Fansided

Pittsburgh Penguins owners deny fights with one another

By Darrell Samuels

Jan 18, 2015; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; General view of the Mario Lemieux statue and the exterior of the CONSOL Energy Center before the Pittsburgh Penguins host the New York Rangers. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 18, 2015; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; General view of the Mario Lemieux statue and the exterior of the CONSOL Energy Center before the Pittsburgh Penguins host the New York Rangers. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports /
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There continues to be issues surrounding the ownership of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The 2015-16 season was envisioned to be promising for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

They have Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin as their superstar forwards, Kris Letang on the blue line and Marc-Andre Fleury between the pipes. The biggest acquisition was made on July 1, when the team went out and acquired Phil Kessel, formerly of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Nothing was expected to be wrong in the fans attending games at the Consol Energy Centre. Hockey websites, magazines and broadcasters had projections of the team being a Stanley Cup contender.

Heading into games on January 14, the hockey club find themselves in 10th place of the Eastern Conference with 46 points with a record of 20-16-6 after 42 games of the campaign. The NHL trade deadline is February 29 and if they plan on reaching the playoffs, changes might be necessary. There appears to be some issues with the hockey club as a cohesive unit.

Issues are also occurring away from the ice.

NBCSports.com was able to catch a report from the New York Post suggesting that the Penguins co-owners billionaire Ron Burkle and former Penguins great Mario Lemieux have had disagreements surrounding the franchise ownership issues.

Burkle and Lemieux are contradicting the reports.

“There is no disagreement between us, and we remain completely aligned in both approach and philosophy,” the co-owners said in a statement released to the Tribune-Review. “We continue to explore all of our strategic options, including a possible sale.

“There is not, and has never been, an established price for the team, and we are still in conversations with potential buyers,”

There are some thoughts that Lemieux had considered a proposal around the Penguins’ ownership and Burkle wanted to go in a different direction.

There has been discussions surround the Penguins ownership issue for years.

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