TAMPA, Fla. -- There are, Ryan Malone said, no hard feelings.

No second-guesses, either.

He doesn't hold it against the Penguins that they didn't offer him a contract rivaling the seven-year, $31.5 million deal he signed with Tampa Bay in late June, but he also doesn't have any misgivings about the chain of events that led him to the Lightning.

"It was a pretty easy decision to move on, because there wasn't a serious offer that could have swayed me the other way," he said yesterday.

"They have their plans. Ray [Shero, the general manager] is doing whatever he has to do to make the team better. Obviously, they've locked up their core pieces for a while. They're obviously going in the right direction."

Malone, who appeared in 299 regular-season games with the Penguins and is the son of former Penguins center and scout Greg Malone, faced his old team for the first time last night, in an exhibition game at the St. Pete Times Forum.

He won't face them in a game that counts until the Lightning visits Mellon Arena Dec. 23 -- "It's going to be emotional coming back home," he said. "It will be exciting, something to experience" -- and by then, he completely should be adjusted to his new team and surroundings.

"It was weird seeing my brother in a Tampa Bay golf hat or T-shirt," he said. "All we ever had lying around the house was the Penguins [logo].

"It was definitely different, the first couple of days in the locker room, seeing the Tampa Bay emblem everywhere."