Well, as a Pittsburgh Penguins fan, let me shout a giant: WOO HOO! Mario Lemieux, returning to the Pens…if he’s in shape, the goalies in the league will have their hands full. Stanley Cup anyone???
Jman
If Mario was complaining about the game not being wide open enough when he retired, he is really not going to be happy when the refs go back to calling the games like they should.
Stanley Cup? Last time Lemieux played, they got bounced out of the playoffs in the first round. And where exactly are the lines of authority going to run? How do you coach the person who controls the team? (Which he will, regardless of what titles he may give up.)
As a Pens fan, I find it interesting. As a realist, it strikes me as chaos waiting to happen.
The coaching situation will be interesting to watch, but I think Mario will just let Hlinka do what he has to do. The reason I think Stanley Cup is within reach is because the Pens are already a good team. They just need something to push them over the edge. Mario could get Jagr out of his little slump, and Kovalev is already having a fantastic year. Put Lemieux on the line, and you’ve got major scoring potential. Thing is: if Mario comes back and ONLY plays at 60% of his former self…it’s still 1.2 points per game! However, I think that his skills are probably still in tact, and with Jagr being better than he was when Mario left, he’ll have a supreme scorer to dish the puck to. I would not be surprised of Mario can still hold 1.8-2 points per game for this season.
Jman
One more thing: I think just the presence of Mario could make the whole team get up and play better. That sort of thing could give them a major personality boost as well. Attitude could propel this thing forward. Also, while he’ll be rusty to begin with, he should be peaking right around the time the playoffs roll around.
Jman
I thought this was a Nintendo thread.
I’m not sure what you mean by this. One of the major reasons Lemieux retired was that nobody ever called obstruction penalties. He would spend the whole game being interfered with, being grabbed. He just happened to be good enough to work through this and be a fantastic player. These things are called now, and with 2 referees in each game, things should be much friendlier to Lemieux. I see no sign that this trend will stop.
MysterEcks: You make a good point. There is talk that at least he will be off of the NHL’s board of governors. Is it fair to other teams to have a guy who can work for free? Why should he pay himself? Other questions: Is Mario Captain? Mike Lange thinks this is foregone conclusion, unless Lemieux vetoes it.
This is unprecedented in the NHL, but not in sports. Thor Tolo said last night that you have to go back 75 years to George Hallas who owned the Bears and also played.
Some Locker room talk: “Boy, Mario, you would have never scored that goal tonight without that beautiful pass from me. You know my contract talks are coming up . . .” I think that he needs to just leave control to his subordinates. He is no Jerry Jones.
It’s scary and wonderful at the same time.