You do not sign Darryl Sydor because of the breathtaking end-to-end rushes he makes.

Or because he is such a devastating hitter that his checks leave little more than a stain on the boards where an opponent used to be.

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Scouting report

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• Matchup: New Jersey Devils at Penguins, 7:38 p.m. today, Mellon Arena.
• TV/Radio: FSN Pittsburgh; WXDX-FM (105.9).
• Probable goaltenders: Marc-Andre Fleury for Penguins. Martin Brodeur for Devils.
• Penguins: Entering stretch with five of six games on home ice. ... C Evgeni Malkin has at least one point in each of first four games. ... Have allowed average of 3.75 goals per game, fourth-most in league.
• Devils: Have won at least two games at Mellon Arena in seven of past eight seasons. ... Penalty-killing is NHL's fourth-worst, with success rate of 75 percent, while power play is fourth-best at 25 percent. ... Travis Zajac is only Devil above .500 on faceoffs, going 46-43.
• Hidden stat: Devils do not have a player with positive plus-minus rating.

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Or because his point shot is so overpowering that the only goalies who stop it are the ones not quick enough to get out of the way.

Fact is, you do not sign Darryl Sydor because he does anything spectacularly, but because he always has done a lot of things pretty well.

Better, in most cases, than he has during the initial phase of his career with the Penguins.

His performance during training camp ran the gamut from awful to average, and his work during the first four games of the regular season has not inspired talk of a Norris Trophy write-in campaign.

"Obviously, preseason wasn't the way I wanted it to be," said Sydor, who signed a two-year contract in July. "Sometimes, when you try too hard, nothing good happens.

"I just need to relax and play my game. My game is about reaction. Obviously, I know I need to be better to help this team."

Coach Michel Therrien knows that, too, but doesn't seem to have any serious concerns about the long-term contribution he will get from Sydor.

"It's a learning process for him to play our system," Therrien said. "Defensively, he has to be a little more solid. He's learning how we play. It's still early in the season."

Sydor broke into the NHL with Los Angeles during the 1991-92 season, and subsequently played in Dallas (twice), Columbus and Tampa Bay. At 35, he understands that adapting to new surroundings, personal and professional, is a process that usually can't be rushed.

"It takes time, obviously," he said.

Sydor's transition has been complicated since last week by a tender groin. It forced him to stay off the ice Monday, but he practiced yesterday with no apparent problem

"It felt good," he said. "It felt a lot better than I thought it was going to. ... It's nice that we had a few days [between games] to rest it."

Sydor picked up his first point of the season in the Penguins' 6-4 victory in Toronto, when he assisted on Sidney Crosby's winning goal.

Although Sydor's game is not built on scoring -- he never has gotten more than 48 points in a season, and has put up more than 23 just once in the past four -- he succumbed to the temptation to try to prove his value to his new teammates after he joined the Penguins.

For a player whose effectiveness is rooted in recognizing his limitations and playing within them, that was an major lapse in judgment.

"That's where I get myself into trouble, when I think I'm somebody that I'm not," he said. "My years in Dallas, I was able to able to work with [assistant coach] Rick Wilson, and he really grounded me to do what I do."

While Sydor strayed from some of his bedrock principles from that during camp, he insists he has been able to fix his focus on the challenges to come.

"What happened is I tried to come in here and make a huge impression, tried to do things out of [the normal], and obviously I didn't have a good [preseason]," he said.

"But that's that. If I'm living in the past, I'm not worrying about the things that matter. Being an older player, you can shrug it off and move on. I think you realize what's at stake when the time comes."

Lately, Sydor said, he is "feeling more comfortable," and settling in alongside Rob Scuderi on the Penguins' No. 3 defense pairing.

"I think we've been solid," Sydor said.

That, in a word, in what the Penguins are counting on Sydor to be. His history says it is a safe bet, and Sydor knows better than most that his play to date is not to be mistaken for the best he can produce.

"Oh no," he said. "I'm not there yet."