The Penguins are 2-0 to start this young season. Older stars in Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang and Erik Karlsson are playing extremely well, seemingly energized by the next wave of young players like Ben Kindel and Harrison Brunicke that have made their way into the NHL lineup. Sidney Crosby remains Sidney Crosby, to the surprise of absolutely no one. Justin Brazeau has debuted to production on the scale of 1991 Kevin Stevens (it’s early yet, but hey). Arturs Silovs posted a shutout in his first game, Tristan Jarry made 34 saves and earned a win in his game. New coach Dan Muse has been an early success with how focused and united they are playing right off the bat. The team even debuted a new surprise alternate jersey on the fly to add a little more flourish and excitement to the mix.
It hardly could have been a more charmed and successful start to the season, until it found a way to achieve another level when Mario Lemieux made an appearance at the home opener.
Lemieux’s relationship with the team has been strained, or distant or whatever term that best applies following the fallout from his sale of the team to Fenway Sports Group. That led to a financial dispute with FSG over legal fees in resolution from a lawsuit that minority partners of Lemieux made in a failed effort to contest the sale. After that point, Lemieux’s involvement and association with the team he was so closely tied to from 1984 to 2021 dried up almost immediately and has stayed that way for the better part of the last four years.
Whether it’s been more about that or in conjunction with gaining the well-deserved opportunity to enjoy retirement and spend his time privately doing whatever he and his family want, Lemieux has been notable by his complete absence from the Pens. He was at Jaromir Jagr’s February 2024 jersey retirement and usually attends a Penguin game around the time of his annual charity camp, but otherwise is rarely associated with the Pens these days.
That makes last night all the more special. Lemieux didn’t just wave to the crowd, he went down in the locker-room to say hello and congratulate the players after the game, something The Athletic’s Josh Yohe pointed out that “he hasn’t done in many years”. It was smiles and warm feelings all around, from players young and old.
The added layer of intrigue is that Fenway is negotiating to sell some or even all of their stake in the Penguins, possibly even being close to a sale announcement with the Hoffman family. Lemieux was reportedly interested as well, though the franchise value has skyrocketed since Lemieux sold and could prove to be a barrier to his attempts to buy back in. It could be that last night was a one-off and a social call for Mario to check up on people that he cares about. Regardless, it is an important signal that relations are beginning to thaw out and he might have more of a presence going forward, in whatever capacity or frequency that might be.
Just when you thought a 2-0 start couldn’t be any better.