Mark Madden: Peace must be made between Fenway Sports Group, Penguins icon Mario Lemieux

TribLIVE’s Daily and Weekly email newsletters deliver the news you want and information you need, right to your inbox.

On Friday, Fenway Sports Group’s Dave Beeston gave the impression that the new Pittsburgh Penguins ownership was reconciling with the old Penguins ownership, namely franchise legend Mario Lemieux.

President of business operations Kevin Acklin said Lemieux had talked directly to FSG.

CBS Sports posted this headline: “Penguins ownership expects Mario Lemieux to have more active role in franchise moving forward.”

But that’s not true.

A source close to Lemieux said FSG and Lemieux have not talked recently beyond a few inconsequential texts. The dispute and bad feeling are not resolved.

FSG invoked Lemieux’s name Friday to add encouragement to a bleak day that saw the Penguins fire their hockey operations staff, including GM Ron Hextall.

The feeling is that FSG doesn’t understand what Lemieux means to Pittsburgh, seeing him as a former player, not a former owner.

Lemieux’s estrangement from FSG stems from a settlement of a lawsuit filed by minority owners, Wildlife Productions L.P., which sued Team Lemieux LLC and FSG to block the sale in December of 2021 after it had alleged its consent rights were ignored in the transaction.

Lemieux and fellow former co-owner Ron Burkle paid legal fees and figured to get more equity in FSG but didn’t. Lemieux reportedly lost between $4 million and $5 million in that transaction but is more greatly upset by how things got handled, the source said.

Lemieux attended just one Penguins home game this season, with his fantasy camp participants. He asked to not be shown on the Jumbotron.

FSG has many issues to address, but it simply must reconcile with Lemieux, and the sooner the better.

Related:

• Madden Monday: Penguins missing playoffs could be ‘a blessing in disguise’
• Tim Benz: It’s tough to defend Mike Sullivan’s defense of Penguins’ power play

Fans always will equate Lemieux with the Penguins and vice versa. He saved the franchise as a player, then again as an owner by buying the team out of bankruptcy. He won two Stanley Cups as a player, three more as an owner. He’s the most significant figure in franchise history and arguably ever in Pittsburgh sports.

It is simply impossible to take Lemieux out of the Penguins’ equation. Why would anybody want to?

Confidence, however false, will be spewed about the path forward. But the next few seasons are a good bet to be rough. Bad PR involving the player who is synonymous with the team provides an extra, unneeded burden. FSG will be seen as interlopers, especially if the Penguins stumble.

Lemieux doesn’t want to be involved. He’s happy with his life and never again will have a “more active role in the franchise.” Lemieux put in nearly four decades with the Penguins. He did his part and much more.

But peace must be made.