Brendan Lemieux (right) brought terror to the rinks.Image: KEYSTONE
Highly contested upon his arrival in December 2024 and long a prisoner of his reputation, Brendan Lemieux has become essential to the Grisons club.
16.01.2026, 11:4916.01.2026, 11:49
Since the introduction of the play-offs in 1986, never has such a metamorphosis been observed: that of a supposed troublemaker becoming a real pack leader. Rarely has a new player – and even more so a foreigner – arrived with such a sulphurous reputation as Brendan Lemieux in December 2024. The most successful club in Switzerland suffered a wave of indignation after having hired him until 2027. Even the Daily Gazettealthough not inclined to controversy, hit hard with this title: “He had bitten his opponent’s hand until it bled – and now the NHL bully is now playing in Davos.”
This was an allusion to the episode that occurred when he wore the colors of the Los Angeles Kings: during a fight, Brendan Lemieux twice bit the hand of his opponent Brady Tkachuk, which earned him a five-game suspension imposed by the NHL. Tkachuk then declared:
“It’s the most cowardly thing I’ve ever experienced. Even children don’t bite. You can question any of his teammates: no one wants to play with him. He’s a bad guy and a bad teammate. He only thinks about himself.”
It’s hard to do worse.
Brendan Lemieux (left) in his “works” opposite Johnny Boychuk in 2020.Image: AP The Canadian Press
Brendan Lemieux’s record as North America’s “hockey bad guy” speaks for itself:
62 fights and 924 penalty minutes in 452 matches played between the NHL and the AHL, for only 74 goals scored.
Brendan Lemieux could hardly escape this “bad boy” label. His father, Claude Lemieux, was one of the most formidable — and most successful — provocateurs in the history of the NHL: 1,449 games played in 21 seasons, 944 points, 2,306 penalty minutes and four Stanley Cups. An icon of authentic, rough, uncompromising Canadian hockey.
Claude Lemieux (right) vs Darren McCarty in 1997 on the ice in Detroit.Image: AP
At the time of Brendan Lemieux’s arrival in Davos, certain malicious remarks suggested that his commitment was also due to the fact that he was represented by a particularly influential players agency in Switzerland. If there is a hockey player who, upon his arrival in the National League, has never managed to escape the immense shadow of a famous father, it is Brendan Lemieux.
During the third match of the play-off semi-final between the ZSC Lions and Davos, on April 3, 2025 at the Swiss Life Arena, the incident that everyone feared occurred. Until then, Brendan Lemieux had been surprisingly discreet: in 17 appearances, he had only scored one point and had been content with a few minor shoves and clashes – all punished with only twelve minutes of penalty.
But that evening on the ZSC Lions ice, Brendan Lemieux briefly clashed with Zurich forward Chris Baltisberger. Linesman Dominik Altmann runs to separate the two players. That’s when the Canadian hit him with his right fist on the chin. Altmann collapses on the ice. K.O. He will no longer be able to resume the meeting.
Immediate sanction: permanent exclusion for Brendan Lemieux. The ZSC Lions finally won 5-1, won the semi-final series in five matches, and the “bad guy” received a four-match suspension.
HCD coach Josh Holden did not seek to justify Brendan Lemieux’s gesture, but called for calm and restraint:
“It’s easy to pick on Lemieux. He’s still trying to find his place here. The National League is a quality championship: we have already seen very good NHL players fail to win there. He tries to help us in his own way, by evolving to the limit. That’s also what the play-offs are all about. The whole challenge is not to cross the red line.”
Since this episode, the HCD coach has always defended the Canadian, despite being violently criticized, by working to define his role. According to Josh Holden, Brendan Lemieux has long been locked into the “bad guy” costume throughout his professional career — in part because his father had found success in the tough guy role himself.
This label, however, obscures, in Holden’s eyes, the true value of the player: Brendan Lemieux is a powerful winger, capable of freeing up space in front of the opposing goal, of bringing healthy toughness and emotion to the game, and of supporting his team in the most delicate moments. Comments made at a time when Brendan Lemieux was still widely stigmatized as the “bad boy” of hockey, and where his commitment to Davos continued to attract strong criticism.
Brendan Lemieux lives again in Graubünden, thanks in particular to the confidence shown by his coach.Image: KEYSTONE
Let’s return to the present. Over the last fortnight, HC Davos has played eleven matches. A period of maximum overload, especially since, in the last two matches, the team had to do without its top scorer, Matej Stransky. And yet, the HCD remains competitive: a point brought back from Bienne (3-4 defeat after), a prestigious victory against the LHC (5-1), then a defeat at Langnau (1-3) at the end of an intense, high quality match, played for a long time on the razor’s edge. The biting HCD pack leader in this sequence? Brendan Lemieuxauthor of four goals in these three matches and sanctioned with only four penalty minutes.
In Davos, Brendan Lemieux’s true potential now becomes visible; a potential that he had never really been able to express over the years, prisoner in the straitjacket imposed on him by his reputation in North American professional hockey. At 29, the Canadian has chased away the demons of the past. “Let’s say that those who want it can see it that way,” said Josh Holden with a smile after the trip to Emmental.
The HCD coach was right. In the play-off, Brendan Lemieux can embody this “sandpaper” which makes the difference for Davos, a discreet but essential piece in the quest for the title.
More sports articles
