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Penguins At a Glance Head coach: Rick Kehoe Record: 28-41-8-5 2001-02: Results 2001-02: Player Stats 2002-03: Schedule 2002-03: Roster 2002: Draft picks

By Jon A. Dolezar, CNNSI.com

Everything old is new again in the Steel City.

After 10 years with the regal-looking penguin as its logo, Pittsburgh is going old-school by bringing back the skating penguin for the 2002-03 season.

The Penguins made the logo and uniform change to the pigeon-like penguin in June, 1992, two weeks after winning the second of their back-to-back Stanley Cups. The team has won four division titles since, but has made just two appearances in the conference finals.

While a return to the old unis is a sartorial step in the right direction, a return to the postseason and the winning ways of the early 1990s doesn't appear as likely. Too many question marks dot the roster, which is loaded with young players at every position.

Most important for Pittsburgh is the return to health of Mario Lemieux after battling knee and hip injuries for most of last season before packing it in following Canada's Olympic gold medal victory.

Alexei Kovalev, RW -- Kovalev led the Penguins in scoring with 76 points last season, despite missing 15 games due to a knee injury.

The speedy Russian sniper has scored 283 points in 291 games with Pittsburgh since coming over early in the 1998-99 season in a trade with the Rangers for Petr Nedved, Sean Pronger and Chris Tamer. With Lemieux in retirement for the first two of Kovalev's seasons with the Pens, and then healthy for just part of the past two, it's safe to say that Kovalev has been the best Penguin not named Jaromir Jagr during that time.

Aside from the departed Jagr, Kovalev has been the lynchpin of the Penguins' power play during that time, getting 97 points on the man advantage in the past four seasons. A healthy Lemieux would boost Kovalev's productivity on special teams and force opponents to worry about either of Pittsburgh's top two lines having the capability to score on any shift.

Scoring -- The Penguins had a hard time putting the puck in the back of the net last season, but that tends to happen when the team captain plays just 24 games and the second-line center (Martin Straka) misses 69 games due to injury.

And things might not be much better offensively this season for the Pens. Straka is out indefinitely with an injured back, and Lemeiux's back/hip/knees/anything could flare up at any moment and cost him some time.

Pittsburgh has youngsters Kris Beech, Shane Endicott, Milan Kraft, Matt Murley and Toby Peterson waiting to get their chance on the top two lines. Each is aware that playing with Lemieux is a meal ticket to a solid NHL career, with players such as Warren Young, Moe Mantha, Randy Cunneyworth, Kevin Stevens, Rick Tocchet and Jaromir Jagr all enjoying the best seasons of their career playing next to Lemieux.

The most intriguing player to watch in camp will be Alexandre Daigle, who may be given first crack to play on the top line with Lemieux and Aleksey Morozov. Daigle will be attempting to revive a career which stalled after just seven forgettable NHL seasons. The No. 1 pick in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft, Daigle scored just 241 points in 459 games and is considered among the biggest draft busts ever. Meanwhile, fellow '93 first-rounders like Chris Pronger, Paul Kariya, Jason Arnott, Adam Deadmarsh and Jason Allison have gone on to have productive NHL careers.

Will Mario Lemieux be healthy enough to play a complete season?

In a word, no.

Lemieux never has appeared in 80 games in a season and has played in 60 or more games just six times in his 14-year career. Four of those seasons were in his first five years in the leauge. For his career, Lemieux has averaged just 58 games per season, but that's not the number the Penguins are concerned with. Super Mario has averaged 1.97 points per game, making him the most efficient scorer in NHL history. Even since his comeback during the 2000-01 season, Lemieux has averaged 1.64 points per game while battling through nagging injuries.

Though he's at a point in his career where a 100-point season is unlikely, Lemieux still exhibits flashes where he is utterly dominant and is clearly the best player on the ice. During a five-game win streak last January, Lemieux scored four goals and had 14 assists as the Pens outscored their opponents 20-9. Unfortunately it was then that his hip began acting up on him and Lemieux tallied no goals and six assists in Pittsburgh's six-game losing skid leading into the Olympic break.

While a full season of Lemieux would be a treat for hockey fans, it's just unrealistic to expect that based on his past injury history. But 41 games of Lemieux could produce as many points as 82 games of most of the other forwards on the Pens' roster, so Pittsburgh will take what it can get from Super Mario in the waning years of his brilliant career.

Brooks Orpik, D, 6' 3", 230 pounds
Born: Sept. 26, 1980
Hometown: Amherst, N.Y.
Acquired: No. 18 overall pick in 2000 NHL Entry Draft

Brooks Orpik made a smooth transition to the professional game last season, tallying two goals and 18 assists with the Wilkes-Barre Penguins in the AHL. Prior to that, Orpik was one of the stars of Boston College's national championship team in 2000-01. In three years with the Eagles, Orpik scored just two goals, but had 39 assists and 324 penalty minutes.

The Penguins have a glaring need for a physical defenseman after trading Darius Kasparaitis to the Avalanche at the trade deadline last season. Orpik could fill this role, though he isn't as much of a risk-taker on the ice as Kasparaitis. Solid positional defense and good outlet passes are more of Orpik's game, though his size can yield the occassional big thump in the open ice.

Orpik is ticketed for another season at Wilkes-Barre, though he could make his NHL debut and play a few games in Pittsburgh as an injury callup. But with a deep roster of defenseman with NHL experience already fighting for time with the Penguins, Orpik will likely be left in the AHL unless a rash of injuries hits the big club.