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Monday, October 07, 2002

By Dave Molinari, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

The NHL's planned crackdown on obstruction has received a lot of praise.

Almost none of it has come from guys who play defense, because their jobs will become more difficult,and hazardous.

They won't be able to impede opponents with techniques that have been effective in the past, and they will be subject to the fury of forecheckers who no longer have to worry about being impeded by the defenseman's teammates.

As a result, defensemen chasing down a puck in their own end will have to decide quickly what they should do once they corral it and then waste no time executing their plan.

"They'll have to be quick thinkers, that's for sure," said Penguins General Manager Craig Patrick.

The adjustment might not be as great for Penguins defensemen as for those on other teams, because so many Penguins forwards disrupt opposing forecheckers.

But nearly everyone figures the obstruction crackdown will take some getting used to.

The adjustment period began in the exhibition season -- the stricter enforcement was a bit part of the reason the Penguins were short-handed 47 times in seven games -- and Patrick believes playing under the new guidelines will become second nature eventually.

"Everybody will adapt to it," he said. "Everybody around the league will -- the forecheckers and the defensemen."

Disappointed rookies

The Penguins in preseason used 13 players who qualify as rookies, but none is on the major-league roster.

Eleven were assigned to their American Hockey League affiliate in Wilkes-Barre Saturday -- forwards Kris Beech, Shane Endicott, Milan Kraft, Konstantin Koltsov, Eric Meloche, Colby Armstrong, Toby Petersen and Michal Sivek and defensemen Ross Lupaschuk, Brooks Orpik and Robert Scuderi.

All were disappointed. But a few were surprised by their demotion.

Beech spent all of last season with the Penguins and had a good camp, and Meloche's excellent preseason made him look like an even-money bet to play on the fourth line this season until management opted to expose him in Friday's waiver draft. He slipped through unclaimed. Now, he will have to put in more time with the Baby Penguins before getting steady work in the NHL. He got the official word minutes after scoring two goals in the Penguins' intrasquad scrimmage Saturday night at Mellon Arena.

"It's disappointing," Meloche said. "I'm not the happiest guy right now. I made a lot of strides. I thought I had a good chance of making the team, sticking around.

"I know I'm not the biggest offensive threat there is, but I think I've shown a lot of attributes that this team could need in the long run.

"This is the team I want to play for, not in Wilkes-Barre. But I'll have to go back down and prove that I can come back up here and play. Hopefully, I'll play well early enough where, maybe I'll get a chance. You never know what might happen up here."

Tip-ins

Goalie Jean-Sebastien Aubin was outstanding in Saturday's scrimmage, stopping 35 of 38 shots. "I felt great," he said. "I can't remember the last time I was so excited. It was great. The fans were great. It was unbelievable." ... Patrick and Scott Greenspun, agent for Alexei Kovalev, are closing in on their self-imposed deadline of Wednesday for working out a new contract. And while Kovalev is not actively involved in the negotiations, he has more than a passing interested in how they're progressing. "I'm getting to a point where contracts and my future become really important," he said. "It might be my last contract. You never know." ... Lemieux, on whether he believes the NHL will stick to its planned crackdown on obstruction penalties: "I hope so. I think we have to make a change and try to give back the game to the stars of our game. If we can do that, the game's going to be exciting. If not, it's going to be the same old hockey." ... The Penguins, who scored on nine of 40 power plays ini the preseason, a conversion rate of 22.5 percent, are expected to emphasize working with the man-advantage in practices leading up to the regular-season opener Thursday against Toronto.