from Dave Stubbs of the Montreal Gazette,

Canadiens icon Jean Béliveau is recovering at home from a recent bout of pneumonia.

Élise Béliveau, the 83-year-old Hall of Famer’s wife of 61 years, was surprised in recent days to be informed by a friend of at least one French-language Internet report last week stating Béliveau was in critical condition.

A post on Twitter two days earlier had described Béliveau’s dramatic weight loss in graphic detail, adding he was “very ill.”

“I just thought: ‘What the heck is that?’ ” Élise Béliveau said Sunday. “Jean has been sick. He’s had pneumonia, he’s recuperating from it, he has his good days and his bad days and that’s it.”

Typical of the Internet, one report sourcing an unnamed person “close to the Béliveau family” quickly gathered steam. Rumours and further unsubstantiated reports soon suggested Béliveau was in his final moments and that his wife, their daughter, Hélène, and granddaughters Mylène and Magalie were at his bedside.

Élise Béliveau said Sunday while her husband rests and continues to recuperate, receiving a number of close friends to visit, the family is going about its normal routine.

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