John LeClair is back with the Penguins. At least on paper.

The veteran winger, who cleared waivers last week, yesterday cleared re-entry waivers, meaning no other NHL team opted to claim him for half of his salary over the balance of the season. LeClair, who is making $1.5 million this season, reverted to being Penguins property.

"We're going to have him take another day, spend it with his family, let him digest it, and talk to him [today]," said Penguins general manager Ray Shero, who declined to speculate on what might happen next or what role, if any, LeClair might have in the organization.

It's possible LeClair will retire after a career in which he played in 987 NHL games with Montreal, Philadelphia and the Penguins, amassing 406 goals and 413 assists.

With his ice time cut and his role limited primarily to fourth-line duty, he had just 2 goals and 5 assists in 21 games this season after being third on the team with 51 points in 2005-06, his first season after signing with the Penguins as a free agent.

Welch the odd man out

When the Penguins decided they needed to make some roster changes, the odd man out was defenseman Noah Welch, who was reassigned to Wilkes-Barre of the American Hockey League.

"I felt that lately he kind of lost his confidence, and when a player loses his confidence, ice time goes down because he's making mistakes," Penguins coach Michel Therrien said. "We've got a lot of faith in that kid, and he's part of the plan. But he needs to play.

"We want him to go down there with the right attitude and dominate the American Hockey League."

Shero agreed.

"He's got to play a confident game," he said.

Welch, 24, played five games with Wilkes-Barre at the start of the season before being called up. He had one goal, one assist and 20 penalty minutes in 17 games with the Penguins.

A Harvard graduate, Welch was a first-year pro last season. He played mostly with Wilkes-Barre, but played in five games with the Penguins, getting one goal and three assists.

Balsillie closing in on sale

As expected, prospective Penguins owner Jim Balsillie met with the NHL board of governor's executive committee in Florida, the first step toward league approval of the sale.

Results of the interview were expected to be shared at the full board of governors meetings, which began yesterday and continue today. The board could hold a fax vote on approval for Balsillie in the next week or two, meaning he could close on the sale this month.

Junior achievement

Defenseman Kris Letang, who opened the season with the Penguins before being sent back to his junior team of Val d'Or, has been invited to training camp for the Canadian World Junior Championships team.

Letang played for Canada in the 2006 world juniors.

Penguins leading scorer Sidney Crosby, in his second pro season, and rookie forward Jordan Staal technically still are eligible for Canada's national junior squad, but they're a little busy playing at the sport's highest level, the NHL.

Crosby played in the World Junior Championships in 2005, getting nine points in six games. Last summer, he starred for Canada in the World Championships in Latvia, where he became the youngest player to win the tournament scoring title, getting 16 points in nine games, and was named the tournament's top forward.

Record donation

Fans donated 1,300 toys and $3,470 to set a record Saturday when the Penguins held their annual U.S. Marines "Toys for Tots" drive.

The donations will help brighten the holidays for underprivileged children in the Pittsburgh area.