Claude-Lemieux-Kris-Draper.JPG

Colorado's Claude Lemieux skates away from Detroit Red Wings forward Kris Draper after checking him face-first into the boards in the 1996 Western Conference semifinals.

(AP File Photo)

When it comes to players who are vilified by Detroit Red Wings fans, Claude Lemieux is at the top of the list and nobody else is even close.

With the Red Wings in Colorado last week to face the Avalanche for the first time under new coach Patrick Roy, we asked who Red Wings fans' considered to be their biggest villain.

Our options were Lemieux, Roy, El Belfour, Sidney Crosby, Corey Perry and Chris Chelios, who is beloved in Detroit now but was hated when he played for the Chicago Blackhawks.

In this case, the doc was correct.

Of the 1,304 votes cast, Lemiuex got more than 70 percent with 924. Roy was a distant second with 268, or 20.6 percent.

While Lemieux is still despised in Detroit for his hit from behind on Kris Draper in the 1996 Western Conference semifinals, there are many Red Wings fans who can at least appreciate Roy's talents even if they don't care for the Hall of Fame goalie.

Roy was a four-time Stanley Cup champion who won the Vezina Trophy three times, was a six-time All-Star and ranks second in career wins (541) and saves.

As much as Red Wings fans dislike Crosby, the Pittsburgh Penguins captain was well back in the voting, finishing third with 76 votes as nobody else got more than 15.

The "handshake thing" was Crosby's failure to follow tradition when the Penguins beat the Red Wings in Game 7 of the 2009 Stanley Cup Finals.

Crosby denied that he intentionally failed to shake hands with the Red Wings – and captain Nicklas Lidstrom – but many fans like yzermania haven't forgotten the perceived snub.

Chelios, by the way, got just eight votes to finish dead last in our poll. No surprise there given he works for the Red Wings and helped them win the Stanley Cup.

Some fans went off the board and didn't cast their vote for any of our options.

Some said Chris Pronger was the Red Wings' biggest villain, another thought Scott Stevens should have been on the list and one even went off the ice and named Richard Gnida, who was driving the limousine the night Vladimir Konstantinov suffered the closed-head injury that ended his career.

And how could anyone forget a former heavyweight who had some great bouts with Bob Probert?

Now that you've heard what others think, who is your biggest villain in Red Wings' history?

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