Keith Srakocic / AP

Mario Lemieux is done as a player in Pittsburgh and probably as an owner, writes NBCSports.com columnist Kevin Dupont.

Maybe all that turns out, as they say in Anaheim, just ducky.

Conventional wisdom attached to this model also has the NHL ultimately signing off on the deal. Right. If that ends up being the case, look for Las Vegas to land an NHL club as its first pro franchise. All bets are off if the Pens are playing next to a betting parlor in Slotsylvania.

And if none of this business model works? What then for Lemieux?

Sans a serious Plan B, not readily apparent to anyone, the likelihood is that the Pens are gone, and Lemieux, too. Imagine the irony if he gets cashed out, along with his partners, and the franchise is moved to Las Vegas. What would be the, uh, odds?

“I will always be a Pittsburgher,” Lemieux said, amid the 20-minute news conference that marked the end of his career. “My heart’s always going to be here.”

How much of Lemieux, how much of his heart, no doubt will be guided by his wallet. He has earned that right. He came out of his 1997 retirement, in part, because of failed franchise finances that threatened to all but wipe out his future and deferred wages.

Lemieux came back, put himself on the ice, his name on the line, and then both played and plotted the Penguins out of financial despair. Far tougher tasks than taking a menacing Bryan Marchment two-hander across the back.

He takes pride in saying that he grew up in Pittsburgh, both as a player and a man. The franchise’s bankruptcy, and his part in restoring its good name and solvency, were two of his most significant growth rings — perhaps on par with the Stanley Cups he and the Pens won in 1991 and ’92.

It’s hard to imagine Pittsburgh without Lemieux. In fact, in some ways, it’s harder to imagine that than it is Pittsburgh without the Penguins.

But its also hard to think of him staying around now as the team’s general manager or coach. To run a franchise as G.M. takes an incredible amount of work, and Lemieux has made enough money, and will bank more via the sale, never to have to role up his sleeves that high. Coaching is work, too, and usually short-lived work in the NHL. Head coach Mario Lemieux sounds as awkward as it probably would look. Then again, I would have said that about head coach Wayne Gretzky a year or two ago.

Emphatically, and without hesitation, Lemieux said he leaves now without regret.

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At the same time, in a moment when he fought to control his sorrow, he also admitted, “Certainly this is it — and it hurts.”

The only certainty now, really, is that it’s over. His playing days are finished. His ownership days are coming to a close.

What remains now for Lemieux in Pittsburgh is one mission, and a million attached maybes. He, better than anyone, should know that’s nothing to take to the bank.

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