In the Box with John Kreiser

In the Box with John Kreiser
Pittsburgh is Lemieux's Legacy
By John Kreiser, Featured Columnist

Back in the '70s, Julius Erving was among the basketball stars who gave viewers some reason to watch the otherwise-forgettable "The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh." When Mario Lemieux basks in the adulation of a sold-out Civic Arena Tuesday night in his final home game, maybe they should run a tribute called "The Penguin That Saved Pittsburgh Hockey."
Lemieux officially told the world on Saturday what he had been unofficially saying for months: He's calling it a career. At age 31, he'd rather spend his time whacking golf balls than getting whacked around by NHL checkers who've been given virtually free reign by the league to tug, yank, and smack him in order to keep him from terrorizing goaltenders. He won't have to worry about missing a game when his back acts up from too much hacking and whacking by opponents; instead, he can devote himself to being just plain old Daddy to his children. NHL goaltenders wish him a long and happy retirement.
With all the success the Penguins have enjoyed in the 1990s, highlighted by two Stanley Cups and a record 17-game winning streak, it's easy to forget what the Penguins were like before Lemieux arrived--somewhat reluctantly--in 1984.
The Penguins worked very hard to get Lemieux, the No. 1 overall pick in the 1984 draft. They had to lose 58 games, more than they lost in 1991-92 and 1992-93 combined, to beat out New Jersey and "win" the right to draft Lemieux.
Not that Lemieux was exactly jumping up and down with joy when the Penguins called his name on draft day. After all, what sane player would want to go a team that had managed all of 38 points the previous season, that as often as not played to a half-filled building, and that was regarded as a team with one flipper out the door to another city and the other on a banana peel.
As the fictional Fish "saved" Pittsburgh, so, too, did Lemieux save hockey in the Steel City. It wasn't easy--though Lemieux's skills were apparent almost immediately (he stripped Ray Bourque, already an All-Star, to score his first NHL goal in his pro debut), he looked almost laconic at times--appearing almost to go through the motions. He invariably suffered in comparison to Wayne Gretzky: The Great One was setting scoring records as the Edmonton Oilers piled up Stanley Cups, while Lemieux's Penguins missed the playoffs in each of his first four seasons--a testament to the inept management of the team as much as anything else.
But Lemieux was learning. Getting to play with Gretzky at the 1987 Canada Cup (where he scored the series-winning goal on a feed from No. 99) helped him learn how difficult it was to be a great player, not just a scorer. Getting 85 goals and 199 points in 1988-89 (and a record-tying eight points in one playoff game) showed he was an offensive force who could be compared to Gretzky without embarrassment. Management helped by finally getting a competent GM in Craig Patrick, who eventually gave Lemieux the kind of support Gretzky had enjoyed in Edmonton. Finally, winning the Conn Smythe Trophy in 1991 as playoff MVP in the Penguins' first Stanley Cup after missing most of the season with a back injury (and repeating in 1992 during the run to Cup No. 2) assured his place in history. The packed houses at the Civic Arena assured that the Penguins were going nowhere but to the playoffs each spring.
Unlike Gretzky, Lemieux has never been comfortable with the media. He appears more at ease with himself and his place in hockey since returning after sitting out 1994-95 to let his back heal and receive more treatment for the Hodgkins Disease that he was diagnosed with in 1993. In some ways, it was the illness, and his dramatic return to win the scoring title with 160 points in just 60 games, that seemed to change a lot of opinions about Lemieux, both in the media and among fans. His mental and physical toughness had been questioned in the early years; now, there was no doubt about either.
Lemieux will retire as the NHL's sixth-leading scorer
Since Tuesday is the Penguins' last regular-season home game, Lemieux will undoubtedly go home with some team awards--though what he really wants as a going-away present is a third Stanley Cup. But whether he gets it or not, Lemieux says he wanted most to help the Penguins develop a winning tradition, and in this, he succeeded. Mario The Magnificent will leave a legacy in Pittsburgh--one that will be visible every time the Penguins take the ice. Had Lemieux not come along when he did, the Penguins would be in the same category as another group of NHL sea animals--the California Seals.
Extinct.
I KNEW I FORGOT SOMETHING: Remember a few weeks ago when everyone was saying what a tough first-round playoff opponent the Washington Capitals were going to be for some unsuspecting Eastern Conference powerhouse? How maybe this would be the season they would avoid their annual playoff collapse? Unfortunately for the Caps, someone forgot to tell them that they have to MAKE the playoffs first--and barring a terrific final-week flurry, that's not going to happen. Even with Adam Oates in the middle and Bill Ranford in net, the Caps look little changed from the injury-riddled club that stumbled and bumbled its way through the first five months of the season. Barring a miracle (they're 10 games under .500 for the first time in 15 years), the Capitals will miss the playoffs for the first time since 1982-83--possibly costing GM David Poile his job in the process.
PAY ME NOW OR PAY ME LATER: The biggest winner in Buffalo's surprising run to the top of the Northeast Division is coach Ted Nolan. Though the Sabres have stumbled down the stretch, they're poised to clinch the division title this week--an incredible feat for a team that lost its only offensive star, Pat LaFontaine, early in the season. Nolan and GM John Muckler haven't patched up their differences--they went as far as to sit at opposite tables last week when LaFontaine was honored as a winner of the Lester Patrick Trophy.
Muckler wouldn't give Nolan a contract extension last year; Nolan, in turn, has rebuffed any attempts at mediation. If the second-year coach decides to look for offers, the line forms to the right.
WHAT A LONG, STRANGE TRIP: Is the NHL season too long? Consider that the Buffalo Sabres' first trip to New York this season coincided with the Yankees winning the World Series. Their next visit to Madison Square Garden came on April 1--the same night the Yankees opened defense of their championship in Seattle.
STRANGE SCENARIO: Buffalo's Dominik Hasek has a good chance to become the first goaltender in 35 years to win the Hart Trophy. Winning the Vezina may be tougher. Though no player means more to his team than Hasek (they wouldn't come close to being a playoff team without him, as his recent absence proved), it will be tough to deny the Vezina to New Jersey's Martin Brodeur. All Brodeur has done is post the lowest goals-against average since the mid-70s, lead the league with nine shutouts (and play 59 minutes of a 10th whitewash) and post a 1.48 goals-against average since the All-Star break. Unless he blows up in the final week, those kind of numbers will be hard to beat.
LEARNING EXPERIENCE: When the New York Islanders look back on their near-miss run at a playoff berth, they'll try to figure out why they play so poorly against Tampa Bay, especially at home.
The Islanders went 6-2-1 at the Nassau Coliseum against New Jersey, Philadelphia and Florida, the top three teams in the Atlantic Division. But they're 0-3-0 at home against the Lightning, who are 8-3-0 lifetime on Long Island after Saturday night's 3-2 victory--a game in which started with the Islanders being cheered by a sellout crowd dreaming of a playoff berth and ended with those fans who had bothered to stay booing the Isles off the ice. There's something about the Lightning that brings out the worst in the otherwise-improving Islanders, who revert to last season's cellar-dwelling form against the Bolts.
STAT SHOTS: The best way to win in the NHL is to score first (the team scoring first wins about 67 percent of the time), and no team does it better than New Jersey. The Devils scored the opening goal in 56 of their first 78 games (Anaheim was next with 47 in 80 games). The Devils were 39-10-7 in those games--a big reason why they're on track to finish first in the East. ...
Edmonton is going to the playoffs for the first time since 1992, and one key has been the 36 goals scored by second-year winger Ryan Smyth. His 19 power-play goals have him among the league leaders--even though coach Ron Low admits it took him several weeks to put Smyth on the power play, ...
Why do the Oilers want to play Phoenix in the first round? Consider that against Colorado, Dallas and Detroit, the 1-2-3 teams in the West, they're 0-10-2. In addition, they're 0-4-1 against Anaheim and were 0-2-1 against Chicago before last week's 4-2 home win over the Blackhawks.