It's probably nothing but a numerical coincidence that shows up in the adjoining statistical box spelling out another (literally) poor Pittsburgh hockey season. Those fans forced to follow the Penguins, however, might see it as a sign.

The differential between goals-scored and goals-allowed by the Penguins last season? A big minus-66. Imagine what that differential count would be without No. 66 in the lineup.

2002-03 BY THE NUMBERS

Record: 27-44-6-5, 65 pts. (29th overall, 12th East, 5th Atlantic) Goals for/Avg.: 189/2.3 (26th overall) Goals against/Avg.: 255/3.11 (28th overall) Differential: Minus-66 (29th overall) Power play: 18.3 percent (66-360, 7th overall) Penalty kill: 83.5 percent (294-352, T13th overall) 20-goal scorers: Mario Lemieux (28), Alexei Kovalev (27, traded to Rangers) 50-point scorers: Lemieux (91), Kovalev (64, traded to Rangers)

Despite all the denials by Mario Lemieux The CEO, it could go that way this season for Mario Lemieux The Player, who wears that uniform number that's already been retired once.

There were all those rumors of whispered discussions with people in New York and/or Philadelphia about Lemieux's preference to pull a Michael Jordan act and let go of his executive (and financial) stake with the Penguins in order to expedite a trade of Mario the still-superstar player.

Media hogwash, Lemieux would say. Intentionally planted rumors, some of the saner pundits would say in response. More truth to it than mere dare, others believe.

Maybe it's a little of all that.

Wary of the snail's pace of negotiations with the city of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County and the Sports and Exposition Authority, Lemieux was said to have initially ignored the leaving talk in an effort to exert some public pressure on the politicians wrestling with the Penguins' demands for a commitment on a new arena.

They finally won that in late June, not too long after Lemieux finally squelched the trade talk. But first the fans had to hear this when he was asked if he thought a trade was possible: "Anything's possible. Jordan did it."

Yeah, Jordan retired, then got a stake in another team and arranged a switch of rights to Washington. Played a couple of years to boost team popularity and unsuccessfully tried to lead the Wizards into the playoffs. Then he retired again ... then, Washington majority owner Abe Polin told him to get lost.

Now that wouldn't happen to Mario, even though in one respect he's just like Mike -- neither are wizards any longer. But Lemieux is still trying.

Despite the usual nagging back woes and a revolving cast of nobodies and not-yets around him, Lemieux played 67 games last season, enough time for him to place eighth in the league with 91 points (27 of them goals).

That seems remarkable since injuries limited him to 24 games in 2001-02, which everyone thought was a clear indication of a short-lived second comeback.

Perhaps Lemieux is still putting himself through the paces just because there's nothing else for Penguins fans to pay to see. Like a post-bankruptcy parade of lost souls in search of paychecks, money players like Jaromir Jagr, Darius Kasparaitis, Robert Lang, Jan Hrdina and Alexei Kovalev have all exited the Igloo over the past three seasons ofselloff.

Martin Straka would have joined them already if he didn't keep getting hurt. Maybe this year his lucky number will come up, which would essentially leave Lemieux -- and maybe Alexei Morozov, but only when he plays with Lemieux -- as the lone offensive threat on the roster.

Yes, the Penguins are a must-see team. Disasters are always fun. But the question remains, how long will Lemieux want to keep his front-row seat?

Looking ahead
It's not that the Penguins haven't made changes – they've reshuffled a large part of the circle around general manager Craig Patrick. Gone is "Team Lemieux" president Tom Rooney. Gone is Penguins head coach Rick Kehoe, along with AHL affiliate Wilkes-Barre head coach Glenn Patrick -- the office boss' brother.

It seems clear that Lemieux, who also let the team's public relations director go, is still calling all the shots.

As for the players, forward Mikael Samuelsson had to be traded away in the move up to take junior goalie Marc-Andre Fleury with the first-overall pick in the June draft.

Defenseman Joel Bouchard signed a free agent contract with Buffalo. Center Kent Manderville, a very valuable penalty killer, will eventually be allowed to sign elsewhere, too, and long-ago stud Alexandre Daigle's comeback experiment withthe team is over.

On a more permanent note, Sebastien Caronwill have every chance to win the Penguins' starting job in goal since he played brilliantly (7-14-2, 2.64 GAA, .916 saves percentage) in an emergency situation last season. That would likely leave much more expensive former starter Johan Hedberg up for a trade, especially with Fleury waiting in the junior wings.

Also coming back, presumably, will be Kris Beech. He was the focal point of the deal that sent Jagr to Washington a couple of years ago, but he was mostly seen playing back in the minors this pastseason.

Meanwhile, Straka will have every chance to stay healthy, since his $4.3 million salary must be excised on the trade market. And promising players like defenseman Dick Tarnstrom and Rico Fata will be asked to be team leaders.

Hmmm. Does Mario really wish to stick this out? Or will another half-season of back pain and head pain caused by non-negotiating between commissioner Gary Bettman and union boss Bob Goodenow change Lemieux's mind?

One more shot at a Cup for a contender come trading deadline time? Only Mario would know for sure.

Rob Parent of the Delaware County (Pa.) Times is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.