PITTSBURGH - Don't remove the owner's tag from Pittsburgh Penguins owner-player Mario Lemieux's title just yet.

In an about-face brought about partly by the team drafting Canadian super prospect Sidney Crosby, the Penguins said Friday that Lemieux's group will retain its majority ownership. William "Boots" DelBiaggio, a San Jose-based businessman who was to buy a majority stake, will instead buy a minority share.

The sudden change of plans may be a result of the franchise substantially increasing value since it won the NHL draft lottery two weeks ago and subsequently drafted Crosby, considered the NHL's best teenage prospect since Lemieux in 1984.

Since winning the lottery, the Penguins have sold thousands of season tickets for the 2005-06 season and have had to add extra employees to handle ticket sales - even before single-game ticket sales have begun. Some team employees suggested the club could sell out a majority of its home games, a reverse from the sharp downturn in attendance during three consecutive losing seasons from 2002-04.

After years of filling more than 90 percent of Mellon Arena on a nightly basis during the 1980s and 1990s and through the nearly sold-out 2000-01 season, the Penguins averaged an NHL-low 11,877 in 2003-04.

Lemieux did not comment about the change in plans, which may have resulted from some of his minority partners - including California-based supermarket chain owner Ron Burkle - deciding the franchise was worth more than DelBiaggio planned to pay.

The day after the Penguins won the lottery, Lemieux said on July 23 he expected a sales agreement with DelBiaggio to be reached within days, but also suggested some minority owners might be reviewing the planned sale after the team gained the right to draft Crosby. The team made him the No. 1 choice on July 30.

"It could always happen, but I don't see any problems moving forward," Lemieux said at the time. "But it could happen."

Crosby will skip the Canadian junior national team development camp next weekend to attend the Pittsburgh Penguins' rookie orientation camp.

He would have to miss part of the NHL season in December to play for the Canadian junior team, as the Penguins allowed 2003 No. 1 draft pick Marc-Andre Fleury to do.

But there seems little chance the Penguins would part with their prized draft pick, especially during a peak attendance period.