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PITTSBURGH - Mario Lemieux, his Hall of Fame talent eroded by an ongoing heart problem, retired from the Penguins for the second time Tuesday.
But this time was different.
"This is it," Lemieux said. "And it hurts."
The Penguins owner-player, 40, learned in early December he has atrial fibrillation, an irregular heartbeat that can cause his pulse to flutter wildly. He returned Dec.16, but it flared up in the third period. He has not played since.
Lemieux, seventh all-time with 1,723 points, practiced the past few weeks with the intent of playing. But after several more episodes, he decided his health should be his primary consideration.
"If I could play this game at a decent level, I'd come back," the 6-foot-4, 230-pounder said. "This is really a new NHL, and it's built on speed and young guys."
Lemieux was the first major pro sports star to buy the team for which he played, assembling a group that bought the team in federal bankruptcy court in 1999. He insisted stress - the franchise is for sale and might relocate without a new arena - did not affect the decision.
Still, the 13-time All-Star returned so many times from injuries and operations, setbacks and layoffs, personal crises and even cancer, the decision came as a surprise. After all, this was a man who missed a month of the 1992-93 season with Hodgkin's disease, or cancer of the lymph nodes, yet easily won the scoring title.
Still Lemieux accomplished much in an oft-interrupted 17-season career that was nearly halved by medical misfortune: two Stanley Cup championships, six scoring titles, three MVP awards, two playoff MVP awards, an Olympic gold medal and a Canada Cup title against the Soviet Union in 1987.
Lemieux scored a goal on the first shift of his first game in 1984. Then 16 years later, he needed only a half-minute to set up a goal in his first game after a 44-month retirement.
"He led by example and the way he played," Lightning forward Rob DiMaio said. "He didn't have to talk. He was one of those guys who just played."
Lemieux, a first-ballot Hall of Fame inductee in 1997, also missed considerable time with hip injuries during the 2001-02 and 2003-04 seasons, a rare bone infection that followed a 1991 back operation and other back problems.
"How many more points would he have had if he stayed reasonably healthy?" Hall of Fame forward Bryan Trottier said. "Four hundred? Five hundred? Six hundred? No disrespect to Wayne Gretzky, Gordie Howe, Mark Messier, Bobby Orr, Gilbert Perreault ... but Mario did things nobody else could ever do."
Lemieux had fewer goals than Gretzky (690 to 894) and fewer assists (1,033 to 1,963) but played nearly 600 fewer games, many surrounded by far less talent than Gretzky had in Edmonton.
"I have the utmost respect for everything he did on the ice and everything he went through," Lightning goalie Sean Burke said. "And he's probably a guy responsible for saving a franchise in Pittsburgh. Just an incredible career."
Once the Penguins are sold, Lemieux plans to explore his options in hockey.
"Whenever you lose one of the perennial superstars in any sport, it's always going to be a sad day," DiMaio said. "But good for him. He's had a heck of a career. He's done wonders for this game."
Times staff writer Damian Cristodero contributed to this story.