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Tuesday, February 06, 2001

Craig Patrick has a habit of making personnel moves at the trading deadline. Sometimes, he does a little fine-tuning with role players. Sometimes, he gives his lineup a whole new look.

It is safe to assume he'll look to pull off a few more moves before the March 13 deadline this year. Predicting their magnitude is almost impossible, though.

Perhaps he'll try to add some grit and character on the right side with a guy like Scott Mellanby of Florida.

Maybe he'll look to reinforce his defense corps with Sean O'Donnell (Minnesota), Robert Svehla (Florida) or Eric Weinrich (Montreal).

Or it's possible he'll opt to pursue a goaltender such as Jeff Hackett (Montreal), Mike Dunham (Nashville) or John Vanbiesbrouck (New York Islanders).

The prevailing sentiment in hockey circles seems to be that Patrick's priority will be to bring in a defenseman -- one with toughness or good puck skills, if not both -- or a goalie.

Regardless of whom he decides to go after, there no question Patrick will be able to offer a pretty fair center in return.

At the moment, the Penguins have no fewer than six NHL-caliber players at that position -- Mario Lemieux, Robert Lang, Jan Hrdina, Wayne Primeau, Billy Tibbetts and Milan Kraft -- on their depth chart.

Lemieux isn't going anywhere (he's in tight with the owner's wife), and the Penguins aren't likely to send away Primeau, since they just acquired him Thursday.

It would take a blockbuster offer for them to part with Kraft, who looks to be the future foundation of the franchise, and it's impossible to gauge how much interest there would be in Tibbetts.

That means Lang and Hrdina probably will hear their names mentioned a lot in trade speculation between now and the deadline.

Lang is having a career year, with 19 goals and 32 assists in 52 games, and his market value never has been higher. What's more, dealing him would open a spot in the NHL for Kraft, whose talents mandate that he work on one of the top two lines.

Dealing Lang would come with some serious risks, the biggest being the potential disruption of the No. 2 line, the Penguins' most reliable group since the start of the season.

Lang has meshed superbly with Martin Straka and Alexei Kovalev -- those two have combined for 47 goals and 65 assists -- and removing him from the mix would be a serious gamble.

Hrdina, meanwhile, is an outstanding two-way player. His defensive work, penalty-killing and faceoff prowess can get overlooked but are critical ingredients for a team intent on challenging for a championship.

And while Lemieux could handle the draws that call for a right-hander, there's always the danger of those chores taking a toll on his 35-year-old back.

Besides, Hrdina is skilled and versatile enough to fill almost any niche from the first line to the third; players who can adapt to a variety of roles and contribute the way Hrdina can are rare.

Clearly, then, the Penguins have a couple of centers who are sure to draw interest from around the league. And just as clearly, giving up any of them will come with an element of risk.

Trivia question

Wayne Gretzky recorded five hat tricks against the Penguins, the most by any opponent. Who ranks second on that list? Answer at end.

No going back

St. Louis sent Marc Bergevin to the Penguins Dec. 28 because the Blues had a surplus of capable defensemen. But injuries to all-stars Chris Pronger and Al MacInnis probably make St. Louis wish it still had Bergevin.

Certainly, he wouldn't have any trouble getting playing time.

But while he has an obvious affection for his former club, Bergevin clearly doesn't regret changing teams.

"I'm a firm believer that things happen for a reason in life," he said. "And there's a reason why I'm [in Pittsburgh] today. I couldn't ask for a better place to be right now.

"Even though I love St. Louis -- don't get me wrong, I wish everybody the best down there -- but things happen. The way it is now, I'm here and I'm really happy."

Maintaining tradition

Jaromir Jagr is trying to overcome the effects of an apparent concussion. He suffered through a mostly miserable first half of the season and still is looking up at Colorado center Joe Sakic in the NHL scoring race.

Despite all that, he is widely viewed around the NHL as a virtual lock to win his fourth consecutive Art Ross Trophy as the league's scoring champion.

That could change if Jagr were injured seriously at some point, but having Lemieux for a linemate pretty much guarantees that Jagr will get some quality scoring chances virtually every game.

Besides, Lemieux and Jagr have combined to win eight of the past nine scoring titles, so the Penguins have come to regard possession of the Ross as something of a birthright.

"Obviously, that's something we want to keep within this organization," Lemieux said. "We've been doing it for a long time now. It'd be great for him to win it again."

Oliwa's options

Although winger Krzysztof Oliwa is renowned as one of two Polish-born players in the NHL, he actually has U.S. citizenship.

His wife of seven years, Dawn, is American and his daughter, Skylar, who will be 5 in April, was born in the U.S.

For the moment, then, Oliwa seems to be eligible to represent his homeland or this country in international competitions because he never has played for either.

He had invitations to compete for Poland in some tournaments, but they always seemed to conflict with his commitment to the New Jersey Devils.

"We were always in the playoffs when the [world] championships start," Oliwa said.

Glory days

Ian Moran has had a relatively low profile since turning pro, regardless of whether he was being used up front or on defense, but that wasn't always the case.

Heck, when he was a bit -- OK, a lot -- younger, he was pretty tough to overlook.

"When I was a Mite, I was pretty good," he said. "I was the first-line centerman. I was a dangler and a disher. I think that, in 60 games, I had 65 goals."

Alas, Moran was blindsided. First by puberty, then by reality, as he came to understand that those goal-a-game days would not go on forever.

"It's safe to say,I'm never going to equal that total again," he said, smiling.

Cullen update

Former Penguins center John Cullen, who now works at his brother's car dealership in the southern suburbs of Atlanta, visited his old team during its game-day skate at Philips Arena one week ago.

Cullen, who looks fit and has had no recurrence of the cancer he battled while playing for Tampa Bay a few years ago, became the father of twin daughters four months ago.

Trivia answer

Phil Esposito, Stan Mikita, Lanny MacDonald and Michel Goulet each had three hat tricks against the Penguins, placing them second to Gretzky on the all-time list.