Lemieux Shows Who's Boss

By J.A. ADANDE

Dec. 28, 2000 12 AM PT

PITTSBURGH —

Mario Lemieux knew.

He would not have considered coming back to the NHL after a 3 1/2-year layoff if he didn’t know he still could be the most dangerous threat on skates.

He would not have allowed the buildup that included newspaper special sections, TV news cameras stationed at practically every entrance to Mellon Arena and the unrealistic demands of his 4-year-old son, to crest if he wasn’t confident he could deliver.

Only two periods into Wednesday night’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, the standing-room only crowd of 17,148, the ESPN television audience and the almost 200 credentialed journalists all knew what he knew. He had a goal and two assists, and the team he owns--the Pittsburgh Penguins--was on its way to a 5-0 victory.

While even linemate Jaromir Jagr was blown away, Lemieux only was “a little bit surprised by the way I played after being off for three and a half years.

“But that was certainly my plan, to go out and play well, play at a high level.”

The first clue that he felt ready after five weeks of intense workouts with personal trainer Jay Caufield and a week of practice with his teammates came during a news conference Wednesday morning.

He was asked what his son Austin expected from him in his return.

“Hat trick,” Lemieux relayed, with a laugh. “Pressure’s on.”

Then he was asked if that was feasible.

“It’s a possibility,” Lemieux said.

And this time there wasn’t too much of a laugh. He really thought it could happen, that a guy could put on a jersey for the first time since April 26, 1997, and pump three pucks into the net.

He didn’t get three goals, but he got three points.

He knew.

Lemieux didn’t retire three years ago because he couldn’t hang; in fact he led the league in scoring that season. His body and that problematic back were too worn down, and he was too disgusted with the NHL’s increasingly physical play.

But he was well aware that he still could score goals like no one else.

He also knows that he won’t retain his skills too much longer, and then little Austin never would see for himself why there are so many trophies at home.

“He’s 35 years old,” said Caufield, a former teammate of Lemieux’s. “If he didn’t do it now, he’d probably miss the opportunity.”

After returning from a back infection that kept him out more than half the season to lead the Penguins to the Stanley Cup, then coming back and playing the same day of his final treatment after receiving two months of radiation to treat Hodgkin’s disease, Lemieux figured a return after 3 1/2 of kicking back would be easy.

The pregame ceremony was classy. A banner with Lemieux’s retired No. 66 was lowered from the domed ceiling while Tina Turner’s “Simply the Best” played over the loudspeakers and Austin looked up, wide-eyed, from the ice. The number was tucked into a giant container, then it was time for its owner to go back to work.

A spotlight tracked him as he took the ice for pregame warmups.

Even without the light it was hard to take your eyes off Lemieux the rest of the night.

On his first shift, Lemieux fired a pass from behind the net into the crease, where it was deflected and Jagr knocked it in, giving Lemieux an assist 33 seconds into his return.

Not quite as dramatic as when Lemieux scored a goal on his first NHL shift against Boston on Oct. 11, 1984, but then again Lemieux isn’t 19 anymore.

In the second period, Jagr fed a pass to Lemieux, who was charging down the middle where he one-timed the puck under Toronto goaltender Curtis Joseph’s right ankle.

Later, Lemieux made a backhand pass to Jan Hrdina for his second assist. The crowd cheered every time he stepped on the ice, they oohed every time he touched the puck, they chanted “MAR-I-O, MAR-I-O” throughout the night.

“It was a great feeling when I stepped on the ice and saw the great fans that we have here,” Lemieux said. “It was a great moment, the kind of moment that I will cherish for a long time.”

Some fans wore shirts that read: “Penguin Owner, Penguin Player Penguin Savior.”

It’s not too much of a stretch. When the Penguins were facing bankruptcy that could have driven them from the city, Lemieux put together a group that bought the team and kept it home.

Now his return to the ice has come just in time to quiet a frustrated Jagr’s demands to be traded and bolster the hopes of a team that was seventh in the Eastern Conference and sagging at the box office.

That giant “66 Mario” beamed onto the Mellon Arena roof from a downtown office building was as much a welcome as it was a request for help, like the Bat signal.

But isn’t it a little strange for an owner to be skating amid the rank-and-file players?

“The last couple of weeks, especially this past week, the players are getting used to me being in the dressing room,” Lemieux said. “I think the adjustment has been going very well because of the fact that I’ve been around for the past two years, I’ve been in the dressing room after every game, I’ve been on road trips, being with the team last year in the playoffs. The players really don’t treat me as an owner, just somebody who played the game before who’s coming back to help the team win some games.”

After the game he got congratulatory phone call from another new NHL owner who used to be a pretty good player himself: Wayne Gretzky.

“He might be coming back,” Lemieux said. “Let’s start a rumor.”

J.A. Adande can be reached at his e-mail address: ja.adande@latimes.com

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Chronology

The career of Mario Lemieux:

* June 1984--Selected by the Pittsburgh Penguins with the No. 1 pick in the NHL entry draft.

* Oct. 11, 1984--Made NHL debut at Boston. Scored a goal on his first shot on his first NHL shift, against Bruin goalie Pete Peeters.

* 1984-85--Won Calder Trophy after becoming only the third rookie in NHL history to score 100 or more points (43 goals, 57 assists).

* 1985-86--Awarded Lester B. Pearson Award by the NHL Players’ Assn. to the league’s best player. Finished second to Wayne Gretzky in scoring race with 141 points (48, 93) and Hart Trophy voting.

* 1986-87--Led Penguins in goals (54) and assists (53) despite playing in only 63 games because of a sprained right knee and bronchitis.

* 1987-88--Won Hart Trophy as league MVP, Art Ross Trophy as scoring leader with 168 points (70, 98), and Pearson Award again.

* 1988-89--Won second consecutive scoring title with 199 points (85, 114). Set single-season record with 13 short-handed goals. Became only second player (Wayne Gretzky) to score 70 goals in two seasons.

* 1989-90--Finished fourth in scoring with 123 points (45, 78) despite missing 21 games because of a herniated disk in his back.

* July 11, 1990--Had surgery to repair herniated disk.

* 1990-91--Missed first 50 games recovering from a rare bone disease resulting from a surgery-related infection. Won Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP, scoring 44 points (16, 28), leading Pittsburgh to first Stanley Cup championship.

* 1991-92--Won third scoring title with 131 points (44, 87). Broke left hand when slashed by the New York Rangers’ Adam Graves in Game 2 of Patrick Division finals, but returned after missing only five games. Won Conn Smythe Trophy again, scoring 34 points (16, 18) as Pittsburgh won second consecutive Stanley Cup.

* January 1993--Diagnosed with a Nodular Lymphocytic form of Hodgkin’s disease. Underwent treatment in form of radiation between Feb. 1 and March 2.

* 1992-93--Played in only 60 games after recovering from Hodgkin’s disease. Won fourth scoring title with 160 points (69, 91). Won Hart Trophy for second time. Won Pearson Award again. Awarded Masterton Trophy as player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.

* July 28, 1993--Had second back surgery in three years to repair herniated muscle.

* 1993-94--Missed first 10 games recovering from surgery and a total of 58 with back problems.

* Aug. 29, 1994--Announced he was taking a medical leave of absence because of fatigue, an aftereffect of his 1993 radiation treatments, and would sit out 1994-95 season.

* June 20, 1995--Announced he would return for the 1995-96 season.

* Oct. 26, 1995--Scored 500th career goal at New York Islanders in his 605th game, becoming the second-fastest player (Gretzky, 575) to reach the mark.

* 1995-96--Won third Hart Trophy as MVP, becoming only seventh player to achieve the feat at least three times. Became fourth player to win fifth scoring title with 161 points (69, 92). Led NHL in power-play goals (31), tied for third-highest single-season total in league history.

* Feb. 4, 1997--Scored 600th career goal vs. Vancouver in his 719th game, becoming the second-fastest player (Gretzky, 718) to reach the milestone.

* 1996-97--Won sixth scoring title with 122 points (50, 72). Recorded 10th career 100-point season, second only to Gretzky’s record of 15.

* April 6, 1997--Announced he will retire after the playoffs.

* April 26, 1997--Had a goal and an assist in his final NHL game as Pittsburgh lost 6-3 to Philadelphia and was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs in five games.

* Sept. 3, 1999--Lemieux’s ownership group officially takes over Penguins on eve of the opening of training camp. Lemieux rolled much of the $26 million-plus owed him in deferred payments into an equity stake and acquired nearly a dozen new investors to buy team. Lemieux becomes first player in the modern era of sports to buy the team he once played for.

* Dec. 8, 2000--After insisting for four years he never would play again, Lemieux tells Penguins he plans on comeback at 35. He rejoins the Penguins as the first modern owner-player in major U.S. pro sports.

* Dec. 27, 2000--After almost four years away from the game, Lemieux scores a goal and two assists as the Penguins defeat Toronto, 5-0.

A statistical overview of Mario Lemieux’s return:

Goals: 1

Assists: 2

Points: 3

+/-: +3

Shots 5

Shifts: 23

Ice time: 20:46

DALLAS: 3

DUCKS: 1

Without their top line, the Ducks were held without a shot in the first period in a lackluster road loss to the Stars. D4