Madden Monday: If the Hoffmann family buys the Penguins, it won't immediately impact on-ice product

A theory I had about the Hoffmann Family of Companies potentially buying the Pittsburgh Penguins is that the story may have been leaked by Fenway Sports Group with the hope of prying a substantial offer out of Mario Lemieux, Ron Burkle and David Morehouse.

That triumvirate ran the team during its Stanley Cup years over the first two decades of the 2000s. It has been rumored to have an interest in buying the team back from FSG after selling it to the Boston conglomerate in 2021.

Perhaps this Hoffmann group story was just an effort to goose the Lemieux-Burkle-Morehouse trio into making an offer FSG couldn’t refuse.

I ran that idea past Mark Madden of TribLive and 105.9 the X during this week’s “Madden Monday” podcast. He doesn’t see that being the case.

“No, that’s a real thing,” Madden said of the Hoffmann family’s alleged interest in the franchise. “If (FSG) thinks that Mario and Ron would be willing to get into the area of $1.75 billion, like we’re hearing with the Hoffmann family, I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news.”

Madden isn’t saying that because of what he thinks of Burkle’s bank account. He just doesn’t think Burkle and Lemieux would have the stomach to repurchase the organization less than five years after it was sold to FSG (for $900 million) at nearly double the price.

“Burkle has so much money. But that would be paying almost double what they paid,” Madden said. “So … no.”

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One area where Madden and I agree on this topic is that Penguins fans need to have a realistic expectation when it comes to what an ownership change would generate in terms of better on-ice results.

The Pens have missed the playoffs the past three years.

“Whoever owns the team will not change the rebuilding process,” Madden said. “(Kyle) Dubas’ contract still has a million years to run. I think he’s doing a good job rebuilding. But there’s no quick fix for what they’re in — unless it’s Gavin McKenna.”

And winning a lottery is about luck. Not good ownership.

Regardless, Madden thinks FSG is doing a better job than it is getting credit for.

“Fenway does a good job. Fenway does stuff they get criticized for where it turns out that they’re right,” Madden said. “A couple of years ago, they didn’t spend with Liverpool, but they knew what they had. They won the league this past year, and then they spent half a billion, whatever it is, to make sure this team can be good now for years to come. Their timing is impactful.”

Also during the podcast, Madden and I discuss this annual dead week for NFL teams before the regular season begins, and the state of the Steelers after the preseason. We dive into the Pirates sweeping Colorado over the weekend, Bubba Chandler, Paul Skenes and Pitt vs. Duquesne in football.