Chase's Pittsburgh Penguins Ice Capade

[Chase56]

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Ownership
Mario Lemieux Ownership
Chase Hughey Ownership

Executive Committee

Mario Lemieux/Chase Hughey Chairman and CEO
Ken Sawyer President and Governor
Craig Patrick Executive Vice President/General Manager

Coaching Staff
Eddie Olczyk Head Coach
Joe Mullen Assistant Coach
Randy Hillier Asisstant Coach

Hockey Operations
Ed Johnston Assistant General Manager
Greg Malone Head Scout
Rick Kehoe Professional Scout
Gilles Meloche Scout/Goaltending Coach
Wayne Daniels Scout
Chuck Grillo Scout
Charlie Hodge Scout
Mark Kelley European Scout
Richard Rose Scout
Neil Shea Scout
John Welday Strength/Conditioning Coach
Steve Latin Equipment Manager
Paul Flati Assistant Equipment Manager
Paul DeFazio Equipment Staff
Dr. Charles Burke Team Physician
Paul Fink Video Coordinator
Scott Johnson Athletic Trainer
Mark Mortland Athletic Trainer

Will be playing NHL 06, which comes out September 6th. I have NEVER seen a NHL franchise done on here, and mother fuckers i'll start it off. I hope others do the same.

[Chase56]

Biography of Mario Lemieux
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MARIO LEMIEUX
Chairman and CEO

The greatest player in franchise history and already a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, Mario Lemieux enters his fourth season in the unique role as player-owner of the Penguins.

“I love the game, I love to play, and I’m looking forward to working with our young players,” Lemieux said in July, when he announced he would return to the ice for his 16th season as a Penguin. “I see a bright future for our franchise. It’s an exciting time.”

Lemieux’s name has become virtually synonomous with the Penguins franchise, and he established himself as one of Pittsburgh’s all-time sports legends even before he assembled a group of investors to buy the club out of bankruptcy in September, 1999.

The first pick overall in the 1984 draft, Lemieux scored more than 600 goals and 1,400 points and led the Penguins to two Stanley Cups during the “first portion” of his career from 1984-97. He won six NHL scoring titles, three league MVP trophies and two Conn Smythe Trophies as MVP of the playoffs in addition to the two Cups – all this despite a stunning series of medical setbacks, including a battle with cancer and two major back operations, that led to his premature retirement in 1997 at the tender age of 31.

In honor of his prodigious feats, the Hockey Hall of Fame waived its normal three-year waiting period and enshrined Lemieux in November, 1997, less than seven months after he’d played his “final” game.

But we hadn’t seen the last of him.

It was a unique and dramatic set of circumstances that led him back to the game – and the business – at the very highest level in the late 1990s. The Penguins, faltering under enormous debt and financial burdens, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October, 1998. And it was Lemieux, who’d agreed to defer much of the salary from his final contract, who was left as the largest unsecured creditor.

In a matter of months, he assembled and spearheaded a group of investors to buy the team out of bankruptcy and restore its financial health. They submitted a reorganization plan to U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Bernard Markovitz in March of 1999, had it confirmed in June and – after several months of intense negotiations with partners and vendors – received final approval on September 3, 1999.

“No one could have done this but Mario Lemieux,” said NHL commissioner Gary Bettman. “Our hats are off to Mario and his investors and his management team.”

Lemieux thus became the first former player to own a professional sports team in the modern era. In his first season of ownership, he led a tremendous financial renaissance that saw the Penguins break even on an operating basis after losing $13 million the previous year.

And although Lemieux’s background was on the ice, not in the boardroom, his stature in the community and deft touch in negotiations made him a major player on the corporate scene.

What no one knew at the time was that the competitive fires had started to crackle inside him again – and that Lemieux himself was seriously considering a comeback.

The seed was planted while he watched the Penguins’ 2000 playoff series against the Philadelphia Flyers from the owner’s box at Mellon Arena, and it continued to grow when he accompanied the team to Tokyo to begin the 2000-01 season with two games against the Nashville Predators.

By late November of 2000, several weeks after conducting private workouts with former teammate Jay Caufield, Lemieux had decided to make a comeback as a player.

The word leaked out in early December and became front-page headline news. The hockey world was abuzz. Lemieux targeted a Dec. 27 home game vs. Toronto for his return engagement, and the Penguins had to order extra phone lines to accommodate the ticket demand.

In his first game back, before a throbbing sellout crowd at Mellon Arena and a national television audience, Lemieux again displayed his amazing flair for the dramatic by recording an assist 33 seconds into his first shift (sports historians remembered how he’d scored a goal on his first NHL shot, on his first shift, as a teenager back in 1984). He finished with a goal and two assists in a 5-0 Penguins victory on that memorable night.

And he never let up. He rang up 12 points in his first four games and finished the 2000-01 regular season with 35 goals and 41 assists for 76 points in 43 games. Then, in the cauldron of the Stanley Cup playoffs, he paced the Penguins with 17 points in 18 games and led them to the Eastern Conference finals, where they finally were derailed by the New Jersey Devils. Still, it was the first time since 1996 that they’d reached the third round of the playoffs.

Lemieux had high hopes for a continuation of his success in 2001-02, but a hip injury suffered in training camp required surgery in late October and hampered him for the entire season. Although he was able to help Team Canada to a gold medal in the two-week Olympic tournament at Salt Lake City, he was able to play just 24 games for the Penguins, recording 31 points, and missed the final month and a half of the regular season.

He started strong in 2002-03 and led the league in scoring for much of the season before eventually finishing eighth with 28 goals and 63 assists for 91 points in 67 games.

Entering the 2002-03, his career numbers were 682 goals and 1,692 points in 879 games, and he was closing in on tantalizing career milestones of 700 goals and 1,700 points.

In addition to his feats in the hockey world, Lemieux continues to oversee the Mario Lemieux Foundation for cancer research and neo-natal research and hosts its annual celebrity golf tournament, which raises millions of dollars for charity.

In February 2001, Lemieux announced that the foundation was making a $5 million gift to the UPMC Health System to create the Mario Lemieux Centers for Patient Care and Research.

Mario, his wife Nathalie and their four children live in the Pittsburgh suburb of Sewickley.

[Chase56]

The Igloo that Mario built: Mellon Arena.

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Seating Chart
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Downtown during Penguins season

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Oldest Stadium in North America

The current Mellon Arena is the oldest in North America and was built during the first Eisenhower Administration. Since the arena was built the Steelers have played in Forbes Field, Pitt Stadium, Three Rivers Stadium, and Heinz Field. The Pirates, Steelers, Eagles, Phillies, 76ers, Flyers, Pitt Basketball, and even the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and Hershey Bears, all have new facilities. That leaves the Pittsburgh Penguins as the only professional sports franchise in the state (and by the way, the last to win a league championship, in 1992) without a new arena. It’s time!

[Chase56]

The History

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Why called the Penguins?

There was a lot of work to be done, of course, and one of the first tasks was naming the team. (Part-owner Peter) Block was adamant that it would not be called the Hornets. "There was some (support) for it, but I basically said I wouldn't allow it," he said. "The Hornets were a minor-league team. I knew we were going to get some bad players (in the expansion draft), and I didn't want to be called just another minor-league team."

The obligatory newspaper contest was launched in the Post-Gazette, but (part-owner Jack) McGregor's wife, the former Carol Dangerfield of Edgewood, had already found one she liked.

"When Jack got the franchise, he was so thrilled," she remembered. "Then he said, 'Oh my gosh, we've got to name it.' I said, 'I love to think of things like that.' I was thinking of something with a P. And I said to Jack, 'What do they call the Civic Arena?' And he said, 'The Big Igloo.' So I thought, ice. . . Pittsburgh. . . Penguins.

"We talked about other names, but we kept coming back to the Penguins. Our friends really liked it. We pictured the uniforms being black and white."

McGregor believes word of ownership's choice leaked out, which explained why more than 700 of the 26,000 contests entries bore the name Penguins. Ownership's choice was announced on Feb. 10, 1967, and five days later the name of Emily Roberts of Belle Vernon was drawn as the contest winner, making her the first Penguins' season ticket holder.

Notes from Bob Grove:
There was some serious opposition to the name, even by members of the management. GM Jack Riley didn't like it at all. Riley, by the way, was the guy who gave the Penguins' first uniforms their colors: Columbia Blue, Navy Blue and white. They copied the colors of the famed St. Michael's Majors junior team in Toronto.

[Chase56]

All Time Statistics

Penguins Single Season Records
(From 1967-2003)
(All seasons are 80 games or less unless indicated)

MOST GOALS
Overall: 85 - Mario Lemieux (1988-89)
Center: 85 - Mario Lemieux (1988-89)
Right Wing: 62 - Jaromir Jagr (1995-96)**
Left Wing: 55 - Kevin Stevens (1992-93)*
54 - Kevin Stevens (1991-92)
Defenseman: 30 - Paul Coffey (1988-89)
Rookie: 43 - Mario Lemieux (1984-85)
Rookie Defenseman: 12 - Zarley Zalapski (1988-89)
* = 84 game season
** = 82 game season

MOST ASSISTS
Overall: 114 - Mario Lemieux (1988-89)
Center: 114 - Mario Lemieux (1988-89)
Right Wing: 87 - Jaromir Jagr (1995-96)**
Left Wing: 69 - Kevin Stevens (1991-92)
Defenseman: 83 - Paul Coffey (1988-89)
Rookie: 57 - Mario Lemieux (1984-85)
Rookie Defenseman: 33 - Zarley Zalapski (1988-89)
Goaltender: 8 - Tom Barrasso (1992-93)*
5 - Tom Barrasso (1988-89)
5 - Tom Barrasso (1990-91)
* = 84 game season
** = 82 game season

MOST POINTS
Overall: 199 - Mario Lemieux (1988-89)
Center: 199 - Mario Lemieux (1988-89)
Right Wing: 149 - Jaromir Jagr (1995-96)**
Left Wing: 123 - Kevin Stevens (1991-92)
Defenseman: 113 - Paul Coffey (1988-89)
Rookie: 100 - Mario Lemieux (1984-85)
Rookie Defenseman: 45 - Zarley Zalapski (1988-89)
** = 82 game season

MOST PENALTY MINUTES
Overall: 409 - Paul Baxter (1981-82)
Center: 157 - Dave Hannan (1988-89)
Right Wing: 285 - Jay Caufield (1988-89)
Left Wing: 378 - Dave Schultz (1977-78)
Defenseman: 409 - Paul Baxter (1981-82)
Rookie: 285 - Jay Caufield (1988-89)
Rookie Defenseman: 172 - Colin Campbell (1974-75)
Goaltender: 60 - Andy Brown (1973-74)

MOST SHOTS
Overall: 403 - Jaromir Jagr (1995-96)**
Center: 382 - Mario Lemieux (1987-88)
Right Wing: 403 - Jaromir Jagr (1995-96)**
299 - Jean Pronovost (1975-76)
299 - Rick Kehoe (1980-81)
Left Wing: 326 - Kevin Stevens (1992-93)*
325 - Kevin Stevens (1991-92)
Defenseman: 342 - Paul Coffey (1988-89)
Rookie: 209 - Mario Lemieux (1984-85)
Rookie Defenseman: 156 - Darryl Edestrand (1971-72)
* = 84 game season
** = 82 game season

MOST POWER PLAY GOALS
Overall: 31 - Mario Lemieux (1988-89)
31 - Mario Lemieux (1995-96)**
Center: 31 - Mario Lemieux (1988-89)
31 - Mario Lemieux (1995-96)**
Right Wing: 24 - Rob Brown (1988-89)
Left Wing: 26 - Kevin Stevens (1992-93)*
19 - Kevin Stevens (1991-92)
Defenseman: 13 - Doug Bodger (1987-88)
13 - Kevin Hatcher (1997-98)**
Rookie: 13 - Rob Brown (1987-88)
Rookie Defenseman: 5 - Zarley Zalapski (1988-89)
* = 84 game season
** = 82 game season

MOST SHORT-HANDED GOALS
Overall: 13 - Mario Lemieux (1988-89)
Center: 13 - Mario Lemieux (1988-89)
Right Wing: 4 - Jean Pronovost (1973-74)
4 - Rick Tocchet (1992-93)*
Left Wing: 4 - Vic Hadfield (1974-75)
4 - Phil Bourque (1990-91)
Defenseman: 2 - Bob Woytowich (1968-69)
2 - Moe Mantha (1985-86)
2 - Paul Coffey (1987-88)
2 - Grant Jennings (1991-92)
2 - Larry Murphy (1991-92)
2 - Larry Murphy (1992-93)*
2 - Darius Kasparaitis (1997-98)**
2 - Kevin Hatcher (1998-99)**
Rookie: 2 - Jean Pronovost (1968-69)
2 - Mitch Lamoureaux (1984-85)
2 - Randy Cunneyworth (1985-86)
2 - Mark Recchi (1989-90)
* = 84 game season
** = 82 game season

[Chase56]

The Future
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Season Notes

2004-05: Named the Canadian Hockey League’s Player of the year and won his second consecutive CHL scoring title after recording 168 points (66+102) in 68 games with Rimouski of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League…Led the QMJHL playoffs in scoring with 31 points (14+17) in 13 games, leading Rimouski to the QMJHL championship and a berth in the Memorial Cup…Recorded 11 points (6+5) in five games during the Memorial Cup…Won a gold medal with Team Canada at the 2005 World Junior Championships in Grand Forks, ND…Tied for seventh in scoring at the World Juniors with nine points (6+3) in six games…Named CHL Player of the Week on five different occasions – week ending Sept. 26 (3gp, 2+8), week ending Jan. 30 (8+3), week ending Feb. 27 (2gp, 4+4), week ending Mar. 13 (2gp, 6+6) and week ending Mar. 20 (3gp, 2+9)…Recorded 74 points in 26 games with Rimouski (2.11 points per game) in 35 games before the 2005 World Junior Championships and recorded 94 points in 27 games with Rimouski (3.48 points per game) after the 2005 World Junior Championships…Averaged 2.71 points per game during the season, the second highest points per game average in the history of the Canadian Hockey League (Mario Lemieux, 4.03 ppg with Laval in 1983-84)…His 54-point margin in winning the CHL scoring title was the fourth largest margin in CHL history (Lemieux - 112 pts in 83-84, Rob Brown - 66 pts in 86-87, Guy Lafleur - 65 pts in 70-71)…Selected by the Penguins with the first pick in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft in Ottawa, Ontario…Third time the Penguins have selected first overall in the Entry Draft (1984 – Mario Lemieux, 2003 – Marc-Andre Fleury)... Finished his two-year career in the Canadian Hockey League with the second best points per game average in CHL history with a 2.51 points per game average (Mario Lemieux – 2.81 ppg)…Posted a Plus-127 rating in 121 career regular season games with Rimouski


Quick Facts

* Nickname: The Next One, Darryl (named after Hall of Famer Darryl Sittler), Baby Legs, Sid the Kid (given by sportscaster Jim Hughson)
* Current Team: Pittsburgh Penguins (NHL)
* Previous Team: Rimouski Océanic (QMJHL)
* Salary in QMJHL: $35/week (Rimouski Océanic)
* Hometown: Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia
* Place of Birth: Halifax, Nova Scotia
* Country: Canada
* DOB: August 7, 1987 (Zodiac Sign: Leo)
* Height: 5-foot-11
* Weight: 193 pounds
* Shoots: Left
* Position: Centre
* Jersey Number: 87

[edit]

Trivia

* At age 2 1/2 he would play in the basement of their home, which his father had painted white and added red and blue lines
* At age 3 Crosby started skating on ice
* At age 7 Crosby gave his first newspaper interview and was already on the radar of the sports press
* At age 14 he was featured on the CBC's show Hockey Day in Canada
* Wayne Gretzky told a reporter from The Arizona Republic, in answer to a question if a player may some day break some of his records: "Yes, Sidney Crosby. He's the best player I've seen since Mario Lemieux."
* On December 28, 2003 Crosby scored his first goal of the world junior hockey championship in a 7-2 win over Switzerland, becoming the youngest player ever to score for the team at age 16 years, 4 months, 24 days. The puck from Sidney's record making goal is in the Hockey Hall of Fame
* In 2003 Sidney was the only player under 18 invited to join the Canadian Junior Hockey Team
* While having great success in hockey, Crosby still manages to maintain an 85% average as a Grade 11 student.
* Sidney's father, Troy Crosby, was drafted by the Montreal Canadiens in the 1984 NHL Entry Draft.
* Was a Montreal Canadiens fan as a child.
* Appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on August 4, 2005, five days after being drafted by the Penguins.
* Arrived in Pittsburgh for the first time on August 10, 2005.
* Lives with Mario Lemieux's family during his rookie year in Pittsburgh.
* His jersey number is 87 due to his birthday being August 7, 1987 (8/7--87)

[Chase56]

Tenative Roster Set
Roster Pre Training Camp
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8 Matt Bradley RW 6-2 195 6/13/1978 Stittsville, Ontario, Canada
39 Sebastien Caron G 6-1 170 6/25/1980 Amqui, Quebec, Canada
87 Sidney Crosby C 5-11 193 8/7/1987 Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada
9 Rico Fata LW 6-1 200 2/12/1980 Sault St. Marie, Ontario, Canada
29 Marc-Andre Fleury G 6-2 176 11/28/1984 Sorel, Quebec, Canada
55 Sergei Gonchar D 6-1 212 4/13/1974 Chelyabinsk, USSR
22 Ric Jackman D 6-2 197 6/28/1978 Toronto, Ontario, Canada
71 Konstantin Koltsov RW 6-1 190 4/17/1981 Minsk, Belarus
14 Milan Kraft C 6-3 214 1/7/1980 Plzen, Czech Republic
10 John LeClair LW 6-3 226 7/5/1969 St. Albans, Vt., USA
66 Mario Lemieux LW 6-4 225 10/5/1965 Montreal, Quebec, Canada
12 Ryan Malone RW 6-4 215 12/1/1979 Pittsburgh, Pa., USA
2 Josef Melichar D 6-2 214 1/20/1979 Ceske-Budjovice, Czech Republic
44 Brooks Orpik D 6-2 224 9/26/1980 Amherst, N. Y., USA
33 Zigmund Palffy RW 5-10 183 5/5/1972 Skalica, Slovakia
11 Lasse Pirjeta LW 6-4 225 4/14/1974 Oulu, Finland
-- Steve Poapst D 6-0 199 1/3/1969 Cornwall, Ontario, Canada
8 Mark Recchi RW 5-10 190 2/1/1968 Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada
36 Andre Roy RW 6-4 221 2/8/1975 Port Chester, N.Y., USA
32 Dick Tarnstrom D 6-2 200 1/20/1975 Sundbyberg, Sweden
41 Jocelyn Thibault G 5-11 170 1/12/1975 Montreal, Quebec, Canada
37 Ryan VandenBussche RW 6-0 205 2/28/1973 Simcoe, Ontario, Canada

Line Charts

"Depth Charts won't be announced until after Training camp," says Coach Eddie Olcyzk. "I really have no say in anything, Chase and Mario are the real Coaches, I just put on a suit and look good. I do look good though."

Expect the 1st line to involve Mario, Sidney and Ziggy Palffy.

[Chase56]

Malone strikes a deal
Re-ups as Penguin for 1 year, $750,000
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By Dave Molinari, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Fear can make a man do funny things, and Ryan Malone proved it when he re-signed with the Penguins yesterday.

Malone was terrified by the thought that, if things broke wrong, someone might offer him a contract that would pay him entirely too much.

Not more than he is worth, necessarily, but more than the Penguins might have been willing to give him.

And that was a gamble he simply didn't care to take.

"I think I just got worried that if any team came in and offered lot of money, I wouldn't be here," Malone said after accepting a one-year deal worth $750,000. "This is the place I want to be. Hopefully, for a long time. We're going to have a great team."

Malone's contract includes a $700,000 salary and a $50,000 signing bonus.

Malone was a restricted free agent, which means the Penguins could have matched any offer he got from another club. They had no obligation to do so, however, which explains why Malone was concerned about the possibility of playing elsewhere.

The Penguins still have two prominent free agents, restricted defenseman Brooks Orpik and unrestricted center Mario Lemieux, to re-sign before training camp opens Sept. 13.

Negotiations with Orpik don't appear to have much traction; agent Lewis Gross said he has not heard from Penguins general manager Craig Patrick since sending him a revised contract proposal Wednesday.

"Do I see any progress?" Gross said. "No."

Nonetheless, Orpik is expected to carry through with his plans to travel here this weekend.

Repeated attempts to contact Patrick were unsuccessful.

Talks between Patrick and Lemieux haven't begun, and probably never will. They really aren't necessary, since doubling as the team's primary owner prevents Lemieux from shopping his services around the league.

What's more, Lemieux plans to give himself a major pay cut. He said yesterday that he plans to earn "around $3 million" during the season. That's down from the $5.25 million he got in 2003-04, when hip problems limited him to 10 games and forced him to have surgery.

Malone got a pretty fair raise, as befits his excellent rookie season in 2003-04, when he had a team-high 22 goals to go along with 21 assists and was voted to the rookie all-star team. Even so, he won't be getting paid as much as he'd hoped, when he was using the $1 million salary Trent Hunter is getting from the New York Islanders as a barometer.

In the short term, at least, getting a budding power forward like Malone for $750,000 looks like a clear victory for Patrick. It was obvious that Malone wanted to have a deal before camp begins, and his eagerness probably worked against him in the negotiations.

"Maybe [Patrick] got the better of this one," Malone said. "But I'm not too concerned about that."

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Malone, seen above kicking a random mans ass.

Certainly, if he puts together another productive season in 2005-06, Malone will be able to ratchet up his pay when he goes after a new contract next summer. By declining to sign him to a multiyear deal now, the Penguins run the risk that his value will escalate. .

"I understand [the Penguins' approach]," Malone said. "Chase is a guy who knows if you go out and prove you are worth the money. I have no problem with going out and trying to do that again. ... Chase just wants to win, and I'm on board with that.

"Right now, I'm still young. Hopefully, everything works out, and I'll have continued success. Eventually, you get the money, no matter what. I want to take the opportunity to have fun and not worry about anything."

And do it in the town where he grew up.

"He really isn't making any money at all and damn right hes on board," says Owner Chase Hughey. "I mean, I am paying my longsnapper more money in Los Angeles. That's just how things go around here with him being a local kid we get a discount. Imagine going to a flea market and seeing fresh grapes on sale, that is how we look at Ryan. His father is our head scout, hes a nice family, his wife can cook."

Gonchar gets number

NOTES -- Sergei Gonchar, who got a five-year, $25 million contract from the Penguins last month, has been given something else: Sweater No. 55. Defenseman Ric Jackman wore that after being acquired from Toronto late in the 2003-04 season but has turned it over to Gonchar. He will switch to No. 22 this season. "He's a veteran with 10 or so years in the NHL, and I'm just breaking in," Jackman said. "He deserves to have the number a lot more than I do."

[Chase56]

Lemieux at Center?
Why not?
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The Penguins might fill their need for a top-line center with one of the finest players ever to man the position.

And it wouldn't add a dollar to their payroll.

Mario Lemieux, who has worked extensively on left wing in recent years and was widely expected to play there in 2005-06, said he is "absolutely" willing to move back to the middle.

"Depending on how we start the season, I can play center or wing," Lemieux said. "It doesn't matter to me."

Coach Eddie Olczyk acknowledged that he has discussed the situation with Lemieux -- and that such a switch is possible -- but said it is just one of the options available.

"We can go in a lot of different directions," Olczyk said. "A lot of stuff can work itself out."

At least for the moment, Olczyk said, he plans to have Lemieux on the left side when training camp opens Sept. 13. Ryan Malone, prominently mentioned as a candidate to play center on one of the top two lines, also is penciled in on the wing for the start of camp, Olczyk said.

Those plans could be altered at any time, of course; one of the primary purposes of the preseason is to allow coaches to experiment with personnel.

That will be particularly true this year because of the rampant roster turnover around the league in the wake of the lockout that wiped out the 2004-05 season.

Even if Lemieux shifts to center, it seems likely that his job description will be altered to spare him some of the rigors that go along with the position.

"Just because he's in the middle doesn't mean he'll be doing all the work [that goes with being] a center in the league," Olczyk said.

While the Penguins' forward-line configurations have yet to be set, rookie Sidney Crosby is expected to center one of the top two lines.

The Penguins had hoped to fill the other spot with an elite veteran like Peter Forsberg or Mike Modano, but failed to lure one here during the early days of free agency last month.

So while Lemieux insists he is "not at all" concerned about the Penguins' situation at center, the other spot in the middle on the first or second line remains vacant, with no guarantee it will be filled satisfactorily in the near future.

There is no shortage of candidates to play there because just about everyone on the Penguins' depth chart who has spent any time at center -- from Kris Beech to Rico Fata, Shane Endicott to Matt Hussey -- has been floated as a possibility.

The early favorite among management, however, appears to be Lasse Pirjeta, a late-season addition in 2004.

Pirjeta was acquired from Columbus for Brian Holzinger in what appeared to be an exchange of low-impact forwards, but Pirjeta thrived during his short time with the Penguins.

After putting up just two goals and eight assists in 57 games with the Blue Jackets, Pirjeta had six goals and six assists in 13 games with the Penguins. Not only were his numbers good, but he was reliable defensively and proved capable of playing on the wing or at center.

"He was, and is, a very highly skilled guy," Olczyk said. "He sees the ice well, competes hard, has good skills and is deceptive in his skating ability. [Using Pirjeta at center on one of the top two lines] is one of our options, and it could be our best option."

Pirjeta, 31, reinforced his credentials with a productive showing (16 goals and 20 assists in 45 games) for HIFK Helsinki in Finland during the lockout. His size -- 6 foot 4, 225 pounds -- make him an attractive prospect for a checking line, but the Penguins feel he has more offensive potential than some realize.

"I think Lasse's going to surprise a lot of people," Lemieux said.

"He didn't come [to North America] until a couple of years ago and showed last year that he has some offensive skill.

"He's got size and likes to go to the net, so that's a big asset. Especially on our team, with the wingers we have. I think he might surprise a lot of people."

And if Pirjeta doesn't -- not in a good way, at least -- the Penguins have other possibilities. Including a guy who's been in the Hall of Fame for nearly a decade.

[Chase56]

Penguins Training Camp
Open to Public

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The Penguins' first five days of training camp at Mellon Arena will be open to the public.

Although players will report for physical and photos Sept. 13, formal workouts won't start until the next day. The Sept. 14 session, which begins at 8 a.m. and features four practices, will be the first open to the public.

The annual training camp tournament begins at 9 a.m. Sept. 15, with scrimmages scheduled for the same time the two following days. The tournament's championship game will be Sept. 18 at 10 a.m., two hours after the third-place game.

The Sept. 19 sessions will be closed to the public, and camp will shift to Chase Hughey's Iceoplex for six days after that.

"The Iceoplex I hear great things about," says Sidney Crosby. "I've been told it is filled with local brothels and what not, it should be a good time."