Mario Lemieux will return to the ice tonight for the Pittsburgh Penguins. He comes out of retirement to try and re-establish a Hockey Hall of Fame career. He has much at stake.

Lemieux clearly has a fire to play again. He has young children who never saw him play and he wants them to have that memory. However, let’s cut to the chase on this.

Lemieux has an ownership interest in the Penguins. It is a team that is not filling the current building and wants public support to build a new one. It is a team with its star player, Jaromir Jagr, moaning because he isn’t having a career goal-scoring year while his team is actually having a pretty good year.

After Lemieux announced his comeback, the news came out that Jagr had requested on more than one occasion this year to be traded. Jagr had even used the word “retirement” in public, despite being 27 and perhaps the world’s best hockey player when he’s not moping.

Lemieux is a god in Pittsburgh. When the Penguins went into bankruptcy a couple of years ago, it was a group headed by Lemieux that pulled the team out of dissolution. Let’s get to the quick on this as well.

Lemieux is reportedly owed $25 million to $30 million in deferred salary by the team. If it goes under, he would lose a fortune. In addition, he waived millions more owed to him, taking in its place an ownership interest reportedly valued at some $25 million.

Forbes magazine reported a month ago that the Penguins franchise had increased in value over the past year more than any other NHL team. That is because of Lemieux’s ownership involvement.

For Lemieux to get his money out of the team, it must succeed. If Jagr left or continued in his selfish funk, the team would be in dire straits. Jagr worships Lemieux. Jagr can once again see goals coming his way because Lemieux is passing the puck or drawing the opponent’s attention.

Pittsburgh has sold out its home games since the announced comeback. Visiting teams that have Lemieux coming in are selling out those dates. With Lemieux, the Pens actually have an outside shot at the Stanley Cup.

None of this is to diminish Lemieux’s desire to play again. Yet, when he played, it was never with great joy. He played on ability, and lots of it, but despised all the slashing, hooking, and holding he had to play through. He constantly complained the officials never made calls against those who made the game miserable for him.

There is in this world a “but for” test. When applied here, but for the personal monetary interest Lemieux has in the Pens, but for Jagr’s crying, but for the empty seats in Pittsburgh, but for the chance to take the value of the franchise to an all-time high, Lemieux would not be back.

That said, we get a chance to see one of the greatest hockey players ever mount a return, with all the trepidation and suspense attached thereto.

In a year of more drugged and scandal-laden Olympic games, an NBA that can’t play basketball and an MLB gone monetarily insane, it would be nice to see a superstar make a dramatically successful return and actually love what he’s doing.

Good luck, Mario, and HAPPY NEW YEAR, everyone.

Old Town native Gary Thorne is a CBS and ESPN sportscaster.