As you know, New York Islanders forward Josh Ho-Sang is wearing No. 66 in the NHL, permanently marking him as hockey miscreant with no regard for tradition, and forever casting the memory and accomplishments of Mario Lemieux into the abyss of history, now irrelevant.

Or whatever it is his critics are moaning about …

The entire time this insufferable controversy has raged on, many of us wondered about a missing voice: That of Mario Lemieux, whose No. 66 hangs from the rafters in Pittsburgh, where Ho-Sang and the Islanders will skate on Friday night.

Joe Starkey of the Post-Gazette finally landed a comment:

“I’m fine with it,” Mario Lemieux said Thursday through a Penguins spokesperson. “It’s just a number. Number 4 and number 9 were worn by great players (Bobby Orr and Gordie Howe, respectively), and they are not retired forever. Players can choose whatever number they want.”

Now, we’re sure the Cult of Mario will insist he’s just being over-gracious here and is secretly steamed that any other player dare wear the number he made legendary. That’s expected. Zealots usually have the most selective hearing.

But once more, with feeling: “I’M FINE WITH IT.”

Thank you, Mario, for attempting to quell what we’ve determined is in fact the dumbest NHL controversy.

OK, make that second-dumbest: The “Mario Lemieux should have his number retired league-wide because he was more talented than Wayne Gretzky and we should just ignore the incredible cultural impact Gretzky had on the growth and popularity of pro hockey vs. Mario’s importance to one NHL city because, again, Mario is why” Debate probably remains the dumbest, in hindsight.

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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

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