Just when teams started to get used to life with Mario Lemieux again, the Pittsburgh Penguins star center, who boosted attendance at NHL arenas around the league last season, is forcing some teams to factor in his planned absence when the Penguins come to town next season.

Officials with 13 NHL teams who play host to Lemieux & Co. on the roadside of the Penguins' back-to-back games next season won't be able use the marquee player's name to beef up attendance. But some say it is too early to determine how ticket sales might be affected by the probable of absence of the Penguins' player/owner.

Lemieux returned to the ice on Dec. 27, three months into the 2000-01 season and 44 months after he retired in 1997. Teams sold out 42 of the 43 regular-season games he played in last season. But next season, Lemieux said, he will skip the road game of all the Penguins' back-to-back games to prevent his chronic back injury from flaring up.

Many teams protect themselves by not guaranteeing a player's appearance when selling individual tickets or ticket packages.

"We certainly highlight teams and players, but no one can guarantee a player being on the ice," said Gerry Helper, vice president of communications for the Nashville Predators. Under Lemieux's plan, he won't join the Penguins when they travel to Nashville on Nov. 23. The Penguins will have played the Vancouver Canucks in Pittsburgh the night before.

"(Last season) you wanted to say 'Come see Buffalo featuring Dominik Hasek,' but he typically plays 70 games and your night might be one of the 12 he doesn't," Helper said. "We can't even guarantee our own players from night to night."

But Helper said he believes Lemieux's announcement is far from final.

"A lot can happen between now and the Pittsburgh games -- there are injuries and there might be trades that change the way he looks at things."

For the New York Islanders, a team that has been at the bottom of the league in attendance in recent years, promoting an opponent with a marquee player is important.

"There are very few guys who single-handedly make a difference in sales, but he's obviously one of them," said Chris Botta, the Islanders' vice president of communications.

When Pittsburgh played at Nassau Coliseum on April 2, fans knew ahead of time that Lemieux would not be playing. It was the only time during the season that the Penguins played in front of a crowd of fewer than 13,000 (12,507), and one of only two games that failed to sell out since Lemieux's return.

"The only time we would sell Mario specifically is in the week leading up to the game and that's only if we feel confident that he's playing," Botta said. "If it looks like he won't be playing, we're not going to put him in the ad."

The Islanders would miss Lemieux on Jan. 24, but Botta said Lemieux might find it tough to sit out on March 4. The playoffs will be looming then.

"That's when it's crunch time, so we'll hold out hope and perhaps he'll play in that game," Botta said.

Lemieux's absence likely would change little in Washington. Although Lemieux would miss two games in December at the MCI Center, Washington still can sell out the games.

Its rivalry with Pittsburgh already is strong, highlighted by the Penguins bouncing the Caps out of the first round of the playoffs six times over the past 10 seasons. With former Penguins captain Jaromir Jagr now with the Capitals, that rivalry should intensify.

Thanks to Jagr, the team has at least 1,000 fewer seats to sell each game. That's how many tickets Capitals officials said the team has sold since the July 12 trade that landed Jagr in Washington.

The Capitals sold out 11 regular-season games a year ago. Two were against Pittsburgh, including one in which Lemieux didn't play.

Helper said that Predators tickets will sell well for their Nov. 23 game -- with or without Lemieux.

"It's the day after Thanksgiving and that game has sold well for us regardless of who we play," Helper said. "People are off during the week and it's just a popular night for a hockey game, not just in our market, but in a lot of markets."

"But I can obviously understand their disappointment if our fans miss a chance at seeing someone who is arguably one of the top two or three players in the history of the game."

Darren Rovell covers sports business for ESPN.com. He can be reached at darren.rovell@espn.com.