On one front, there was no official change in Mario Lemieux's status yesterday, as the Penguins continued to describe the ailment that has kept him out of the lineup since Nov. 1 as a strained hip flexor.

On another front, though, the change was significant:

No longer is the team providing a timetable for his return. No longer is the team offering encouraging assessments of his progress. And no longer is the team, except for coach Eddie Olczyk, even discussing the matter publicly.

Yesterday marked the latest in a string of five dates targeted by Lemieux and the Penguins to determine his status, and it generated no more news than the rest. A scheduled medical evaluation apparently never took place -- "Not to my knowledge, no," Olczyk said -- and Lemieux did not take to the ice for the team's practice yesterday morning at Mellon Arena. That is almost certain to rule him out of the team's three games this week, which would push his total missed to 12.

More alarming was that the Penguins, for the first time, declined to project any semblance of a notion for when Lemieux might be able to return. Previously, after each evaluation, the team had stated the precise number of games he was certain to miss, along with the game he would eye for his return. Yesterday, Olczyk used the word "indefinitely" in response to every media question regarding a timetable.

"Mario continues to rehab, continues the treatment. But, unfortunately, he's going to be out indefinitely," Olczyk said. "It hasn't responded anywhere near the way that we would have liked. So, he's going to continue to work out, continue to get everything he needs done. But, right now, he's out indefinitely."

Asked whether the diagnosis of the ailment had changed, Olczyk replied, "Absolutely not. He's just out indefinitely. That's where it is. ... Like anything else, he has good days, bad days, those types of things."

Asked if the team's concern is growing, he replied, "I think we have a concern as a club for the past three weeks. There's a concern that he's not with us. It's taken a lot longer than we hoped. He needs to continue doing what he's doing and, hopefully, before long, he'll be back with us."

Olczyk was the only member of the organization discussing Lemieux's ailment yesterday, as per Lemieux's orders. Lemieux, who has not addressed the media in a formal setting since Nov. 7 in Sunrise, Fla., declined to do so again. Members of the team's medical and training staff also would not speak with reporters, a departure from the norm.

Lemieux has been working extensively with Tom Plasko, his personal trainer and the team's massage therapist, to strengthen and heal the strained flexor muscle in his left hip. He began using an exercise band in the past week and has continued to receive ultrasound and electrical stimulus treatments. A week ago, one source close to the situation described Lemieux as "doing great" while offering cautious optimism about an imminent return.

The general sentiment among those closest to Lemieux has been that he needs to feel fully comfortable with all off-ice exercises before retaking the ice, then fully comfortable with all aspects of skating before returning to action. In public comments made shortly after leaving the lineup, Lemieux offered a similar outlook.

There are varying degrees of strained hip flexors, from stretches to complete tears, and they can involve a muscle or a tendon, the band of tissue that connects muscle to the bone. What has been made public about Lemieux's case is that it involves a strained muscle.

Doctors say there are three prominent variables in the recovery times from a strained hip flexor, all of which could relate to Lemieux:

Age. Lemieux, at 38, is among the oldest players in the NHL, and it is highly likely he would take longer to return to athletic activity than someone significantly younger. Thus, it might mean little that Montreal Canadiens goaltender Jose Theodore missed only two games when he had a strained hip flexor last season, as he was 26 at the time. Or that right winger Alexandre Daigle, 28, needed only three games to return from one last season while with the Penguins' AHL affiliate in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

Amount of time the strain occurred before activity ceased. Lemieux has said that he felt discomfort in his hip "a couple of weeks" before taking himself out of the lineup. Doctors say that, the longer there are symptoms before treatment is started, the longer the healing process. That means two weeks of discomfort before the Nov. 1 game could, in theory, add two weeks to the necessary rehabilitation.

Avoidance of a premature return to activity. Lemieux participated in the Penguins' half-hour morning skate Nov. 4 in Toronto and appeared to go full-bore for parts of it. He has not attempted to go on the ice since then.