Mario Lemieux and Eddie Olczyk had a discussion yesterday morning at Mellon Arena in which, according to the Penguins' coach, Lemieux expressed strong enthusiasm for rejoining a lineup that finished the 2003-04 NHL season on a 12-5-3 roll.

"My perception was that he was extremely excited about how we finished," Olczyk said. "He really likes what we did and how we improved. ... I could just feel it in his voice and in his body language when we were talking."

Lemieux has not spoken with the media since early November, shortly after he had a season-ending hip injury. He missed all but the first 10 games, producing a goal and eight assists in that span.

He will turn 39 Oct. 5, just before the scheduled start of next season, but Olczyk said he still has high expectations when asked if Lemieux can still perform at an elite level.

"A hundred points, for him and for us. How's that?" Olczyk replied with a smile. "He's such an important part to our club and makes us so much better, so much deeper."

Olczyk said one aspect of the team's performance that had Lemieux particularly invigorated was the power play. The Penguins were the NHL's best with the man-advantage from mid-January to season's end and finished with a No. 8 ranking in the league.

The power play clicked largely because of superlative play from point men Dick Tarnstrom and Ric Jackman, but it also benefited from a simple approach: The point men fired away, and the forwards crashed the net for deflections and rebounds.

Lemieux's long-standing approach is to set up on the left boards and make plays, for himself or his teammates. But Olczyk said he did not envision having to alter the strategy for Lemieux, noting that the power play down the stretch used centers Milan Kraft and Lasse Pirjeta in such a role.

"You need somebody working the half-wall to quarterback it," Olczyk said. "When Mario's over there, there's always the threat that he can shoot it or pass and, more often than not, teams are going to try to run at him and take that away, like they tried early in the season. Now we have the people who can make a difference if teams go at Mario."

Of the power play as a whole, Olczyk added, "If you have Dickie and Jacks, and you throw Mario out there with Ryan Malone and Aleksey Morozov ... I'll take my chances."