NHL star Claude Lemieux died of a broken heart — for two deeply painful reasons, close pals say

Retired NHL star Claude Lemieux died of a broken heart, according to people who knew him.

During his two-decade career, he led the Montreal Canadiens, New Jersey Devils and Colorado Avalanche to a total of four Stanley Cups and was the ninth best playoff scorer of all time — but he was never inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame after he hung up his skates in 2009.

Lemieux, a “tough guy” on the ice who was known to be deeply sensitive to rejection, never got over being passed over for the top honor, according to his pals.

“He always lived this as an injustice, a heavy burden to bear,” Rejean Tremblay, a longtime Montreal hockey columnist and insider who knew Lemieux for 30 years, told The Post.

“The sense of rejection ran