Sorry, Predators fans. You'll have to wait another season to see Mario Lemieux play in Nashville.

	The Missing One
	Following is a projection of what games Mario Lemieux will miss during the 2001-02 season:
	Oct. 23	at Atlanta
	Oct. 27	at Toronto
	Oct. 31	at Philadelphia
	Nov. 6	at Carolina
	or
	Nov. 7	at Florida
	Dec. 11	at Washington
	Dec. 22	at Washington
	Jan. 6	at Chicago
	Jan. 24	at N.Y. Islanders
	Jan. 29	at Philadelphia
	Feb. 10	at N.Y. Rangers
	Feb. 28	at Columbus
	March 4	at N.Y. Islanders
	March 13	at Anaheim
	March 16	at Los Angeles
	April 3	at Florida
	or
	April 4	at Tampa Bay

The Penguins player/owner is planning on missing roughly a quarter (or 20 games) of the 2001-02 NHL season by sitting out road games when the team plays on back-to-back days in order to preserve his back for the playoffs.

The Predators, who entered the NHL a year after Lemieux first retired in 1997, played Pittsburgh in Japan last season, but was still one of 10 teams that hosted them before Super Mario began his comeback on Dec. 27 of last season. The Penguins' Nov. 23 visit next season falls on the night before a home game against Buffalo.

Nashville isn't the only team missing Lemieux for two consecutive seasons. However, fans in Denver and Detroit wouldn't have seen him play anyway as the Penguins aren't scheduled to visit the Pepsi Center or Joe Louis Arena in 2001-02.

If Lemieux sticks to his plan, he also will miss solo dates in Chicago and Columbus, as well as both of the Penguins' visits to Florida and Washington, where his former teammate Jaromir Jagr now plays.

It will be fairly easy for Lemieux to count on days off during the first half of the season. However, the situation gets a little dicey just before the Olympic break.

Because the Penguins host the Devils on Saturday, Feb. 9, Lemieux will skip the Penguins' Feb. 10 visit to the New York Rangers. But what about the Feb. 12 game at Ottawa? Team Canada's Olympic schedule begins with four straight games, Feb. 15-18, so it's conceivable Lemieux may ditch the Senators trip and give himself almost a week of rest before the Games.

To play or not to play will be a constant question in March. The two-week Olympic break forced the NHL to squish 14 games -- nine home, five road -- into 29 days. The Penguins play on consecutive nights twice, but one of those sets is at home. The only other options for time off are to forgo the four-day California swing to Anaheim and L.A., or sit out stand-alone games at Atlanta or Montreal.

If a home-ice playoff berth on the line in April, it's difficult to imagine Lemieux won't play in all four games of the Penguins' road trip, which happens to begin with consecutive games at Florida and Tampa Bay. Nor would he skip the season finale at Boston, even though it's the second of back-to-back games.

Sherry Skalko is the NHL Editor for ESPN.com.