Stage Is Set for Lemieux II

The comeback the NHL never dared to dream for begins Wednesday night, and not even the man making it knows exactly what to expect.

Mario Lemieux returns to the ice after a 3 1/2-year retirement, restoring some star power to what has been a largely faceless NHL since he and Wayne Gretzky quit. Lemieux’s return would be dramatic and virtually unprecedented even if there weren’t the added element of the sport’s first hall of fame player-turned-owner transforming himself back into a player.

Yet, despite the buzz Lemieux’s return has created in hockey--and the huge number of tickets it has sold in Pittsburgh--it is difficult to predict how successful it will be.

Lemieux has been away nearly four full seasons and is 35, certainly not old but still not young in a sport where speed and leg strength are everything.

“I have a lot of confidence to come back and play at a high level,” said Lemieux, the only NHL player with 500 or more goals to average more than two points a game. “I’m going to have to be patient, but I intend to get back to the top of my game.”

Still, Lemieux warns he won’t come back “scoring four-five points a night,” and even his teammates are trying to temper unrealistic expectations.

“It’s going to be tough for him,” Alexei Kovalev said Tuesday before the Penguin-Sabre game in Buffalo. “It will take some time for him to come back. The skill will be there, but the energy? It’s tough to bring it back. It’s going to take three, four, five games to get in game shape.”

Added Penguin teammate Jaromir Jagr, a four-time NHL scoring champion who has slumped much of the season: “I think anyone who comes back from such a period of not playing hockey, you need help from your teammates. ‘The way we’re playing right now, I don’t know if we can help him much. He’s going to be on his own.”