Signing Lang A Priority In Busy Offseason
By Bob Grove

As the 2001-02 National Hockey League regular season winds down, Penguins' general manager Craig Patrick is in a very unusual position: on the outside looking in at the Eastern Conference playoff race. Previously, the only Pittsburgh team to miss the playoffs under Patrick was the one he inherited when he replaced Tony Esposito in December 1989.

But all that disappointment on the ice kept Patrick busy off it. He moved defenseman Darius Kasparatis to Colorado for left wing Ville Nieminen and defenseman Rick Berry at the NHL trade deadline last month, culminating a five-day roster shakeout that sent three players packing and brought six new players to the Penguins.

And if Pittsburgh misses the playoffs, as expected, Patrick will have a head start on another busy summer. He won't have quite the workload that he carried one year ago, but Patrick will be faced with some interesting challenges as he tries to re-tool his team with a modest payroll.

Priority No. 1, at least as it was established at the trade deadline, will be to re-sign Robert Lang, the 31-year-old center Patrick decided to keep despite the fact Lang will become an unrestricted free agent July 1. "We fully intend to re-sign him," Patrick said.

Lang was awarded a $2.9 million, one-year contract in arbitration last summer, and he subsequently rejected an offer from Pittsburgh that would have reduced his salary while adding years to the contract. Lang turned his career around here and likes Pittsburgh, where his game is a perfect fit. But big money usually outweighs other considerations, and it seems likely that Lang will receive offers in the $3 million range that the Penguins last summer considered too steep.

Another top six forward who will be seeking a raise is right wing Aleksey Morozov, who earned just $726,000 this season but finally appears to have figured out how to succeed as an NHL scorer. He will be a restricted free agent with little bargaining leverage, but after establishing career highs in every major offensive category Morozov will easily be worth more than $1 million per season.

Nieminen earned just $500,000 this season and will also become a restricted free agent. It's uncertain what Patrick might offer center Randy Robitaille ($525,000), who was claimed off waivers from Los Angeles in January and became a surprisingly consistent point producer later in the season ­ although his defensive shortcomings remain.

Other restricted free agents among the forwards include left wing Dan Lacouture ($400,000), right wing Shean Donovan ($622,000), claimed off waivers from Atlanta last month, and right wing Krzysztof Oliwa ($900,000), whose ice time was limited this season.

Two of Patrick's newest defensemen, Berry ($375,000) and Jamie Pushor ($950,000), acquired from Columbus last month for a fourth-round 2003 draft choice, will also become restricted free agents. So, too, will defensemen Josef Melichar ($450,000) and Michal Rozsival ($600,000), and both figure prominently in the Penguins' future. Melichar, in particular, was very impressive in his first full NHL season and should land a considerable raise.

Defenseman Andrew Ference ($400,000) also needs a new contract but is coming off a very disappointing season.

No. 1 goaltender Johan Hedberg is signed, but the future of backup Jean-Sebastien Aubin ($770,000) is very uncertain as he becomes a restricted free agent. Aubin, who has never been a comfortable fit with the Penguins, has not shown the mental toughness his job demands.

The Penguins, of course, are still in need of an offensive defenseman to run the point on the power play. Having acquired center Kent Manderville from Philadelphia in the Billy Tibbetts trade, Patrick might have to make a decision between Manderville and Wayne Primeau, a similar player who missed half the season with a knee injury and is signed for two more seasons.