That's terrible news. My condolences to his family.
Canadiens1958 (it feels strange to call him "Andrew") has been on HFBoards for around 12 years. I'll admit, I didn't like him at first. He had some unusual views, and we butted heads a lot. I remember one time we were arguing over some obscure point (I think it was why Vladimir Lutchenko missed the last game of the 1972 Summit Series) and I went back to the DVDs to find out which of us was right. Not only did I find the answer to that particular question, I picked up a few other interesting points along the way. The reason I bring this up is, whether you agreed with him or not, he always made you think and learn.
Three things stood out about C1958. First, he brought a wealth of firsthand knowledge to the History board. I don't know his age (was he really only born in 1958, as his user name implies?) but it was obvious that he was an avid fan for many decades. Over the past decade, the availability of both newspaper archives and statistical resources have improved greatly - but the firsthand account of someone who was actually there is invaluable. We're all richer for him having shared his decades of memories and experiences with us.
Second, he wasn't afraid to have an unconventional opinion. If C1958 thought he was right, no amount of arguing would change his mind. Stubbornness isn't always a good quality, but I think it's admirable that he stood by his opinions, even if everyone disagreed. Sometimes, information that later came to light proved him right. For example, I was a skeptic about Henri Richard until the NHL released a ton of advanced data for their centennial a few years back, and suddenly we had objective proof confirming everything C1958 said about him.
Third, he was consistent. Like I said, I didn't always agree with him, but I think his opinions were, for the most part, internally consistent. I mean, he was obviously a huge Habs fan, but I think he tended to value the skills/attributes/accomplishments that most of his favourite players had, and then applied those to other (non Habs) players in a fair way. I'm not trying to white-wash his posts - he had a lot of wacky ideas, like ranking Gretzky 7th overall, and ranking Hasek 7th among goalies - but after reading his posts for more than a decade, I think he was sincere and consistent in his beliefs.
C1958 put his location as Lake Memphremagog - about 1.5 hours outside Montreal. I feel bad I never offered to meet him for a beer.