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Thursday, August 23, 2001
Lemieux to skip back-to-back road games
Associated Press
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PITTSBURGH -- Mario Lemieux, already working out for what
would be his first full NHL season in five years, plans to sit out
nearly one-quarter of the Pittsburgh Penguins' games to stay
healthy for the playoffs.
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Lemieux, who is also the owner of the Penguins, missed only a
handful of games after ending a 44-month retirement in December. But he said Tuesday he expects to miss all road games when the team plays
on consecutive nights.
Despite sitting out some action, Lemieux will be the Penguins' highest-paid player next season, earning a $5 million salary on his one-year contract, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported on Thursday. The salary ranks 31st among NHL players.
Because the NHL schedule is more compressed than usual due to
the two-week Olympic shutdown in February, the Penguins play on
consecutive nights 17 times during their 82-game schedule. Lemieux
doesn't foresee any situation in which he would play two nights in
a row.
If the Penguins are on the road on a Friday and at home on a
Saturday, for example, he will play only in the home game.
Lemieux, who was long troubled by back problems, hasn't had any
back pain since January -- "My back feels great," he said -- but he
wants to be well rested when the playoffs begin in April.
"I've got to do what's best for myself and team and fans
here," he said. "If I go to Nashville and get injured and can't
play here the next night before the people who support us, it's not
very smart."
The Penguins sold out every home game after Lemieux returned
last season but, without five-time scoring champion Jaromir Jagr to
help push ticket sales, they obviously want Lemieux to play every
home game possible.
Lemieux, who once did little offseason conditioning, began
working out with conditioning expert Jay Caufield, a former
Penguins defenseman, about 10 days ago and will stay in training
until camp opens early next month.
"I know what it takes to get back in shape and I what I have to
do," said Lemieux, who will turn 36 the week the season opens.
"That's what I've been doing with Jay over the last 10 days. I've
been skating all week now, and (Flyers forward) Mark Recchi and a
couple of more guys are coming in this week, just getting back to
the routine of getting into shape and getting ready for training
camp."
Lemieux also will attend the Canadian Olympic team's minicamp
Sept. 4-7 in Calgary, but doubts if the workouts will be very
strenuous. He expects the session with executive director Wayne
Gretzky and coach Pat Quinn to be mostly informal, with little
on-ice work.
"I don't know if it's going to be a camp," Lemieux said. "I
don't know what it's going to be. We'll probably be on the ice for
an hour, and then it's golf."
Although the Olympics could be two weeks of intense,
playoff-caliber hockey that will divide the Penguins among six
national teams, Lemieux isn't re-rethinking his Olympic
participation.
Lemieux has never played in the Olympics -- he was retired in
1998 when the NHL shut down for the Nagano Olympics -- and thus will
be one of the most watched players in Salt Lake City.
"I'm delighted to be going and have a chance to win the gold,"
he said.
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