Confirmed: Lemieux ‘Probably' Interested in Ownership; Why Jagr is Back in Pittsburgh

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2 days ago

Shortly after the Pittsburgh Penguins had a successful introduction of new head coach Dan Muse this morning, the news changed from pleasant to bombshell.
In the early afternoon, TSN's Pierre LeBrun reported that former Penguins owners Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle, along with the former president of business operations David Morehouse, were interested in re-purchasing the Penguins. The Lemieux group sold the team and surrounding land holdings to the Fenway Sports Group in late 2021 for a reported sum of about $900 million.
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The explosive report set off a social media wave of sentiment that also overshadowed what was supposed to be more happy news as Penguins great Jaromir Jagr flew to Pittsburgh and was at the arena, too.
LeBrun followed that report with a small update that there is a second group also looking into the Penguins. Previously, the Penguins' current ownership group, FSG, has confirmed interest in accepting minority investors to raise capital as the group develops the uptown property surrounding PPG Paints Arena.
Wednesday afternoon, sources confirmed to Pittsburgh Hockey Now that Lemieux was indeed interested in investigating some ownership of the team. It is important to note that any investiture or purchase process has not yet begun.
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It should also be noted that Lemieux's absence from the arena since selling to FSG stemmed from some ill feelings that resulted from the post-sale process. Merely investing and working with FSG might seem to be, at best, a surprising turn of events.
Jaromir Jagr
In the social media world, Penguins fans were abuzz over the last couple of days as franchise icon Jaromir Jagr teased a visit to Pittsburgh via Instagram.
In light of the extraordinary news of Lemieux's interest, speculation surrounding Jagr's arrival at PPG Paints Arena on Wednesday only grew. However, the speculation that he was in town to invest or take a job with the organization was over the top and far more interesting than the reality.
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According to team sources, Jagr was at PPG Paints Arena to accept the Emmy that the team won for their documentary coverage of the days leading to Jagr's number retirement on Feb. 18. The scheduled visit was one of Kevin Acklin's final acts as team president of business operations, and well-timed to coincide with the organization's hockey operations meetings happening this week.
First-hand sources confirmed there was no more to it. Acklin wanted to strengthen the organization's relationship with Jagr, which was strained for more than two decades following his 2001 trade to the Washington Capitals.
The team also released social media videos of Jagr meeting Muse, and president of hockey operations/GM, Kyle Dubas welcoming Jagr to the team meetings. The visit was merely part of the increasing goodwill between the team and Jagr.
The post Confirmed: Lemieux 'Probably' Interested in Ownership; Why Jagr is Back in Pittsburgh appeared first on Pittsburgh Hockey Now.