MONTREAL -- He stood in the glare of the television cameras and the intermittent flashes from the photographers' cameras and held up his hand. The Olympic rings glittered on Mario Lemieux's finger, the interlocking circles of diamonds glinting from a gold ring.

The Pittsburgh Penguins owner/captain had been given the ring, to mark Canada's first gold medal at the Olympic Games in 50 years, earlier in the day by Team Canada management.

As the captain of Team Canada, Lemieux, despite playing on one leg, successfully carried the hopes of a hockey nation on his sometimes wonky back.

Carrying a league like the NHL should be no sweat, right?

With the NHL's crackdown on obstruction getting mostly good reviews, Lemieux is once again finding room to move and cultivate his legend.

"It's a lot easier on my back," said Lemieux, "when I don't have to carry a couple of guys. Hopefully the league is going to keep it up for the whole year."

Lemieux is happy these days and that means all people who are fans of hockey, who love the game, should be happy as well.

They should look forward to games like Monday's when Lemieux and his Penguins beat Jaromir Jagr and the Washington Capitals in a matchup of the game's two greatest offensive players (no slight intended to Tampa Bay's Martin St. Louis). They won a pair of Stanley Cups together in Pittsburgh. They finished 1-2 in the NHL scoring race in 1995-96, combining for 310 points. When Lemieux retired because of back problems, Jagr carried on, winning the Art Ross Trophy in each of the three seasons Lemieux was out. Lemieux returned in December of 2000 and helped Jagr rally to win the scoring title again.

But Lemieux's return to the Penguins also made Jagr (and his $10 million a year salary) expendable for the fiscally challenged franchise and Jagr was shipped to the Capitals in the summer of 2001 for three prospects. People with way too much time on their hands liked to point out that "Jaromir" could be rearranged to spell "Mario Jr." It's fitting. He was viewed as Lemieux's heir and he's delivered, for the most part, as the game's top individual talent.

But he lacks that intangible that Lemieux can put into play, the almost regal bearing Lemieux has on the ice which buys him respect, space and time. You can sum it up in a word: presence.

Lemieux once again leads the NHL in scoring and initiates a buzz around the game that neither Jagr nor anyone of his hockey generation have been capable of creating. The points are there for all to see, but more importantly, Lemieux is moving with a grace and ease that has not been evident since the Penguins' Stanley Cup years. His back and hip are good and those around him say they have never seen him in better shape.

For years, cranking up his offseason program meant playing 36 holes a day for Lemieux. He cut his golf habit to just two days a week last summer.

"He's flying right now. All summer we heard stories about him working out and he really was," said Penguins defenseman Ian Moran.

"You can tell how much he enjoys the game," said linemate Alexei Kovalev.

Lemieux's game used to dwell in the spotlight. Rink-length dashes, mad dangles, brash, bold strokes. It is the game Jagr still paints. Now Lemieux employs more of a stealth attack. He appears to glide on the periphery, conjuring plays from the halfboards, using his brain and hands and his more youthful linemates' legs.

"Maybe a few years ago, there were not enough pucks," Lemieux said of playing with Kovalev. "Now, there is. He's able to carry the puck a lot better than I am at this stage of my career."

"I'm not surprised," said Kovalev. "You can't lose skill. It stays with you. He's maybe not as fast as when he was younger, but he can still handle the game by himself. He can slow it right down."

With the crackdown on obstruction, the players away from the puck are more dangerous and that makes Lemieux more dangerous when he has it. Nobody in the game has his vision.

"The give-and-go in our game was gone," he said. "Now it's back."

Detroit Red Wings defenseman Chris Chelios, a spry 40, has been following Lemieux's progress. He offers an assessment which should chill NHL goaltenders and defensemen.

"If he's working out now and he feels good physically, that's great. That's what matters," Chelios told reporters when the Penguins passed through Detroit on Friday. "I'll go further: If he keeps working out like he is, maybe he's going to get better, if that's even possible. That's how I feel about it. Where does it say that he can't get better? He's a smarter player now than ever, and he's in the best shape of his life."

The NHL can talk all it wants about increasing the flow of the game and opening it up for the skilled players. The casual fan can have trouble catching the nuances.

But there is no mistaking the smile on the face of Mario Lemieux.

Chris Stevenson covers the NHL for the Ottawa Sun and is a frequent contributor to ESPN.com.