Great to see Mario Lemieux in the All-Star game. Think we'll see him in the Stanley Cup Finals?

You gotta figure Pittsburgh will look to upgrade its goaltending. Garth Snow is a nice guy and a pretty good goalie, but can you see him leading a team to a Stanley Cup?

So, who's available? John Vanbiesbrouck? Jeff Hackett? Steve Shields? Each would be an upgrade, but only a slight one.

Mario's best chance for a serious improvement could wind up in the hands of his old pal, Wayne Gretzky. If 99 finally gets control of the Coyotes, he could sign long-lost G Nikolai Khabibulin, then deal him to Pittsburgh. Or Gretzky could sign Khabibulin and trade current starter Sean Burke.

Place Khabibulin or Burke behind Mario & Co. and suddenly the Pens are a really dangerous playoff team. Of course, dealing Khabibulin to the Pens would truly irritate Rangers GM Glen Sather (another Gretzky comrade), who'd love to get Khabibulin and Keith Tkachuk out of Arizona. Sather, for some reason, has never been a big fan of Mike Richter.

As for Vanbiesbrouck -- Richter's former teammate -- he continues to say he wouldn't mind staying with the Islanders. C'mon, Beezer, why would you want to stay on Long Island? You're in the final season of your contract and you only have a few years left. We know you're just trying to be politically correct. But there's no need for it. No one -- and I mean no one -- in that locker room could say word one if you asked out. After 17 NHL seasons, you've earned a last chance at that elusive Cup. ...

Great Scott

I enjoyed one of my favorite post-game activities last week: listening to a Scotty Bowman press conference. It's fun to sit back and watch ol' Scotty handle the media. He knows he's smarter that us. And, if we're smart, we realize it too. You really never know what he's going to say. Most of the time, it means something ... to somebody, somewhere. I myself am a long way from figuring it out.

One other thing about ol' Scotty. Every time I see him, I think of his brother Jack, who passed away suddenly in June 1998. Jack Bowman, a longtime scout for Buffalo, was among the nicest guys I've ever met. He always had a smile and a kind word for everyone who came his way. Believe it or not, I think Scotty's the same way. He just hides it under all that grouchy old coach stuff. ...

The crystal ball

Oh yeah, one last thing -- my All-Star break Cup pick. You make three: one before the season, one at the break, and one more before the playoffs. Then, of course, you stick with the best one. With Pick 2, I'll take New Jersey over St. Louis. In 6.

But really, I'm rooting for Pittsburgh. It's a better story.

E.J. Hradek, an associate editor at ESPN The Magazine, appears regularly on NHL 2Night. E-mail ej.hradek@espnmag.com.