Lemieux addressed the team's needs Wednesday after he joined the Penguins Hall of Fame.

"For the franchise to survive long-term here in Pittsburgh, we need to either rehab (Mellon) Arena or get a new arena," Lemieux said. "But for right now, we're just trying to make this a viable franchise over the next couple of years and are in the process of looking at all our options."

That includes altering Mellon Arena and considering other sites.

"Right now, there's a couple different firms we're looking at to see if it's feasible or something that makes sense to rehab this building, but it's a very early process right now," Lemieux said.

The Penguins may be unable to conduct major renovations on Mellon Arena. It would take about a year to do those, so the club would need to find an alternative arena for at least part of not all of a season.

The new arena being build by the University of Pittsburgh will be large but would not have space for an ice rink without major design changes. And the school's athletic department appears to be unwilling to make those.

Gund Arena in Cleveland is the next closest place, and that doesn't seem to be a logical choice for the Penguins.

"We just started on this a couple months ago," Lemieux said. "Everybody knows that it takes time to do research and go to different people to get the right answers."

Lemieux said the team was close to its projections concerning sponsorship this season, and players costs are slightly under budget.

If attendance rises the second half of the season, a lengthy playoff run would mean a major financial boost for the team.