What I'm hearing about the Penguins: Mario Lemieux's involvement, plus playoff tidbits

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Lemieux, whose preference for privacy is perhaps only exceeded by the talent that made him a hockey legend, even consented to being shown on the scoreboard during Game 5. Naturally, a raucous standing ovation followed. The king was in his castle, and all was well. Truth be told, he’s been checking out his old team more than usual. Lemieux was in attendance for the first two games of the Penguins-Flyers series and attended a couple of games in March during his fantasy camp. This is a stark contrast to the period immediately after the COVID-19 pandemic, when he went two years without attending a game in Pittsburgh. Only Jaromir Jagr’s 2024 jersey retirement ceremony compelled Lemieux to return. Lemieux has a strained relationship with Fenway Sports Group, which bought the Penguins in 2021 and agreed to sell the team to the Hoffmann Family of Companies in December. Presuming the final steps go smoothly — NHL commissioner Gary Bettman met with media in Pittsburgh before Game 2 against the Flyers and said he believes the sale will be done soon — FSG won’t be in charge of the Penguins for much longer. Does this mean that Lemieux could be around more? And does it mean that Lemieux could play a role in the team’s ownership or management? Yes and yes. Sources close to Lemieux and the Penguins believe he will be involved in some capacity once the Hoffmanns take control of the franchise. Exactly what capacity remains to be seen. The sources, who were granted anonymity to speak freely about sensitive information, have indicated that the Hoffmann family, well aware of Lemieux’s importance to the Penguins, is eager to have a good working relationship with him at worst — and perhaps more. In 2025, Lemieux, along with former Penguins co-owner Ron Burkle and former CEO and team president David Morehouse, had casual conversations about possibly re-purchasing the Penguins from the group they sold them to four years earlier. Those talks never turned particularly serious, but Lemieux telegraphed his desire to be involved with his old team. Lemieux, Morehouse and Burkle have the financial means to be minority owners, if that interests the Hoffmann family. FSG would have been happy for Lemieux to play some kind of a role in their ownership, but the relationship became strained after the sale was complete, and a business partnership was never in the cards. Lemieux’s regular attendance at recent games is just another indication that he’s itching to be around his old team. Any kind of involvement from Lemieux, who sat with Morehouse for Game 5, would be a public relations bonanza for the Hoffmann family. Lemieux is probably the most beloved athlete in Pittsburgh history, as evidenced by the crowd’s response to his mere presence on Monday. Sometimes, a coaching staff appreciates certain players more than the media or fans do. Tommy Novak is one of those players. It’s not that fans or the media have been all that hard on Novak. But he’s been fairly quiet in the playoffs and goes through stretches when he isn’t all that productive. The Penguins coaching staff, team sources say, is a huge fan of Novak’s work and never considered removing him from the lineup despite some rough patches early and late in the regular season. The Penguins love Ben Kindel’s hockey brain, but they think he’s running out of steam. It makes sense. Kindel, the sensational rookie center, just turned 19 and has played in four preseason games, 77 regular-season games and five postseason games in the past seven months. That’s an awful lot of hockey for a player that age, especially someone who isn’t especially big. He hasn’t looked as explosive in the postseason. However, as a couple of team sources noted, he’s so smart that he hasn’t hurt the Penguins in the least, even if his legs might be a little heavy. Several team sources told me that goaltender Stuart Skinner has handled his first-round benching with class and that he has gone out of his way to help prepare Artūrs Šilovs for some of the most important games of his career. Skinner arrived in Pittsburgh with a reputation for being a wonderful teammate, and it’s been on display again in the postseason. I’m going to assume the Penguins won’t be sending any holiday cards to Garnet Hathaway come December. They roundly believe the Flyers forward’s high-sticking incident with Sidney Crosby in Game 3 was premeditated. Penguins players told me Hathaway does things of that nature regularly and typically gets away with it. He’s not their favorite opponent. No surprise there, of course. Game 6 will mark the third straight game that Evgeni Malkin and Egor Chinakhov have played together. The two showed great chemistry during the second half of the regular season, and it served as a surprise when coach Dan Muse separated them late in the regular season. Team sources said Malkin and Chinakhov were surprised by the decision to place them on different lines because they feel comfortable together. They’re thrilled to be reunited on the Penguins’ second line. Even though he’s not with the Penguins in this series, I continue to hear from people in the organization about how bright they believe the future is for Avery Hayes. I’d be shocked if he’s not on the opening-night roster next season. Despite how well Noel Acciari has played, I think it’s unlikely that the Penguins will bring him back. There’s a good chance Hayes will simply slip into Acciari’s spot on the right side of the fourth line. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms