Definite Uncertainty
Camp Roster More Unsettled Than In Recent Years
By Bob Grove

No one who skated for the Penguins last season gets a warm and fuzzy feeling looking back. There was a surprisingly early coaching change, a parade of injuries, an embarrassing finish that included six victories in the final 31 games and, of course, the team's first absence from the Stanley Cup playoffs in 12 seasons.

All the losing and all the injuries, combined with a lack of organizational depth, pushed several younger Penguins into the lineup for periods of time that could not have been imagined last fall. In fact, 12 Pittsburgh players aged 24 or younger spent more time in the NHL last season than ever before, and only a handful of those could truthfully reconcile their playing time with their performance.

Their window of continued opportunity remains, but it will be considerably smaller for many of them when training camp opens at Southpointe Sept. 12. "Just because you were here last year," says coach Rick Kehoe, "doesn't mean you have a job this year. You have to earn it."

It's a standard NHL line but one with considerable relevance this fall. General manager Craig Patrick acquired five veterans after Christmas last season, only one of whom (left wing Jeff Toms) has since departed, and Patrick had added six more veterans to his camp roster through mid-August. Training camp is traditionally a time for young players to push older ones, but next month it will in some cases be the other way around for the Penguins.

Centers Toby Petersen (79 games played last season) and Milan Kraft (68) and right wing Eric Meloche (23) will be hard-pressed to match those numbers, and the same may even be true for center Kris Beech (79), who finished 12th in scoring among NHL rookies last season.

For talented youngsters with no NHL experience, players like left wing Matt Murley, center Michal Sivek, right wing Konstantin Koltsov and defensemen Brooks Orpik and Robert Scuderi, it will be doubly difficult to put themselves on the roster for the Penguins' season opener Oct. 10 against Toronto.

"Last year when we came to camp, we were coming off a pretty good year and we had a pretty strong nucleus still there," says Kehoe, who replaced Ivan Hlinka four games into the 2001-02 season. "Now, we've lost a few more parts of that nucleus (Robert Lang and Darius Kasparaitis), and it's time for someone else to fill them."

As the Penguins' roster shakes itself out in camp, it's possible that playing time will fall to veterans like defenseman Marc Bergevin and left wings Vladimir Vujtek and Steve McKenna, all signed this summer as unrestricted free agents, or to waiver wire acquisition Dick Tarnstrom, 27, a defenseman who finally reached the NHL last season with the New York Islanders.

Or, remarkably, to right wing Alexandre Daigle, 27, the former No. 1 overall pick in 1993 who bombed with Ottawa, Philadelphia, Tampa Bay and the New York Rangers before retiring from hockey. He's coming to camp on a tryout contract, attempting to prove he has a passion for the game that might even approximate the level of his natural skills.

Two lingering questions

The nucleus of which Kehoe speaks, of course, includes Mario Lemieux, who turns 37 next month, and Martin Straka —two centers with more long-term and recent bad injury karma, respectively, than just about any pair of NHL players one could throw together. Unfortunately for Kehoe, he can't be sure how much either one will be able to play this season, which makes the performance of center Randy Robitaille critical.

Lemieux, limited to 24 games last season because of hip problems, was hoping to play 60 to 70 games this season but did push back his timetable for skating last month. "You never know with Mario," Kehoe said. "But I've seen him a few times (recently), and he's feeling good and looking forward to training camp."

Straka, who injured his back during off-season weight training, will be re-evaluated in early September and is not expected to be ready for the start of the season. "The way we're looking at it is that whenever Marty comes back, it will be a bonus," says Kehoe, who can also use Straka at left wing. "Until then, we can't be counting him in the equation."

The case for competition

Although there's no drama in goal, where Johan Hedberg and Jean-Sebastien Aubin are set, there's plenty of competition on defense, where the camp roster will include at least 12 players with NHL experience—although neither Mike Wilson nor Francois Leroux is expected to seriously challenge for a job. Josef Melichar and Michal Rozsival, restricted free agents who were both without contracts in mid-August, top a promising group of young defensemen that also includes Andrew Ference and Rick Berry.

Joining Bergevin and Tarnstrom in the battle are veterans Janne Laukkanen, Jamie Pushor, Ian Moran and Hans Jonsson. After failing to make the team last season, Orpik is also expected to make a push to graduate from the AHL.

"It will be a lot different. I expect a lot more of myself," says Orpik, who played five preseason games last fall before being reassigned. "Last year, I'd be out there with guys like Kovalev and Lemieux, even if they're on your side, you'd kind of catch yourself watching because you couldn't believe you're playing with these guys. Now you go into it thinking, 'You belong here.' "

A flexible forward

Kehoe has the luxury of playing Jan Hrdina at either center or left wing, which is important given the uncertainty surrounding Lemieux and Straka.

At left wing Hrdina would join McKenna, Vujtek, Dan LaCouture and Ville Nieminen, who was unimpressive after being acquired from Colorado in the Kasparaitis deal. At center, Hrdina would join Lemieux, Robitaille, Beech, Kent Manderville and Wayne Primeau, who is coming off a serious knee injury.

Kehoe will be expecting plenty of goals from his two top right wings, Alexei Kovalev and Aleksey Morozov. Veteran Shean Donovan would again be used in a checking role.