It's not that Rico Fata ever lacked the motivation to succeed during his first seven winters in professional hockey.

He never treated perspiration like a toxin, never was afraid to trade a bruise for a point.

But these days, well, Fata's approach to his work is a bit different. His perspective has been refined, and he's a bit more committed to his craft.

Dodging death will do that to a man.

And so Fata, who survived a bout of testicular cancer this spring, will enter the Penguins' training camp with a whole new mind-set. He doesn't care what position he plays. Isn't agonizing over which line he'll be on. Won't fret about every bit of fine-tuning management does.

He won't be the only guy at camp who insists he's just glad to be here, but he might be the most sincere.

"Whatever [role] the team has me in, I don't care," Fata said. "I have no preference. Honestly, I really don't care. I want the team -- the coaching staff, the management -- to put me in whatever situation they feel I can help the team. ... I'll go through the wall.

"I've changed, in that way. I've really changed. Whatever happens, happens. There are things in life you can't control. I just take it day by day and if the coach asks me to put my head through the glass one day, fine, I'll do that. I don't care. If he asks me to fight somebody, I'll fight somebody. I don't care. I'm really excited about everything."

Fata's precise niche on the 2005-06 Penguins still hasn't been defined -- that's true of a lot of guys -- but it isn't likely that coach Eddie Olczyk will ask Fata to fill in as the corporate enforcer; forwards such as Andre Roy and Ryan VandenBussche will handle those duties.

Odds are that Olczyk won't take him up on that offer to put his head through the glass, either. Beyond that, almost anything is possible.

Fata has experience at center and on both wings, and his skating can be an exceptional asset -- especially when he uses his speed judiciously.

Where and how Olczyk will use him is Fata's biggest on-ice variable, but pales alongside the uncertainty over his health. Although his disease was caught early and his cancerous testicle was surgically removed -- Fata voluntarily passed on radiation and/or chemotherapy -- he understands there are no guarantees.

That means that even though Fata's long-term prognosis is extremely encouraging, thoughts of his ailment -- and the reality that it could recur -- still never are far away.

"It's definitely in the back of my mind," he said. "I think about it every day. I see it every day."

Most of his teammates, of course, are aware of Fata's illness, and the surgical extraction it necessitated. And he's prepared for it to be a topic of the less-than-delicate discourse found in a professional locker room.

"I'm fine with it," he said. "I'm comfortable making it comical, as long as I'm healthy."

Staying healthy is, quite naturally, Fata's primary concern. To that end, his condition will be monitored via blood tests, chest X-rays and CT scans. The latter normally is administered once every three or four months, although Fata said Dr. Charles Burke, one of the Penguins' team physicians, told him it could be done monthly if that would allay his concerns.

"Anything to keep my peace of mind," Fata said.

He certainly seems to have that now. He has been adhering to a demanding workout regimen, investing a little extra time in his conditioning so he can be in the best shape possible when drills start Wednesday.

"I feel great," Fata said. "I feel fantastic. I just don't feel tired.

"I say to myself, 'What's an extra 10 minutes on the ice, skating as hard as you can?' You have the rest of the day to do whatever you want. I have a different outlook on how to work out."

His perspective on a lot of things has changed during the past four-plus months, since he went one-on-one with mortality and came out OK. (Of course, being just a few months removed from becoming a first-time father might have something to do with it, too.)

Whatever the reason, Fata said beating cancer "actually makes me want to play harder," even if he doesn't care where he does it.

"If I'm a left winger or a right winger, it doesn't matter," Fata said. "As long as I have an opportunity to help the team win. And it seems like we're going to be doing a lot of winning this year."

That, from a guy who already has.

NOTES -- Penguins prospect Evgeni Malkin is the early season scoring leader in the Russian Super League. He has one goal and four assists in his first two games with Metallurg Magnitogorsk. ... Mario Lemieux has been diligent about working out for the past year or so, but knows this training camp will be critical for him. "It's going to take time to get back in game shape," he said. "Until you play games ... you can practice all you want, skate all you want, that's not the same thing. I anticipate playing a few more games in the exhibition [season] this year to get myself ready."