There hasn’t been any movement on the trade front for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Bryan Rust, Erik Karlsson, and Rickard Rakell all remain with the team as we approach the end of July. The most newsworthy item continues to be off the ice with Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle trying to buy their way back as the primary owners of the franchise.
Minority ownership not enough for Mario Lemieux
We also know that Fenway has stated it isn’t interested in selling the team and is looking only for a minority investor to join in its ownership of the Penguins. The team’s attendance has dropped nearly 10 percent in the past three seasons, so a new minority owner would help offset financial losses.
However, sources close to Lemieux have made it clear that Lemieux and Burkle are not interested in becoming minority owners with FSG. It’s all or nothing for the two men who owned the Penguins from 1999 through 2021.
My read on things based on what is public is that for Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle to regain total control of the franchise they are going to have to pony up a lot more money than they got for selling the team. The Fenway Sports Group is going to make prudent financial choices. They are going to try and maximize their return on a full sale. That’s going to be a tough ask even for Ron Burkle who currently boasts a net worth of 3.3 billion according to Forbes.
Sure, there is likely going to be a windfall of cash coming to NHL owners in the near future as expansion becomes a reality again. Rumors are the fee will come in at two billions dollars per team. Even with a payout in the 100-300 million range it wouldn’t make up for what the Burkle/Lemieux group sold for and what the franchise has appreciated to currently.
We’ll see where this goes. Mario has certainly pulled a rabbit out of his hat before. This will take quite a bit of effort to get some traction.
Penguins notebook
The Penguins aren’t pressed to move Karlsson at this time. They can play this out and wait for a time where Karlsson’s value is at his highest. He’s still a really good player. Good teams are going to want to get over the hump and on a strong team Karlsson can still be that guy in my opinion. The Penguins aren’t currently a cap ceiling team and if they have to eat some money to get a higher return, they will.
Teams in the Metropolitan Division are usually shielded from the amount of travel miles they log when compared to teams in the Western Conference. This upcoming year will be an exception with the Penguins traveling the second most miles. The culprit is of course their trip to Sweden which added some significant numbers.
Thanks for reading!
Where’s everyone from Hockeybuzz?
From where?
I still find this story strange. I’ve yet to read a story offering insight to why Mario/Burkle want the team back. I guess the obvious “expansion windfall” is the reason, but why would FSG sell with that on the horizon. By the way, I hate the idea of diluting the talent pool again with another expansion.
We here barnacus