{"id":678106,"date":"2026-06-01T15:51:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T15:51:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/678106\/"},"modified":"2026-06-01T15:51:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T15:51:15","slug":"penguins-new-owners-the-hoffmanns-would-like-to-involve-mario-lemieux","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/678106\/","title":{"rendered":"Penguins\u2019 new owners, the Hoffmanns, would like to involve Mario Lemieux"},"content":{"rendered":"

PITTSBURGH \u2014 June has arrived, and Fenway Sports Group still owns the Pittsburgh Penguins \u2014 though likely not for long.<\/p>\n

In April, NHL\u00a0commissioner Gary Bettman said that financial transactions, such as FSG\u2019s sale of the Penguins to the Hoffmann family, agreed upon\u00a0in December<\/a>, can take a long time to wrap up.<\/p>\n

Sources within the Penguins organization remain confident that the transfer of power from FSG, which bought the team in 2021, to the Hoffmanns will happen sooner rather than later. One team source, who discussed the sensitive matters under the condition of anonymity, said the team hopes to announce the completed sale \u201csometime in June.\u201d<\/p>\n

While there is some quiet concern within the organization because the Hoffmann family\u2019s pockets aren\u2019t as deep as FSG\u2019s, there is a general sense of excitement about the ownership change.<\/p>\n

My general sense is that Penguins employees respect FSG because of its spending, particularly on PPG Paints Arena, even when it became clear the group would sell the team. Still, team sources say, the Hoffmanns have already shown an enthusiasm for owning the Penguins that FSG never quite did.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Don\u2019t be shocked if Mario Lemieux, who, along with Ron Burkle, sold the team to FSG in 2021, is somehow involved with the new ownership group, perhaps as a minority owner or an adviser.<\/p>\n

The Hoffmanns are well aware of Lemieux\u2019s importance and popularity in Pittsburgh. A financial dispute between Lemieux and FSG kept Lemieux away from PPG Paints Arena for two years. He returned in February 2024 for Jaromir Jagr\u2019s number retirement ceremony, and, over the past few months, after FSG initiated the sale, Lemieux became a somewhat regular attendee at games again.<\/p>\n

Multiple team sources believe the Hoffmanns will, in some capacity, include Lemieux, who was interested in buying the team from FSG last summer<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Goaltender Stuart Skinner, acquired from the Edmonton Oilers in last season\u2019s Tristan Jarry trade<\/a>, appears unlikely to return to the Penguins. It would take a long shot \u2014 trading Art\u016brs \u0160ilovs \u2014 before July 1, when Skinner becomes an unrestricted free agent.<\/p>\n

If they dealt \u0160ilovs, the Penguins would be open to teaming Skinner with Sergei Murashov<\/a> next season. The Penguins loved having Skinner in the locker room.<\/p>\n

Still, smart money says they will re-sign \u0160ilovs, a talented pending restricted free agent whose postseason performance seemed to get the organization\u2019s attention.<\/p>\n

While the Penguins\u2019 leadership was delighted with Skinner\u2019s contributions in the locker room, it believed his performance was simply adequate; one team source called his physical attributes \u201climited\u201d and suggested that Murashov and \u0160ilovs have higher ceilings.<\/p>\n

The team also has a dramatically rising salary cap and a hungry market to consider. Teams are desperate for goaltending, as performance at the position has dropped considerably over the past five years, and tandems have become more common.<\/p>\n

Skinner isn\u2019t incredible, but he\u2019s solid and has a ton of playoff experience for a 27-year-old. The Penguins believe someone will pay Skinner serious money over multiple years. Just don\u2019t expect it to be them, given the wealth of goaltending talent on the way from AHL Wilkes-Barre.<\/p>\n

\u2022 I don\u2019t think the Penguins are 100 percent against bringing unrestricted free-agent winger Anthony Mantha back, but it\u2019s clearly unlikely, as Penguins president and general manager Kyle Dubas hinted during his season-ending news conference.<\/p>\n

Postseason aside, there is something to be said for Mantha\u2019s 33-goal season. The Penguins\u2019 front office and coaching staff like him a lot. On a short-term deal, they\u2019d be happy to bring him back. It\u2019s not like they were driving him to the airport after the season. As with Skinner, though, another team will almost certainly offer Mantha a long-term deal. The Penguins\u2019 core is already old, and they badly want to get younger. So, they don\u2019t plan on offering Mantha, who turns 32 in September, the kind of long-term contract that he\u2019s indicated he wants.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Dubas\u2019 hands are tied with Kris Letang.<\/p>\n

Yes, Dubas wants the Penguins to get younger, and like everyone else, he\u2019s aware that Letang had a poor season. He\u2019s also aware that Letang played well in the final three games of their first-round series against the Philadelphia Flyers. Dubas respects Letang\u2019s accomplishments and the example he sets for young players. Even at 39, the defenseman remains a marvel in the weight room and a positive influence.<\/p>\n

If there\u2019s no financial benefit to buying out the final two years of Letang\u2019s contract, what can the Penguins do?<\/p>\n

The simplest option is to reduce his minutes and responsibilities. Two scenarios would allow that to happen. First, 20-year-old defenseman Harrison Brunicke, who has played well for Wilkes-Barre in the Calder Cup playoffs, would have to show that he\u2019s ready to take on top-four minutes. Alternatively, in free agency or via trade, the Penguins could add a right-handed defenseman to play behind Erik Karlsson.<\/p>\n

Thirty-one-year-old Connor Clifton likely won\u2019t be back next season, leaving the Penguins thin on the right side of the blue line. Internally or externally, they need help there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PITTSBURGH \u2014 June has arrived, and Fenway Sports Group still owns the Pittsburgh Penguins \u2014 though likely not…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":678107,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,1790,99],"class_list":["post-678106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-pittsburgh-penguins","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=678106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678106\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/678107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=678106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=678106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=678106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}