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Monday, February 5, 2001
Lemieux: 'It's going to be a great team'
By Rob Parent
ESPN.com
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This had to be orchestrated from the beginning. A gate-saving return to
the ice for the team he operates. A perfectly synchronized step from retired
businessman to peerless player. A string of triumphs and streams of Kodak
moments, made possible by a Mario Lemieux whose every game is beamed across
cable wires nationwide, yet he swears he's still not quite ready for prime time.
"I thought I would be a little bit better than this conditioning-wise, but
overall, I have to be happy with my start," Lemieux said. "I'm certainly not
where I want to be; I'm probably 75-80 percent of where I should be. But I
guess I'm going to have to be more patient and hopefully get better and
better."
Better than this? Is it possible?
|  | | With Lemieux, Alexei Kovalev believes the Penguins can contend for the Cup. |
This is a rested, rehabilitated and reinvigorated Mario who has led his
Pittsburgh Penguins back into the game of hockey musical
chairs called the Eastern Conference playoff race. This is a Lemieux whose
3½-year layoff resulted in his transformation from camera-shy superstar to media savvy sports executive to superstar player/owner on a mission.
In 16 games with the Penguins he has 16 goals, 16 assists, 16
sold out buildings, 10 victories and one convincing message: It really can be
1992 all over again.
Now, he assesses a season stretch drive with a set jaw and encouraging
twinkle in the eyes. His is an alluring sales pitch. If they all work
together, Mario preaches, he will be the one to lead them all back to the
championship glory years he created. All for one and one for all.
And the NHL marketers fervently wish he can strap the league on his
broadened back and take it with him.
"I think everyone has to do their share to go out and promote the game and
make the game better," said Lemieux. "That's all I care about, to improve the
game. And to give some ideas to the NHL to try to make this game more
exciting.
"We just have to open up the game more and it'll be exciting to watch.
You'll see stars on the ice do things you don't see every night. If we do
that, and make the game so exciting that people can't get enough, we'll do
well."
He said so in the immediate wake of a 5-1 loss to Philadelphia that was
a prime example of how bad this Penguins team still can be if it tries to
play the game the same way it did in 1992. But this new, savvy Mario
recognizes that.
In the weeks following his return, he helped convince his teammates to
tighten up defensively, especially after their superior, five-forward power
play unit had the chance to post a lead. The Penguins toughened up, too.
After a couple of games in which Lemieux was roughed up, general manager
Craig Patrick made four trades, adding goony guys like 6-foot-8 Steve McKenna and
Krzysztof Oliwa, and also filling a hole on Lemieux's line with a physical
forward and an old buddy from the Cup days, Kevin Stevens.
All for one, and one for all.
"One thing I realized coming back is the players are so much bigger now
and so much faster and they are all able to skate and can close gaps," said
Lemieux. "Pretty much all the teams have good defensive systems now. There
isn't too much room out there at times. So, you have to take a look at the
game and try to always improve it year after year, and hopefully the league
can do that."
He might think the NHL has a ways to go to make its product exciting for
the fans, but there is already plenty of evidence from gate surveyors and
ratings screeners that the Resurrection of Mario Plan is working wonders.
As for Lemieux's confidence that the Penguins can realistically
challenge for a Stanley Cup?
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Already, Mario has made a big difference in our team. With him, the most important thing is we have three really great lines right now, which is what you need in the playoffs. It has made us very tough to beat. ” |
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— Alexei Kovalev |
"Before, I heard that this team has too many Europeans, so it cannot win
the Stanley Cup," said Pittsburgh's Alexei Kovalev, the longtime
underachieving Ranger who has thrived this season with the Penguins.
"Already, Mario has made a big difference in our team. With him, the most
important thing is we have three really great lines right now, which is what
you need in the playoffs. It has made us very tough to beat.
"I always say nobody believed in us in New York, when they were saying
that exact same thing about that team. But we won the Stanley Cup. People ask
the same question about us now, I say, 'Look at '94.' They don't ask again."
According to Kovalev, what that Rangers team had in Mark Messier, the
Penguins have gained in the restoration of Lemieux. On the ice, in the
locker room.
"He's a great leader. Whatever he does on the ice, he does the same thing
in the locker room," said Kovalev. "We laugh sometimes when we're getting
ready for the game. He can always make a big difference in the locker room
that way. And in a game, if we're just a couple of goals down, he'll always
say something and all the players will listen to him."
Amid the carbonated air of the Pepsi Center on Sunday, all Lemieux had to do
was enjoy the banter of his ninth NHL All-Star Game. He would only score a
goal and two points for the victorious North American team he was hurriedly added to, then asked to
captain.
The winning goal was scored by a 20-year-old Philadelphia phenom named
Simon Gagne that some predict is destined for Lemieux-level greatness. What they
don't realize is Gagne is just another kid from Quebec who grew up idolizing
Mario.
"I told him before the game I was nervous," said Gagne. "He told me,
'You're going to have fun tonight.'
"But I think it was very important for all the fans and all the people
watching (Lemieux) for him to score that goal. All the players wanted to see
that."
They all got what they were looking for, so now Mario flies home with the
family and tries to rest his 35-year-old reconditioned body in anticipation of the remainder of the season, beginning Wednesday against Gagne and the Flyers. He says the Penguins will be
ready for the rigors of the stretch drive, despite open doubts
about their goaltending and quiet hints that the head coach has been more an
uncommunicative figurehead than effective director.
While Messier's Rangers had Mike Richter in net and Mike Keenan behind the
bench, Lemieux's Penguins have Garth Snow or Jean-Sebastien Aubin or whomever
Patrick tries next in net, and wide-eyed Czech coach Ivan Hlinka blinking
behind the bench.
All of which begs the question for the real boss of this team ... what now?
"I think this team can be much better," Lemieux said. "I'd say another
month or a month and a half down the road, we'll be a much better team. It's
going to be a great team. It's just a matter of us getting on the same page
... committed to winning every night."
If you're a young player sitting on an All-Star bench, you tend to believe
everything this godly guy says these days. If you are an outsider, you have
to wonder why Hlinka doesn't seem an inclusive part of the nightly bonfires
at the Igloo. Why there is talk from people around the team that Hlinka,
brought in under the belief that he could get the most out of Jaromir Jagr
and several other Czech-bred teammates, has chosen to not bother trying to
communicate any message to several other players.
Although Team Mario is 10-5-0-1 since his unexpected resurrection, these
are not good signs for a team with championship expectations. The messenger
might be Mario, but his second coming can't correct all that is wrong. Then
again, it can be fun watching him try.
"I think his comeback really is the story of the hockey world this year,"
Colorado's Ray Bourque said after the All-Star victory. "It has really been a
phenomenal story. I think he showed today that he is well on his way to being
the best player in the world again. That's great for everybody."
From the common Igloo fan to even the most uncommon of collective
personalities in the Pittsburgh locker room, they would all stand and shout
in agreement that once again, there is no one like Mario. They would be
collectively correct in their proclamations.
But even miracle workers have their limits.
Rob Parent covers the NHL for the Delaware County (Pa.) Times. He is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.
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