Pittsburgh Penguins

Even with Mario Lemieux back, a young and undertalented squad is skating on thin ice

By Mark Beech

Team Page | Predicted Finish: 30

Nobody in Pittsburgh could have been happier than new coach Ed Olczyk this summer when he heard that his boss, All-Star center and owner Mario Lemieux, had decided to play another season. After leading the Penguins, at age 37, with 91 points in 2002-03, Lemieux had been vague about whether he would return to the ice or work full time out of his CEO office. Olczyk, who succeeded the fired Rick Kehoe on June 11, was already looking at a roster that had been stripped of almost all of its veteran talent -- including forwards Alexei Kovalev and Jan Hrdina -- in a series of trades that trimmed the payroll by $3.8 million.

Mario Lemieux Donald Miralle/Getty Images SI RANKING (1 best - 30 worst) OFFENSE 30 DEFENSE 30 GOALTENDING 30 POWER PLAY 25 PENALTY KILLING 30 G.M. AND COACH 30

Other than Lemieux, the only marquee player left in Pittsburgh is forward Martin Straka, who scored 46 points in 60 games and will play on the first line with Lemieux and Aleksey Morozov. Behind them will be free-agent signees Kelly Buchberger and Mike Eastwood, as well as a few of the fast, inexperienced young forwards the Penguins got in last season's salary dump, including right wing Matt Bradley, 25, and left wing Ramzi Abid, 23.

Olczyk, an NHL forward for 16 years before retiring in 2000, was hired out of the broadcast booth and has no coaching experience. He's implementing a system that combines speed with defensive responsibility, which should help a club that allowed 255 goals last year, the second-worst total in the East. "We'd be foolish if we didn't utilize our speed," he says. "We're going to pressure and be relentless."

Pittsburgh's $22-million-plus payroll is one of the lowest in pro sports, but at least Lemieux and G.M. Craig Patrick gave the franchise some hope for the future when they traded up for the No. 1 pick in the June draft and selected 18-year-old goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. He will start the season in Pittsburgh after signing a three-year, $15-million contract on Monday. "Our only goal is to make the playoffs," says Lemieux. "We don't care about the rest of the hockey world. I think we're going to surprise a lot of people." Anything but a last-place finish would amount to a surprise.

Insider

The Penguins' best defenseman is 2002 waiver-wire castoff Dick Tarnstrom. That tells you how thin their back line is.... With Pittsburgh likely to be outmanned nightly, rookie coach Ed Olczyk's most important task may be to keep his youthful team from getting down on itself.... Of the three players obtained for Jaromir Jagr two years ago, only one looks like a bona fide NHLer. C Kris Beech, 22, has a good future, but C Michal Sivek, 22, and D Ross Lupaschuk, 22, have not progressed as hoped.

Issue date: October 13, 2003