Mario Lemieux has a pretty good grasp of all the issues in the ongoing NHL lockout.

He knows how polarized the positions of the two sides are, that negotiations broke off two days ago and that commissioner Gary Bettman has promised to cancel the 2004-05 season unless lawyers are committing a new collective bargaining agreement to paper this weekend.

Nonetheless, Lemieux insisted yesterday that he hasn't given up hope -- not entirely, anyway --that a deal will be struck in time to save at least a portion of the season.

He does not feel that way, Lemieux said, because he is privy to inside information circulating in ownership circles, like how one side or the other is preparing to abandon the philosophical turf it staked out years ago. Rather, he doesn't see the logic in either party sacrificing an entire season and risking long-term damage to the industry.

"I think they'll figure out a way to make a deal," he said. "It would be devastating not to play this season, for everybody involved. The fans and the game in general. The business, especially. A lot of people are going to get hurt.

"A lot of people are talking. A lot of the players are starting to get together. Hopefully, they can come to a solution before it's too late. ... It's a long shot, but, if you look at the future of the game and how much it's going to affect the business, I don't see the future being any brighter for everybody involved six months from now or a year from now. It's only going to get worse."

Lemieux's optimism is not the prevailing sentiment around the league; hope barely registers as a trace element in the NHL these days. Penguins president Ken Sawyer, who spoke publicly yesterday for the first time since the lockout began Sept. 15, is one of many who seem resigned to losing the season.

The much-discussed announcement that the season has been wiped out, he suggested, might be the reason the league lifted its gag order on officials of its member teams.

"I don't know why, other than the fact it appears we're at the end," Sawyer said. "I'm not saying we're there until I hear it from Gary Bettman, that the season is over. Until then, I'll remain hopeful that the players will make some move. But ... if you had to play odds on this, you'd say the season is over."

Sawyer declined to say precisely how much money the Penguins will lose if the season is canceled, but pegged it at more than the roughly $3 million they lost in 2003-04.

Despite that hit, Sawyer was adamant that the franchise's future is not in jeopardy because of the lockout and that the Penguins have the wherewithal to keep operations on hold for as long as it takes to get a satisfactory CBA in place.

"We're well-prepared to stay the course," he said. "We have, really, no alternative. We're well-financed. We just hope we get back on the ice soon. But we can't do it unless we have the right deal."

The offer the league submitted to the NHLPA last week called for player compensation (salary and benefits) to be no less than $32 million per team and no more than $42 million, although it also would have capped those expenditures at 55 percent of league revenues.

That is the kind of framework many teams in the league's smaller markets, including the Penguins, feel they must have if they are to be financially viable and have a chance to competitive on the ice.

"We know what we can give," Sawyer said. "I'm very comfortable that we've given as much as we possibly can do. I know this business. I've been in it for over 25 years on the business side.

"It's a thin deal [in terms of profit potential] for ownership, but it certainly gives us a basis to build on and create stability in our markets. And what's really important to me is that it gives us the basis that places like Pittsburgh could be competitive within the league."

Assuming, of course, that the other part of the Penguins' equation works out the way they hope.

"I'll tell you that we also need a new arena, to completely level the playing field," Sawyer said.

Lemieux and Sawyer said that, while they have not spoken extensively with owners of big-market clubs, they don't worry that those teams will betray their small-market counterparts and pressure Bettman to work out a CBA that wouldn't provide the "cost-certainty" some clubs need to survive.

"We've been active in 30 different markets, and we have fans in all those markets," Sawyer said. "I don't see any reason why we would be anywhere else but wanting to have a 30-team league. It gives us a great footprint across North America.

"We're a league of 30 teams, so everybody has a voice and right, and we need to get this working in all 30 markets."

NOTES -- Lemieux's workout group at the Island Sports Center yesterday included teammate Mark Recchi, ex-Penguin Jay Caufield, NHL referee Stephen Walkom and Tanner Lange, son of longtime Penguins announcer Mike Lange. Lemieux and Co. also had an audience as the Bemidji State hockey team, acting on a tip from Robert Morris coach Derek Schooley, reported early for its game-day skate and watched much of the workout. ... Sawyer said some season-ticket holders already have requested refunds, and the Penguins have complied. "We're not here to lose fans," he said.