His is a face that seldom changes, refusing to reveal much to either the thrill of victory or the agony of his back. When it comes to bearing his pain or baring his soul, John LeClair always has been as difficult a study as the Philadelphia Flyers themselves, which might account for why so many people had mistakenly written him off.

	When LeClair Scores ...
	Below are the Flyers' records over the past three seasons in games John LeClair scores:
	Season	LeClair	Flyers
	00-01	7 goals*	3-1-0-0
	01-02	25 goals**	17-0-4-0
	02-03	7 goals*	2-0-1-0
	* - two multiple-goal games; ** - four multiple-goal games

After signing a five-year, $45 million contract extension after his 2000-01 season was reduced to 12 points in 16 games by back problems, LeClair remained a quiet, not-so-confident voice on the joint topics of health and declining production last season. He would occasionally say he didn't "feel quite right," refusing to acknowledge the affect the back surgery and subsequent spinal infection was having on his game. LeClair scored 25 goals and added 26 assists last season, but no one seemed to notice he played all 82 games. That's because in so many of them, it seemed like he wasn't there at all.

"It got to a point of where he wasn't even going out there on 5-on-3 situations," Flyers president Bob Clarke said. "You'd think it might have something to do with the injury, and that it was a matter of time, but when he can't even get out there on a 5-on-3, that was affecting his confidence."

After another unproductive season by LeClair turned into another first-round playoff exit for the Flyers, it became obvious there was at least some connection between his health and the Flyers' lack of success. So when the 33-year-old announced amid an inactive Flyers offseason that he was submitting to a second surgical procedure on his back, the critics thought the die -- both of LeClair's career and the Flyers' immediate fortunes -- was again cast in plaster.

Just over three months later, the Flyers are off to a fast start and LeClair is among the league leaders in goals.

"I'm able to get into positions to score a little more now. I feel like I can move a lot better," he said. "I'm a lot more pain-free. With more strength I'm able to get more opportunities."

Now playing on a line with center Jeremy Roenick and winger Mark Recchi -- who is also in the midst of a season of personal redemption -- LeClair has simply done things on the ice he hasn't shown since a healthy Eric Lindros was by his side.

"I didn't know what to expect out of myself," LeClair recently admitted. "But my back feels good. That's the least of my worries right now as far as my game is concerned. If I do the right things, the goals are going to come. I'm looking forward to having a much better year. Agility wise, I'm a lot better. As far as my skating is concerned, the strength in my right leg is a lot better and that's made a big difference."

New coach Ken Hitchcock has maintained from the start of training camp that LeClair -- and, in turn, the Flyers -- could return to the days of 40 goals and more than one playoff round. LeClair just needed a refresher course in the finer points of the way he used to play.

"He is still a world-class player. He proved that in the Olympics this year," Hitchcock said. "He was trying to put finesse ahead of work and now it's work ahead of finesse, and he's having success. He was pressing so hard for goals that he was forgetting he's one of the best players in the league at taking away people's time and space. What he's doing right now is taking away the defenseman's space on the ice. He's playing very physical and that's giving him opportunities."

	“	When we got traded for each other a long time ago (in 1995), it seemed like he'd score three every time he came in here. I'd tell him to slow down. Now he's my teammate and I'm saying, 'Keep on going.' ”
		— Mark Recchi on LeClair's production against the Canadiens

Rarely in recent years has LeClair created so much scoring space for himself in one game than he did Oct. 15 in Montreal. By the time the dizzy Canadiens had ended their fruitless attempts at defending, slashing or just tackling LeClair in their zone, he had registered four goals in leading the Flyers to a 6-2 victory.

"When we got traded for each other a long time ago (in 1995), it seemed like he'd score three every time he came in here," Recchi said that night. "I'd tell him to slow down. Now he's my teammate and I'm saying, 'Keep on going.' "

To Hitchcock, LeClair's performances are indicative of what this new top line has done for the Flyers -- surprise people who thought they knew these guys well.

"They're not playing a skilled game, but they're playing a hard-working game and they're getting all kinds of offensive opportunities because of it," said Hitchcock. "They seem to find each other really well, and when you have three players who can all score it's very dangerous, especially when they're working as hard as they are working. I think they're scoring all their goals because they're winning races to pucks and winning one-on-one battles."

In addition to the work of his linemates and the direction of a new coach, LeClair has had help in finding himself. The new enforcement mandates on obstruction have given LeClair a newfound comfort zone.

Official assistance aside, LeClair is still playing the kind of game he was accustomed to as one-third of the famed Legion of Doom line that wreaked so much havoc on opponents in the mid-to-late 1990s. If that seems so long ago, it's only because Lindros is gone and, for a while, so was LeClair.

It's not surprising that the club executive who had handed him all that guaranteed money in 2001 wouldn't count himself among the doubters. But you get the feeling that when it comes to LeClair, Clarke has had his fingers crossed for a long time.

"He's skating better and he's handling the puck better," Clarke said. "He just looks to me to be more confident out there."

Of course, there was never a doubt about that, was there? At least never one to talk about. And if John LeClair keeps answering such unspoken questions the way he has during the first two weeks of the season, the future fortunes for a relatively unchanged Flyers team are bound to follow a similarly charted path.

High or low, right or wrong, thrilling or agonizing, that's just the way it's always seemed to be.

Rob Parent of the Delaware County (Pa.) Times is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.