Detroit winger Johan Franzen remains doubtful for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup final tomorrow night against the Penguins, but he could be getting closer to playing.

Franzen, who has missed the Red Wings' past five games because of concussion-like symptoms, has been cleared to resume practicing with his team today, Red Wings general manager Ken Holland said yesterday.

"We're optimistic," Holland said.

"The possibility of him being in our lineup before the end of the series is pretty good."

Franzen's 12 goals are the most in the playoffs despite his time off and is a Detroit record in one postseason.

Penguins winger Gary Roberts, who missed the last three games of the Eastern Conference final because of pneumonia, practiced on a line with Jeff Taffe and Kris Beech, who have been regularly scratched during the playoffs.

Roberts, who turns 42 today, declined to speak to reporters.

Defenseman Sergei Gonchar, who has 11 points in 14 playoff games, sets up as the Penguins' answer to Detroit's Nicklas Lidstrom, 10 points in 16 games.

To watch Gonchar skillfully gliding and accelerating with what seems like great ease, it's hard to tell that skating likely was his biggest deficiency until about the time he broke into the NHL.

"I was a bad skater until I was, I don't know, 18, 19, 20, probably," Gonchar said. "I was one of the worst ones on the team. Seriously. When I was 19, I was the slowest guy on the team."

Gonchar played in his native Russia as a teenager. He made his NHL debut with the Washington Capitals in 1994-95 when he was 21 and on the path to skating better like his role models.

"You have to work on it," he said. "I always looked up to guys like a Paul Coffey, a Ray Bourque. I worked on it every day and just improved myself. It took me a while."

The lightning-fast Coffey won a Stanley Cup with the Penguins in 1991.

One thing Gonchar doesn't do is cram his feet into skates a couple sizes too small, as Coffey did.

But he has come a long way in his movement on the ice.

"Just watch him," fellow Penguins defenseman Hal Gill said. "He's smooth, and he makes it look easy."

Penguins captain Sidney Crosby doesn't have much history playing against the Red Wings -- he has an assist in two games -- but he has watched a lot of Detroit games.

That's because the player he idolized the most growing up was longtime Red Wings captain and Hall of Fame center Steve Yzerman.

"He brought everything, I thought," Crosby said. "At that time, Mario [Lemieux] and [Wayne] Gretzky were kind of trading off scoring titles, but he was a guy who really stood out being a two-way player. I can remember seeing him out there in the last minute of games, blocking shots. I think I was just drawn to him because he was so complete, and that's the type of player I wanted to be."

Crosby, nearing the end of his first season as Penguins captain, found a role model in Yzerman, who wore the "C" for the Red Wings for an NHL-record two decades.

"The way he handled himself off the ice, he was himself," Crosby said. "He was a great leader."

Yzerman, who retired two years ago and now is Red Wings vice president, helped Detroit win three Stanley Cups while Crosby was the formative ages of 9, 10 and 14.

"The goal that stands out was the one against St. Louis," Crosby said of an Yzerman slap shot from the blue line that beat goaltender Jon Casey in overtime of Game 7 of the 1996 Western Conference semifinals.