Lemieux Emerges To Vent Against NHL ... Again

This past weekend was not a good one for the Pittsburgh Penguins. They were brutalized both on the ice and on the score sheet by the New York Islanders Friday night before heading to Madison Square Garden for a matinee matchup against the New York Rangers that resulted in a come-from-behind loss. And to make matters worse, their delusional co-owner, Mario Lemieux, emerged from his cave to express his disappointment with the league he has always had issue with. Surprise, surprise! 

With thoughts of Brent Johnson’s knockout punch to Rick DiPietro that left the oft-injured Isles starter on the shelf for four-to-six weeks with facial fractures still on their mind, New York entered their rematch against Pittsburgh with intentions of garnering some revenge. What ensued was a game that saw 346 total minutes in penalties and a 9-3 shellacking by the Islanders over the undermanned Penguins.

Following that fiasco was a set of suspensions and fines by league disciplinarian Colin Campbell. The Penguins’ only punishment was an automatic 10-game suspension to Eric Godard, who left the bench in defense of Johnson when Michael Haley pursued a fight with the netminder. As for the Islanders, the organization received a $100,000 fine while Trevor Gillies received a nine-game suspension for delivering several blows to the head of Eric Tangradi and Matt Martin got a four-game ban for sucker punching an unsuspecting Maxime Talbot in the head.

None of that was good enough for the Penguins owner.

“Hockey is a tough, physical game, and it always should be,” Lemieux said in a statement released by the Penguins Sunday. “But what happened Friday night on Long Island wasn’t hockey. It was a travesty. It was painful to watch the game I love turn into a sideshow like that. The NHL had a chance to send a clear and strong message that those kinds of actions are unacceptable and embarrassing to the sport. It failed.”

Those are some harsh and hypocritical words from the same guy who oversees a team leading the NHL in fighting majors and employing the league’s dirtiest player at the moment, Matt Cooke.

But it’s also not the first time Lemieux has criticized the NHL for handling matters outside of his best interest. He referred to the NHL as a “garage league” back in 1992 because of the clutching and grabbing that prevented superstars such as himself from doing a triple lutz down the ice en route to his 97th goal of the season. He also never shied away from taking jabs at the league and big market organizations that actually had real money to support their franchises while wannabe billionaires such as himself could only scrap together enough money to support the Penguins if they dealt away higher-salary players like Alexei Kovalev and Jaromir Jagr.

So now, after barely making himself noticeable since Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and the other 700 lottery picks the Penguins received as a result of stinking up the joint for several years have come together to become a perennial Cup contender, Lemieux has voiced his opinion yet again. And it’s, gasp … against the league!

While Tampa Bay Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman has come out to show his appreciation for Lemieux speaking his mind and wishes he would do it more often, Islanders enforcer Zenon Konopka would rather he wake up just a bit before speaking about the game.

“I can’t believe he’s that far removed from the game that he doesn’t realize in the heat of the moment what happens,” said Konopka.

Konopka went on to say that he was tearing down Lemieux poster hanging on his door when he went home.

But Lemieux isn’t actually that far removed from the game. It’s not that he doesn’t understand what is going on. He is fully aware of the rules by the book and how the game is actually played on the ice. He just doesn’t like when the two don’t align in a manner most beneficial to him. And when they don’t, he has a penchant for throwing a fit. That's just the case for Lemieux when things don't go his way.

During his rant, Lemieux also mentioned that if this was how the league would run itself, then he wasn’t so sure he wanted to be a part of it anymore.

“If the events relating to Friday night reflect the state of the league, I need to re-think whether I want to be a part of it.”

I question how much Lemieux ever really wanted to be a part of the NHL in the first place, as a player or an owner. Perhaps it would be best if he did sell of his share of the team and remove himself from the NHL for good. Maybe then we could remember the magic he did on the ice during his playing career rather than the constant disappearing act that is his reputation every time he decides it’s time to show his face and speak his mind.