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What an addition Penguins shocked, delighted at Lemieux's return
Updated: Friday December 08, 2000 6:38 PM
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Maybe only Mario Lemieux, already the king of comebacks, could pull this off. Lemieux, who came back from cancer and a one-year layoff from back pain to be hockey's dominant player before retiring at age 31 in 1997, will return to the Pittsburgh Penguins in a one-of-a-kind role: player-owner. The news of Lemieux's comeback, which the Penguins will officially announce Friday, sent shock waves through the Pittsburgh dressing room Thursday. It also is a huge publicity jolt for the NHL, which has struggled since the retirements of Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky to find a marketable superstar. Lemieux's return to the ice probably won't occur until the end of the month -- he needs about three weeks of hard, physical work in practice to get into game shape -- but it will be hockey's equivalent to Michael Jordan leaving the owner's box and putting on a jersey again. Super Mario, indeed. "This is a day in history. It's a total shock," defenseman Bob Boughner said. "It's huge for a lot of us who have never played with Mario. I know I'm looking forward to being part of history in the making." History will be made the first time the Hall of Famer pulls down his retired No. 66 from Mellon Arena's rafters and wears it again, if only because he will be the first in the modern era to own a major pro sports team and play for it at the same time. Lemieux, 35, must relinquish his spot on the NHL's Board of Governors and probably will disassociate himself from most of the team's day-to-day business affairs, but can remain as owner. The NHL board must approve such an arrangement but, given the chance to sell tickets for Lemieux's comeback tour, it's doubtful any NHL owner would seriously fight his return. <> And look at it this way: What other owner could lure Mario Lemieux out of retirement and pay him only minimum wage? Of course, no other owner could get a huge boost at the box office by putting himself in uniform, either. "I came in today and I heard a scream from the back room," said Jaromir Jagr, who replaced Lemieux as the Penguins' leader and hockey's dominant scorer. "They were saying on the radio that Mario might come back. I think a lot of guys are really happy. Now they're going to get to play with a legend." Jagr learned of Lemieux's planned comeback 10 days ago, but didn't tell his teammates. "He mentioned there was a possibility he was going to come back, and I believed him," said Jagr, a teammate of Lemieux's on the Stanley Cup-winning teams in 1991 and 1992. "He said he's got a feeling this is a pretty good team, and he feels like he can help the team."
If Lemieux can play at anywhere near his previous level -- and many hockey historians consider the six-time NHL scoring champion to be the most gifted player ever -- he would instantly elevate the Penguins to a prime contender for the Stanley Cup. They reached the second round of the playoffs without him the past two seasons, and are 13-10-3 and in second place in the Atlantic Division going into Saturday's game at Toronto. "He believes with a little luck, we can do some things this year," Jagr said. "He is pretty confident about this team and confident that he can help the team to go to where all of us want to go." Lemieux may have had another reason to return. He has told friends his 6-year-old son, Austin, who already is skating, has asked why he doesn't play anymore. As private as ever, he began his secretive comeback about a month ago. So as not to draw attention, he started skating not at the team's practice rink but at one managed by former Penguins coach Kevin Constantine, who was fired by Lemieux and general manager Craig Patrick a year ago. Assistant coach Joe Mullen, a longtime Lemieux teammate and fellow Hall of Famer, became suspicious when he noticed Lemieux losing weight. However, rookie coach Ivan Hlinka, who will be in the unique role of coaching his boss, said he had no clue. "He looks to be in great shape," Mullen said. "If Mario comes back, he's going to throw himself totally into it. With his concentration and skill level, if he's going to do this, he's going to do it all the way." Still, the question persists: Can the man whose very name translates into The Greatest in French be hockey's greatest player again, or at least a reasonable facsimile? "He's still young [35], and I think if he comes back he will be the best again," defenseman Darius Kasparaitis said. Jagr said, "I know one thing, he's not coming back to be a stiff. He's coming back to be the best." However, Jagr, whose own scoring is down considerably this season, warned Lemieux it is tougher than ever for scorers to locate open ice and operate with the puck. It was the clutching, grabbing and holding that less-talented players used to neutralize stars that helped drive Lemieux from the league in 1997. "The league is tougher and tougher, the guys are getting bigger and stronger, it's not going to be easy and he knows that," Jagr said. "Every game is tough." This will not be Lemieux's first comeback, or his second. In 1993, he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease, cancer of the lymph nodes, and missed much of that season. He sat out the 1994-95 season after recovering from the cancer and a second bout with back trouble, but returned to lead the Penguins to within one victory of a third trip to the Stanley Cup finals in 1996. Lemieux, inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame months after his retirement under a special exemption, gained control of the Penguins in federal bankruptcy court on Sept. 3, 1999. He was a major creditor because of deferred payments the team owed him from his playing contracts. At the time, he was asked if he might ever play again. "I couldn't afford to pay myself," he said.
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