RALEIGH – Staring blankly across the room at the Stanley Cup, Rasmus Andersson didn’t try hiding the mix of emotions swirling in his head.

Four wins away from hoisting hockey’s most prized trophy, and he’s grieving the man who helped get him there.

Two days after the high of clinching the Western Conference title with his Golden Knights, he was hit by the news that his longtime agent, Claude Lemieux, was found dead.

Understandable then, that while he sat to talk to a trio of scribes on the eve of his first Stanley Cup final, Andersson wasn’t his bubbly self.      

“Yeah, it's been tough,” said Andersson, staring blankly ahead at the Stanley Cup on the other side of the room.

“Of course, I’m really happy sitting here. But do I wish with all my heart that Claude was going to be here with us? Yes.”

He’s proud. And he’s shattered.

He’s living the dream. And he’s living a nightmare.

That’s the emotional tightrope the 29-year-old Swedish defenceman is walking, and for a player who has always worn his heart on his sleeve, he couldn’t pretend otherwise.

“The first time I met Claude, I think I was 13 or 14 years old,........

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