Lemieux Expects to Sit Out Nearly One-quarter of Season By ALAN ROBINSON AP Sports Writer Tuesday August 21, 2001 6:08 PM PITTSBURGH (AP) - Mario Lemieux, already working out for what would be his first full NHL season in five years, plans to sit out nearly one-quarter of the Pittsburgh Penguins' games to stay healthy for the playoffs. Lemieux, who is also the owner of the Penguins, missed only a handful of games after ending a 44-month retirement in January, but said Tuesday he expects to miss all road games when the team plays on consecutive nights. Because the NHL schedule is more compressed than usual due to the two-week Olympic shutdown in February, the Penguins play on consecutive nights 17 times during their 82-game schedule. Lemieux doesn't foresee any situation in which he would play two nights in a row. If the Penguins are on the road on a Friday and at home on a Saturday, for example, he will play only in the home game. Lemieux, who was long troubled by back problems, hasn't had any back pain since January - "My back feels great," he said - but he wants to be well rested when the playoffs begin in April. "I've got to do what's best for myself and team and fans here," he said. "If I go to Nashville and get injured and can't play here the next night before the people who support us, it's not very smart." The Penguins sold out every home game after Lemieux returned last season but, without five-time scoring champion Jaromir Jagr to help push ticket sales, they obviously want Lemieux to play every home game possible. Lemieux, who once did little off-season conditioning, began working out with conditioning expert Jay Caufield, a former Penguins defenseman, about 10 days ago and will stay in training until camp opens early next month. "I know what it takes to get back in shape and I what I have to do," said Lemieux, who will turn 36 the week the season opens. "That's what I've been doing with Jay over the last 10 days. I've been skating all week now, and (Flyers forward) Mark Recchi and a couple of more guys are coming in this week, just getting back to the routine of getting into shape and getting ready for training camp." Lemieux also will attend the Canadian Olympic team's minicamp Sept. 4-7 in Calgary, but doubts if the workouts will be very strenuous. He expects the session with executive director Wayne Gretzky and coach Pat Quinn to be mostly informal, with little on-ice work. "I don't know if it's going to be a camp," Lemieux said. "I don't know what it's going to be. We'll probably be on the ice for an hour, and then it's golf." Although the Olympics could be two weeks of intense, playoff-caliber hockey that will divide the Penguins among six national teams, Lemieux isn't re-rethinking his Olympic participation. Lemieux has never played in the Olympics - he was retired in 1998 when the NHL shut down for the Nagano Olympics - and thus will be one of the most watched players in Salt Lake City. "I'm delighted to be going and have a chance to win the gold," he said. Lemieux, meanwhile, has decided how much he will make next season, but has not disclosed the figure. He played last season for $1.4 million, but doubled that with incentives cleared by the NHL and the Players Association before he came out of retirement. Lemieux will make more than that during the coming season, but not enough to cause the Penguins to go over their projected payroll of $34 million to $35 million. "Yeah, it was a pretty easy negotiation. I picked a nice number," Lemieux said.
