"No settlement was reached on any front after the
latest round of discussions" between Penguins co-Owners
Roger Marino and Howard Baldwin and NHL Commissioner Gary
Bettman yesterday at league headquarters in N.Y., according
to Dejan Kovacevic of the PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE. But
there was "one surprise: Mario Lemieux showed up." Lemieux
met separately with Bettman before all parties discussed his
$33M lawsuit against Marino. Marino "admitted to feeling
uncomfortable about being in the same room as Lemieux, yet
on opposite sides." Marino: "I hate to be in this
situation. I really do." On his buyout talks with Baldwin,
Marino said "it's not a million things separating us, just
one or two, maybe." Baldwin "agreed," but when asked if
those differences are insurmountable, he replied, "Might
be." The parties will meet again next week, "and it is
possible that Lemieux again will be invited, since it is his
lawsuit that apparently has received the most immediate
attention from the NHL, which has little to gain from a
public spat between one of its teams and one of its
legendary performers" (PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 8/25).
