Lemieux

Super Mario didn't flat-out say he was going to return, but he dropped plenty of hints that suggest an official announcement is just a formality.

According to published reports in Pittsburgh, Mario Lemieux will announce as soon as Wednesday that he plans on returning to the Penguins for a 16th NHL season.

"If I feel 100 percent physically and mentally, I'd love to play," Lemieux said at a Penguins alumni golf outing yesterday in Oglebay in Wheeling, W. Va.

When asked if he felt that way, Lemieux responded: "Yeah, absolutely. After a couple of months of rest, it's a chance to recharge the battery. I feel pretty good."

Lemieux, who turns 38 five days before the Penguins' Oct. 10 season opener, said he has had no problems with his back this summer, even though he has intensified his offseason training program, which began six weeks ago. According to the reports, he plans on hitting the ice by the third week of August.

Lemieux, who came out of retirement in December 2000, had been contemplating whether to again call it quits, but he seems more ready to prove he can still be one of the league's top players.

"(Workouts are) a lot tougher," Super Mario told the media Monday. "Once you get up to 37, 38 years old, it's a different regimen. You have to work a lot harder at it. But it's something that I enjoy doing now, more than earlier in my career. I feel it's important to work out year-round if you want to be one of the top players in the league."

Lemieux hinted strongly at the end of the season in April that he wouldn't play again as the Penguins rebuild with younger players. But Pens goaltender Johan Hedberg hinted last month that he thought Lemieux would return.

"Everything Mario said seemed to point to that he will play next season," Hedberg told the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet in late June. "We talked about next season. The way I understood it, he will play one more season. It'll be really fun if he makes that choice. Then, we get a superstar who can win any given game."

Team officials have said the longer Lemieux waits to make a decision, the more optimistic they are that Lemieux will keep playing.

Lemieux is the all-time NHL leader in points per game and also serves as the Penguins' owner. Staying in the lineup also might improve Lemieux's chances of landing a new arena deal for the Penguins, who are trying to line up financing for a building to replace 42-year-old Mellon Arena.

Lemieux's return also would be a plus for new coach Eddie Olczyk, who has no coaching experience at any organized level of hockey.