Wednesday, October 08, 2003

By Dave Molinari, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

Rookie goalie Marc-Andre Fleury will be the most celebrated addition to the Penguins' roster this season, but he isn't there yet.

Fleury remains marooned in Montreal while the team works to resolve the immigration issues that prevent him from coming back into the United States, and was listed as a non-roster player when the Penguins submitted their regular-season roster to the NHL yesterday.

Penguins officials said Fleury still had not received clearance to return by last evening, although they expressed hope the situation will be rectified today.

"We're hoping it's soon," coach Eddie Olczyk said. "But it could be a couple of days."

Fleury apparently has not practiced since last Thursday, and if he isn't back for today's workout, his chances of starting the regular-season opener Friday against Los Angeles at Mellon Arena figure to shrink considerably.

"I'd rather not say right now [whether Fleury could start]," Olczyk said. "Will he be in the mix? I would be hard-pressed to say that he would be. I haven't talked to him, but I know from reports I've seen that he hasn't been taking shots and he hasn't skated. We'll have to find out what he's been doing off the ice. Right now, it's up in the air."

Fleury's immigration problems can be traced to last Thursday when, at the behest of his agents, he flew to Montreal a few hours after the Penguins submitted their first contract proposal.

His agents apparently were unaware that his return to the U.S. could be delayed by immigration issues.

After Fleury gets back into this country, the Penguins will have to remove one more player from their 23-man roster, which is as follows:

Goalies: Sebastien Caron, Jean-Sebastien Aubin.

Forwards: Ramzi Abid, Matt Bradley, Kelly Buchberger, Mike Eastwood, Rico Fata, Brian Holzinger, Konstantin Koltsov, Milan Kraft, Mario Lemieux, Ryan Malone, Aleksey Morozov, Matt Murley, Reid Simpson, Martin Straka.

Defensemen: Nolan Baumgartner, Drake Berehowsky, Marc Bergevin, Dan Focht, Josef Melichar, Brooks Orpik, Dick Tarnstrom.

Left winger Steve McKenna (eye) and defenseman Michal Rozsival (knee) are on injured-reserve, and do not count against the 23-man limit.

With McKenna's injury and Fleury's immigration snag, general manager Craig Patrick and the coaching staff were able to defer the additional cuts they were facing.

The Penguins' lineup spans the spectrum of NHL experience: Bergevin has played 1,130 games at this level and Buchberger 1,111, while Malone and Murley will be making their NHL debuts and Koltsov (two NHL games) and Orpik (six) aren't far from it.

The mix of young players with veterans who practically could be their fathers is intriguing, and Olczyk said all involved have reacted well to it.

"This room really reminds me of a room 15 years ago, where the older players were putting peer pressure on younger players and young players didn't take it [personally] if an older player made a criticism. Our young players are much more mature, and they're handling themselves the way young players handled themselves 10 or 20 years ago. They come into the locker room, and they're seen and not heard. They don't just expect things, and they use the proper languarge when talking to the training staff and asking for things, or when they're talking to the [media-relations] staff. That's a great sign. They're appreciative of where they are."

Olczyk cited energy and skating abilty as his team's primary assets, and suggested most of the players who lack the speed of some teammates compensate with their ability to think the game.

The problem with young legs, though, is that they are attached to young bodies, and that's a liability only time can resolve.

"Obviously, the lack of NHL experience is something that, the only way you get it is by playing," Olczyk said. "We're giving these guys an opportunity, and that's the only way they're going to get better."

How good this group will get eventually, and how long that process will take, is impossible to predict, but Olczyk guards against setting the bar too low.

"It comes down to wins and losses," he said. "It doesn't matter what anyone else is talking about."

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