PITTSBURGH — Everything between Mario Lemieux and the Hoffmann family is good.

As other news outlets have recently reported, Lemieux and Ron Burkle have sold their remaining shares in the Penguins to the team’s new owners. Lemieux and Burkle had retained an extremely small portion of Penguins ownership after selling the franchise to Fenway Sports Group in 2021.

Sources close to Lemieux told me on Tuesday morning that his decision to sell his remaining shares was planned for quite some time and does not reflect on his relationship with the Hoffmanns, whose purchase of the team from FSG was approved in June.

Lemieux likes the new Penguins owners, said the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to comment publicly on the transaction. Lemieux spent time with the Hoffmanns at PPG Paints Arena during Penguins games last season.

The Hoffmann family would like Lemieux to be involved in the franchise in some capacity, either now or in the future. Lemieux isn’t against the idea, either. Lemieux isn’t financially linked to the Penguins for the first time since 1984, but that doesn’t mean he’s no longer linked to them at all. He started appearing at games regularly last season after news became official that Fenway Sports Group no longer would be owning the franchise. It’s expected he’ll be at games from time to time this season.

The rift between Lemieux and FSG was real and kept him away. There is no rift between Lemieux and the Hoffmann Family.

One source close to Lemieux explained that he never really wanted to be the owner of the Penguins for as long as he was (22 years) and that Lemieux, now 60 and a grandfather, is simply enjoying his life away from the spotlight and that selling his shares was a financial formality and not an indication that he dislikes the team’s new ownership.

Blomqvist’s role

There is a general expectation around the Penguins that Sergei Murashov and Artūrs Šilovs will open the season as the team’s top two goaltenders.

That doesn’t mean the Penguins are down on Joel Blomqvist.

The people I’ve spoken to within the organization believe the 24-year-old Blomqvist has the upside to become a good NHL goaltender. They like his size, his mental toughness and his development over the past couple of years. He probably wasn’t ready for NHL action when he was thrown into the fire 15 times in 2024-25, when he played behind a bad defensive team.

The Penguins believe him to be a better, more mature goaltender entering this season. There is a strong chance he will simply be the guy in AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, but don’t be surprised if he sees NHL action. He isn’t as flashy or as athletically gifted as the 22-year-old Murashov, but Blomqvist’s AHL numbers (2.40 GAA, .913 save percentage) were only a tick behind the Russian goaltender last season.

This is the healthiest and deepest the Penguins’ pool of goaltenders has been in quite some time, and Blomqvist remains a player of value.

Forward competition

Speaking of expected lineups, let’s talk about the Penguins forwards.

On the surface, here’s the way I’d break it down:

• Locks for opening night, if healthy: Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Bryan Rust, Rickard Rakell, Egor Chinakhov, Tommy Novak, Ben Kindel, Blake Lizotte.

• Near locks: Connor Dewar, Andrei Kuzmenko, Nick Robertson.

Obviously, injuries can happen, but if the Penguins are healthy entering the season, it’s hard to imagine any of the above-mentioned forwards not having a spot in the lineup.

The list of remaining players for the final spot is considerable. Elmer Söderblom, Justin Brazeau, Rutger McGroarty, Avery Hayes and $32 million man Ville Koivunen are all strong candidates. Hendrix Lapierre was brought in from Washington and has 158 games of NHL experience. To say the Penguins are crowded at forward would be an understatement.

I’ll throw one more name out there for your consumption: Filip Hållander.

The 26-year-old forward played well in a bottom-six role briefly last season before a blood clot in his leg shut him down for multiple months.

The Penguins are very pleased with Hållander’s summer. The franchise likes him as a player and as a person. By all accounts, he’s healthy and determined to make a push for a roster spot.

Trade looming?

Looking at all those forwards — I didn’t even mention Bill Zonnon and Will Horcoff — shows how potentially deep the Penguins are at that position. As such, they have many significant decisions to make.

Is a trade coming before the season? Penguins president/general manager Kyle Dubas says he’s consistently looking to pursue moves that will make the Penguins better in the present and the future, so rest assured, a move could always happen. There are not many untouchables on this roster. However, from what I’ve been told by team sources who spoke under the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, Dubas would trade a big name (such as Rust or Rakell) only if the return included immediate help. In other words, trading them for draft picks isn’t likely, and certainly not before the season.

Still, a trade or two would help answer some roster questions at forward. I don’t recall the position ever being this crowded. The difference between forwards Nos. 10-20 in this organization is strikingly close.

Eyes on Zonnon

The 19-year-old Zonnon is one of the Penguins’ best prospects. They absolutely love him and were very impressed with his performance in Wilkes-Barre once he joined the Penguins’ AHL affiliate for its playoff run last spring.

Does that mean he can make the NHL team out of training camp? While anything is possible, I’d be surprised. My sense is that the Penguins want him to get more time at the AHL level, play heavy minutes and continue to grow there. He missed much of last season with an injury, and the Penguins want him to play regularly.

It’s only a matter of time before he’s in Pittsburgh. I think the forward could debut sometime during the upcoming season, or by 2027-28 at the latest.