- --
NHL Totals 889 683 1018 1701 818 107 76 96 172 87


International play

See also:
Retired NHL players
and
Current NHL players
Pittsburgh Penguins Captains
Preceded by:
Mike Bullard and Terry Ruskowski
First time (1987-1994) (with Dan Frawley until 1988) Followed by:
Ron Francis
Preceded by:
Ron Francis
Second time (1995-1997) Followed by:
Ron Francis
Preceded by:
Jaromir Jagr
Third time (2001- to present) Followed by:
(current captain)




Last updated: 11-08-2004 11:09:57